Telefónica supports COP25 as a technology partner

• José Mª Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman & CEO of Telefónica, speaks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
• The company will provide connectivity at the conference through its fibre optic network, powered by 100% renewable energy.
• Movistar+ will broadcast 130 hours of special content on nature and climate change and will launch an awareness-raising campaign coinciding with COP25.
• Telefónica’s emblematic building on Gran Vía ‘becomes part of’ the conference and will be lit up over the 11 days of the summit.

Madrid, 29 November 2019 Telefónica will be the technology partner for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), which will be held from the 2nd to the 13th of December in Madrid, under the presidency of Chile.

The company’s GOAS (Grupo Operativo de Acciones Singulares - Operational Group for One-off Actions) will provide fixed and mobile connectivity at the summit and will supply technical services. Telefónica will also be responsible for ensuring the cybersecurity for the communications. In Spain, the company has a network powered by 100% renewable energy and the use of fibre optic, it has saved the atmosphere the equivalent amount of the carbon captured by more than 900,000 trees in the last three years.

From Monday the 2nd to Sunday the 15th of December, Movistar+ will carry out an awareness-raising campaign under the claim: #MovistarTeQuieroVerde and will customise all its channels and its entire platform interface. In addition, it will be supporting the best Climate Change content through agreements with leading brands such as BBC Earth ('Seven Worlds, One Planet', 'War on Plastic', 'Blue Planet', etc.), with original production programmes hosted by TV journalists such as Iñaki Gabilondo and Mercedes Milá and a cinema schedule (The Ice Age saga, Mad Max, Elysium). Movistar+ will offer more than 130 hours of programming dedicated to content related to the summit.

At COP25, José Mª Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman & CEO of Telefónica, will explain the company´s involvement and commitment to the environment and climate change and he will speak at the conference on the 11th December at 10 a.m. in the Pabellón de España conference hall in the blue zone.

Finally, the company also joins the holding of the climate summit by lighting up its emblematic building on Gran Vía, 28 throughout the 11 days of the conference to attract attention from locals and tourists alike on the urgency of taking action.

A decade of decarbonisation because the climate #NosTocaLaFibra

Telefónica has been working for more than 10 years to have the most efficient telecommunications network on the market in terms of energy and carbon. In 2016 it announced its targets aligned with the Paris Agreement and accelerated its decarbonisation measures.

The company met its 2020 targets for reducing energy consumption, emissions and the use of renewable energy two years ahead of schedule. Therefore, last July it pledged to the UN to meet more ambitious climate targets, in alignment with the 1.5ºC climate objective. The progress Telefónica has made is evident: it transports almost three times as much data as it did in 2015, while consuming the same amount of energy.

Sustainability is implemented throughout its network with 740 energy efficiency projects since 2010 (1.27 million tCO2 saved, equivalent to the carbon absorbed by 21 million trees). Additionally, 58% of the electricity that the company uses throughout the world is now renewable, which is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 925,000 homes. In Europe and Brazil, it is 100% renewable.

At the same time, Telefónica has multiplied the digital solutions that help companies and cities save energy and water, improve waste management and reduce pollution. Last year we prevented the generation of 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 for our customers´ carbon footprint, the equivalent of travelling from the Earth to the Sun and back 26 times or driving around the Earth 127,000 times by car. Today, through its services, the company prevents as many emissions as it generates, thus demonstrating that digitalisation is a fundamental influencing factor in decarbonising the world´s economy.

At the beginning of 2019, this trajectory allowed the company to successfully launch the sector's first €1 billion green bond.