Sustainability Committee


Jeroen Kanselaar, Chair of the Sustainability Committee of the FTTH Council Europe, provides insights from the Sustainability Committee,  highlighting the key sustainable challenges facing the fibre industry both in the context of the EU taxonomy and of  the energy 2030 targets. Additionally, Jeroen explains why we should consider fibre as a "green asset", what positive impacts it triggers and much more:

  1. What are the biggest sustainability challenges currently facing the fibre industry, and how does the committee address these?
  2. You recently launched the FTTH Carbon Footprint Cooperative Platform; could you tell us a bit more about this initiative, and how the industry can benefit from joining?
  3. In order to meet the energy targets for 2030 and reach the objectives of the European Green Deal, it is vital to direct investments towards sustainable projects. Why do you think fibre should be considered as a "green asset” for investors in the context of the EU taxonomy?
  4. What should we expect from the committee in the months ahead?

Read the full interview below to get the answers to these questions.

 

What are the biggest sustainability challenges currently facing the fibre industry, and how does the committee address these?

The biggest challenge is to reduce the impact of carbon emissions as individual companies and as an industry as a whole. To do this, we need each other, because we are all part of the same value chain. Until about two years ago, many companies worked to reduce their own direct carbon emissions, for example by purchasing renewable electricity. Currently, we see companies aiming to reduce their suppliers' CO2 emissions (scope 3) as well. This creates a greater dependency between the chain partners. At the same time, this also provides opportunities to start sustainability projects with each other so that there is a win-win situation for both parties. A win-situation for the manufacturer because they develop a more environmentally friendly and future-proof product and a win-situation for the customer because this contributes to the reduction of their scope 3 emissions.

Another challenge is raw materials and materials used within our industry. This includes both scarce and environmentally unfriendly raw materials. As part of circularity, more diverse and new ways of recycling materials and equipment need to be developed. But this will not be enough, new developments are also needed such as raw materials and materials from waste streams originating from other sectors for production in the FTTH sector.

An operational challenge is the increasing regulations and reporting requirements around sustainability. On the one hand, this is a very positive development because it provides more transparency about the results achieved within the sector. But it also results in an increase in different reporting systems, which requires companies to spend extra time. The same also applies to companies that, because of the upcoming obligation, have to make important preparations to be able to report according to this directive from 2025-2026.

In the picture above, the speakers during the Sustainability panel at the FTTH Conference 2024 in Berlin.

 

You recently launched the FTTH Carbon Footprint Cooperative Platform; could you tell us a bit more about this initiative, and how the industry can benefit from joining?

The purpose of the FTTH Carbon Footprint Cooperative Platform is to calculate and provide insight into the CO2 emissions of the entire FTTH sector in Europe. This is unique and as far as we know no other industry association facilitates and enables this in this way. This is done in the Platform by having participants calculate or report their entire carbon footprint (scope 1, 2 and 3) if they already calculate it independently. Each participant has a certain position in the value chain and therefore one party's CO2 emissions have an impact on another party. By bringing together the CO2 data of the individual participants, we can calculate the CO2 emissions of the whole sector. In the pilot project, we developed the Sector Observatory model that allows us to calculate the average CO2 emissions for the different links within the sector, as well as metrics such as CO2 emissions per household.

Carbon assessment is currently becoming mandatory for organizations of various sizes. However, it can be complex to organize and process. The Platform aims to ensure that companies can use the same standardized methodology and improve the quality of sustainability information for investors and partners throughout the chain. This approach will also enable communication on decarbonization of the entire FTTH sector and create synergies around greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation. The more companies participate, the more accurate the reporting will be and the easier it will be to identify improvement opportunities and levers for individual companies and the sector.

 

In order to meet the energy targets for 2030 and reach the objectives of the European Green Deal, it is vital to direct investments towards sustainable projects. Why do you think fibre should be considered as a "green asset" for investors in the context of the EU taxonomy?

A very important “green” advantage of fiber optics is that the environmental impact of fiber optic networks is many times lower than that of other connectivity technologies, both in terms of material use and energy consumption. Using a fiber network instead of a copper network, for example, already reduces carbon emissions by default.

Developments within the equipment in the networks have made them significantly more energy efficient in recent years, and this development will continue in the coming years. Manufacturers of cables, ducts, CPEs and other products and materials are making their products increasingly circular. This means that the industry is future-proofed and becoming greener because of these innovations.

In addition, the fiber sector has a ‘positive-impact’ side. This means that applications of fiber networks provide environmental benefits and a reduction in carbon emissions. This impact cannot be underestimated. The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) indicates that digitization can lead to a 15% reduction in carbon emissions in other industries. While the FTTH Carbon Footprint project shows that CO2 emissions from the FTTH sector are only 1.1% of the total CO2 emissions from all industrial processes combined.

Looking more specifically at the FTTH sector, the positive impact is also significant. The FTTH network allows people to work from home and do online shopping, resulting in a reduction in the CO2 emissions they produce.

 

What should we expect from the committee in the months ahead? 

The continued rollout of the FTTH Carbon Footprint Cooperative Platform is a key activity of the committee for the remainder of this year (2024). We want to encourage as many members as possible to participate so that together we can generate more accurate data on the sector's carbon footprint. In addition, we would like as many participants as possible so that we can exchange more knowledge on the (online) Platform and thus, as a committee and council, unburden our members. This way we offer even more added value to our members.

In addition, we continue to share knowledge on the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). My goal is not only to share knowledge, but that we can develop tools that many of the members can benefit from.

Circularity is an inseparable part of sustainability and as a committee I want to flesh this out in the coming months. As members of the committee, we need to work on definitions of circularity, think about developing standards and possibly create a circularity formula to express the circularity of a product in a metric.

In the picture above, Jeroen Kanselaar during the workshop titled "Making the leap from ESG checkbox to business reality" at the FTTH Conference 2024 in Berlin.

 

More about Jeroen Kanselaar


 

 

Jeroen Kanselaar joined Eurofiber as Manager ESG in June 2022. Prior to that, spent 25 years as an external consultant, providing strategic and tactical advises to large mix of companies and governments. For the last 15 years worked exclusively as an external consultant on consultancy projects focused on sustainability and circularity. Projects related to sustainable strategies and policies for companies and governments as well as making buildings and products more sustainable, amongst others as a Cradle to Cradle consultant. Making products more sustainable and more circular The drive in my work is to create positive impact and minimize negative impact.

 

Innovating to reduce the carbon footprint of subscriber connections

May 9, 2022
Company type: | Vendor/Reseller (Products) |

Member company: Acome
Country or geographical scope: Europe
Period: 2021 and beyond
Company type: Vendor/Reseller
Product/service category involved: Drop cable

Abstract

Assessing the carbon footprint of the network infrastructure by using Product Environmental Profiles, (PEP), shows that a significant part (35% in our model) of the passive infrastructure carbon emissions comes from the last 100 meters. Drop cables are the necessary links that generate the main part. As small installation lengths are required and mostly handled by hand, drop cables usually come in drums of shorter length. This leads to an increase in the number of drums, and consequently to a reduction in the maximum shippable length per pallet. The redesign of the drop cable using an eco-design approach made it possible to go from 3 km of drop cable per pallet to 12 km, therefore drastically reducing the logistics carbon footprint.

Context

Assessing the impact in order to reduce it. Based on the principle that we cannot improve what we are unable to measure, ACOME evaluates the carbon impact of its products by using Product Environmental Profiles (PEPs).

A PEP is a type of EPD (Environmental Product Declaration). It can be used to create an environmental identity card for a product. A PEP is based on the results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which takes into account all the life stages of a product, from the extraction of the raw materials, to the manufacture, right until the end of its life, not forgetting the transportation and use of the product. 

Environmental impact calculations are carried out using dedicated life cycle assessment and eco-design software. Finally, all rules are verified by an approved third party, thus ensuring the compliance and neutrality of the data made available on the PEP ecopassport® website.

PEP ecopassport® is an international environmental reporting program created in 2009  by industrial partners and in collaboration with the European Commission with the aim of establishing a Europe-wide environmental regulation, the PEF (Product Environmental Footprint). The objective is to establish a common reference framework for calculating and then reporting the environmental footprint of a product in a rigorous and transparent manner.  PEPs are therefore widely used in Europe. This standard framework for life cycle assessments (ISO14040 / ISO14025) was supplemented with the drafting of the PCR (Product Category Rules), which includes rules on the generic calculations for a family of products, and the drafting of the PSR (Product Specific Rules), which defines the sub-rules for specific calculations for optical equipment.

Different environmental indicators emerge from this rigorous calculation method, including the GWP or Global Warming Potential, also known as the “carbon impact” of the product. This indicator, whose unit is kg CO2-eq, counts the gas emissions contributing to the greenhouse effect that are produced throughout the product’s life.

Solutions

As the assessment framework is based on the environmental declarations produced, it is possible to calculate the carbon impact distribution across the passive infrastructure of an optical network.

By using on a simplified model that only takes the products into account (i.e. it excludes civil engineering and installation), we can sum up the different contributions of the elements that make up the passive infrastructure of the network and then break this down to a carbon weight per subscriber. In this analysis, it is already interesting to note that a PON architecture consumes approximately 65 kg CO2-eq per subscriber. This means that it consumes 40% less CO2 than a point-to-point architecture. This is due to the intrinsic pooling of fibres in this type of PON architecture and the use of passive coupling elements.

By analysing the overall impact per subscriber in a PON architecture (cables/connectors/cabinets), we can see that the "transportation" part only represents 5% and the "distribution" part 60%, but the "connection" part alone represents 35% of the overall carbon impact of the passive architecture.

Over the many kilometres of optical cables required to connect the central unit to the subscriber, you can see that the carbon weight is mainly accrued over the last few metres of the connection. In fact, the less fibre there is in the optical cable, the greater the impact of the fibre protection elements on the carbon weight. For example, a single-mode optical fibre has a carbon weight of approximately 2.6 kg CO2-eq/km. For example, in a 48-fibre cable the carbon weight per fibre is amount to 6.6 kg CO2-eq/km. All the optical fibres contained in this cable represent 40% of its carbon weight. For a single-fibre connection cable, the carbon impact of the cable can be up to a hundred kg CO2-eq/km, but the fibre itself only accounts for around 2 to 3% of this. The rest comes from the protection elements surrounding the fibre. In view of this information, it therefore seems quite logical that the carbon weight of products increases the closer the cable is to the subscriber.

So, let’s focus on the last few tens of metres of drop cable that link the optical connection point to the subscriber’s home. Let's look at the results of the eco-design methods that Acome uses to reduce the carbon impact of this last section of the infrastructure which is so significant when it comes to the overall carbon impact per subscriber.

Results

The example of eco-design used here is that of a subscriber drop cable which is widely used in the French market and designed to meet the connection needs of FTTH access networks. This drop cable is strippable and can be used for the overhead or underground connections of individual houses. It is an optical cable without intermediate splicing that goes from the optical connection point located in the street to the optical wall outlet located in the subscriber's home. This type of cable uses strippable technology. This means that the cable sheath tears when the cable is installed inside the home, saving time and reducing the TCO. By avoiding splicing, the optical budget of the FTTH network is also improved. 

As explained above, the carbon impact per subscriber is largely in this section of the connection. It is therefore necessary to innovate in order to reduce this impact. The originally designed single-fibre drop cable, which meets current standards and specifications, had a carbon weight of 120.4 kg CO2-eq/km. The environmental assessment of the life cycle carried out showed that the main part of the carbon impact came from the manufacturing. Some of the processes and cable engineering have been redesigned to reduce inputs of certain materials. The new generation of drop cable resulting from this eco-design phase now has a carbon impact of 89.8 kg CO2-eq/km, a reduction of over 25%, but still has the same very good traction and handling performance which ensures the durability of these sections of the connection cable.

The distribution logistics also makes a signification contribution to the overall carbon impact calculated in the life cycle assessment of a connection cable. To reduce the impact, we need to rethink the distribution phase based on the idea that the truck that does not drive is the one that pollutes the least. More concretely, to reduce the carbon footprint it is preferable to optimise the filling of the truck with well-thought through, but also with more environmentally friendly packaging.

This type of drop cable is packaged on small 500 m drums, so that it can be easily handled on the field by the technicians that make the connections. It should be noted that the first generations of this cable were packaged by pallets of 3 km (i.e. 6 drums, with 3 levels of 2 drums). The desire for eco-design has forced us to come up with more innovative solutions. The new cable design made it possible to reduce the size of the barrel and cable drum, in order to increase the amount of drop cable per pallet to 9 km (3 levels of 6 drums). Finally, a final step in the optimisation of the packaging and a new arrangement of the pallets then made it possible to pack 12 km on a similar pallet (4 levels of 8 drums). All this work on packaging multiplied the truck filling rate by 4 and drastically reduced the carbon impact of the distribution logistics of these drop cables.

Conclusions

To conclude, we have seen that it is possible to act and innovate on all stages of a product's value chain in order to minimise its carbon impact. Whether in terms of the choice of materials, the production processes, the packaging or the distribution logistics chain, each choice can have a positive impact.

Here we have taken the example of an optical drop cable, which can seem like a small part of the picture as only a few tens of metres are used in the overall passive infrastructure of an FTTH architecture. However, analysis models show that these sections are actually very significant when it comes to the overall carbon impact per subscriber of the passive infrastructure of the network. The environmental analyses produced allow us to carefully assess and identify the areas where we can act and innovate to minimise our impact.

Further reading

[Publication] Impact of choices and uses on the network carbon footprint
[Magazine] ACOME INSIDE : Carbon transition

Contact

Xavier RENARD, Telecoms Marketing Director, Telecom Business Unit, ACOME
xavier.renard@acome.fr

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