Since 2019, stc has been adopting a comprehensive sustainability strategy founded on seven main areas of focus; namely enhanced access to technology and connectivity, improved economic impacts, promoted digital opportunities, integrity-featured business practices, enriched life-and-customer experiences, environmental care and employee empowerment. The telecom giant’s DARE 2.0 strategy is the key driver for its comprehensive sustainability strategy.
“Our unstoppable ambition lies in leading the ICT sector and creating a positive environmental impact throughout the Kingdom and the entire Gulf region. We seek to preserve the environment by mitigating direct environmental impacts and reducing the impact associated with the use of our products and services, as is the case with leading companies worldwide,” Maha Al-Nuhait, stc’s Sustainability Program General Manager, said in a commentary on the company’s sustainability report.
In this report, Argaam highlights the most prominent indicators, initiatives and programs outlined in stc’s sustainability report. In 2022, stc managed to reduce its electricity consumption by 16% across all the company's buildings in the Kingdom, in implementation of energy efficiency initiatives adopted by the telecom giant.
Big Data analytics is adopted by stc to provide actionable ideas and systems that would mitigate energy consumption and implement green solutions, pushing stc and all stakeholders, including customers and community individuals, further towards greater environmental responsibility.
The company manifested its ability to reduce its gasoline consumption rates by 7% in the past year, against an increase in diesel consumption, amid higher demand for transport bus service at stc’s headquarters.
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Fuel, Electricity and Energy Consumption (mln liters/‘000 gigajoule) (2020-2022) |
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|
stc Saudi |
stc International |
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|
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
Fuel and Electricity Consumption |
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|
Gasoline |
4.5 |
4.8 |
4.4 |
5 |
9.8 |
10 |
|
Diesel |
0.33 |
0.47 |
0.81 |
58.7 |
53.6 |
46.5 |
|
Electricity (Buildings) |
880 |
642 |
541 |
908 |
699 |
609 |
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Telecom Infrastructure Energy Consumption |
||||||
|
Data Centers |
455 |
480 |
571 |
455 |
507 |
629 |
|
Base Stations |
- |
- |
- |
2,733 |
6,810 |
6,713 |
|
Switches |
1,450 |
1,391 |
1,289 |
1,450 |
1,391 |
1,289 |
|
Total Energy Consumption |
1,905 |
1,870 |
1,860 |
4,638 |
8,708 |
8,632 |
The report indicated that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are the most energy-consuming in the group’s switches, pointing out that stc improved energy consumption by monitoring temperatures, adjusting set points, using air handling units, direct expansion, and load balancing to meet the recommended scope.
Moreover, the company replaced a large number of lamps with LEDs to enhance energy efficiency and reduced 15% the operation time for more than 2,000 devices, with an aim to mitigate operation of more than 20,000 devices during 2023.
This will in turn decrease the total consumption of electricity and all these improvements are executed without capital expenditures, the report affirmed.
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Number of Sites Powered by Solar Energy (2020-2022) |
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|
|
stc Saudi |
stc International |
||||
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
|
Number of Sites |
2 |
2 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
10 |
The group affirmed its goal to increase the use of solar energy throughout its headquarters, with the advancement of photovoltaic technology and the continued decline in production costs.
Accordingly, stc aims to operate nine sites with solar energy, with an average annual generation of seven gigawatt-hours (GWh) and a total installed capacity of more than 4.3 megawatts (MW) in 2023.
In 2022, the group's subsidiary, TAWAL, which manages the telecom towers, maintained ISO 14001:2015 certification for environmental management system, with a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and more than 30% cumulative emissions reduction since the company's establishment.
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Energy Efficiency in TAWAL’s Tower Sites (2020-2022) |
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|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
|
Number of Base Stations |
15,524 |
15,524 |
16,106 |
|
Renewable Energy-Powered Stations |
69 |
69 |
69 |
|
Diesel-Powered Stations |
1,468 |
1,269 |
1,045 |
|
Hybrid Diesel-Battery Stations |
788 |
1,072 |
1,051 |
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Initiatives and Programs |
Details |
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Scope 1 Absolute Emissions Reduction |
- stc Saudi’s Scope 1 total carbon emissions amounted to more than 389,000 tons of carbon dioxide in 2022, compared to more than 407,000 tons in 2021, down 4.3%
- stc International’s Scope 1 total carbon emissions stood at about 1.36 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2022, down 1.3% year-on-year (YoY).
- stc aims to reduce 50% of Scope 1 emissions by 2027.
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|
Scope 1 and Scope 2 Absolute Emissions Reduction |
- stc Saudi’s Scope 2 carbon emissions amounted to more than 378,000 tons of carbon dioxide during 2022, compared to about 396,000 tons in 2021, a YoY decrease of 4.4%.
- stc International’s Scope 2 carbon emissions amounted to more than 1.17 million tons of carbon dioxide during 2022, compared to about 1.17 million tons in 2021.
- The group aims to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 47% by 2030, reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
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|
Water-Use Efficiency |
- stc consumed more than 296,000 cubic meters of water in 2022. The group transferred some of its subsidiaries to the headquarters.
- stc Bahrain also recorded a 66% decrease in water consumption, with the majority of gray water being reused in agricultural irrigation operations.
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|
“Let's Make it Green” Initiative |
- The company is committed to planting one million trees by 2030. It will start planting 200,000 trees around the sites of communication towers in Taif.
- TAWAL planted 1,500 trees, bringing the total since 2021 to 4,500 trees.
- stc Bahrain aims to plant more than 35,000 trees during 2023, aspiring to plant 50,000 trees in the next phase.
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|
Device Replacement Program |
- More than 1,400 devices were collected in 2022. The program allows customers to exchange their devices for recycling, reducing waste, protecting the environment, and earning a stc account balance.
- The company's goal is to reach more than 10,000 devices in 2023.
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Material Use Management and Improvement |
- SAWA recharge cards were made of 100% recyclable plastic.
- SIM cards were digitized through introducing embedded chip technology in replacement of physical SIM cards. More than 1.2 million embedded SIMs were issued through mystc application.
- stc recycled 7,400 electronic wastes in 2022.
- stc recorded a decrease of 55% and 91% in paper consumption in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Meanwhile, paper consumption stood at about 1.37 tons in 2022, compared to about 3.04 tons in 2021.
- TAWAL recorded 1,250 metric tons of waste resulting from network activities and operational maintenance, 61% of which were recycled. The company plans to launch a comprehensive program for complete recycling in 2023. |
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