GSMA urges Asia Pacific to expand renewable energy access for telecoms

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Energy & Sustainability; 10 September 2026; 277 views

Mobile operators in Asia Pacific are making progress on climate targets, but limited access to renewable electricity is slowing efforts to cut emissions, particularly in emerging markets, according to the GSMA.

The industry body said operational emissions among operators in Asia Pacific rose 6% between 2019 and 2024, reaching around 23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, despite growing commitments to reduce emissions.

Emissions increased by around 20% in Southeast Asia over the period, driven by rising connectivity demand and network expansion in markets where renewable energy remains difficult to access. By contrast, operators in Japan and Oceania reduced operational emissions by more than 30%.

Mobile data traffic in Asia Pacific increased 350% between 2019 and 2024, while mobile connections grew 6%, increasing the energy requirements of network infrastructure.

The GSMA said operators purchased or generated 7TWh of renewable electricity in 2024, equivalent to around 15% of their total electricity consumption. This was up from just 1% in 2019, but remained below the global average of 24%.

The gap is particularly pronounced in emerging markets. Renewable electricity accounted for around 4% of operator consumption in Southeast Asia and 8% in South Asia, compared with more than 50% in Japan and Australia.

The GSMA said barriers include limited mechanisms for procuring renewable electricity, high costs and a lack of options suited to distributed infrastructure such as mobile towers.

Energy is already a significant operating cost for the industry. Mobile operators across Asia Pacific spent around US$7 billion on energy in 2024, consuming 50TWh of electricity and 350 million litres of diesel and petrol.

The GSMA is calling on governments to reform electricity markets and enable renewable energy procurement and aggregation mechanisms that can serve distributed telecoms infrastructure. It also wants faster permitting for clean energy and grid projects and greater recognition of mobile networks as critical infrastructure in climate resilience planning.

Some operators in Southeast Asia are already increasing their use of renewable power. Globe Telecom in the Philippines met around a third of its electricity needs from renewables in 2025, while Telekom Malaysia and Thailand's True exceeded 20%.
The GSMA said 21 operators in Asia Pacific now have validated near-term science-based climate targets, representing 55% of mobile connections in the region. A further 13 operators have validated net-zero targets, covering around 40% of connections, with the earliest targets set for 2040.

However, renewable electricity is only part of the industry's emissions footprint. Scope 3 emissions, covering areas such as suppliers and the wider value chain, accounted for around 110 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024, more than 80% of the mobile industry's overall footprint in the region.

The GSMA also called on equipment suppliers and tower companies to improve emissions reporting, set science-based targets, increase clean energy use and adopt more sustainable product design and circular-economy practices.

Developing Telecoms spoke extensively to GSMA head of climate action, Steven Moore, on the industry's net zero goals.