Version 4  (July 2022)

Carbon Offset Reporting Principles and Working Methodology Statement

 

Introduction

 

As part of the service provided by Telefónica Tech, we collaborate with selected partners to support and develop sustainable solutions. The methodology described below pertains specifically to one of our partners, recognising that methodologies may differ among partners.

 

Emissions from the ICT sector projected for 2030 – calculated based on the assumption that ICT emissions are predicted to be approximately 2% of total emissions by that point. This is equivalent to 1.25 Gt CO2e in 2030 or 1,250,000,000 tons of CO2. So, whilst ICT may only represent 2%  of overall emissions, there is still a significant amount of CO2 associated with it.

 

Carbon offsetting is an internationally recognized way to take responsibility for unavoidable carbon emissions generated in the normal course of business activities. For example, by selling legacy IT assets destined for re-use, this in turn means that somewhere someone will use a refurbished unit.

 

As part of the IT Asset Disposition solution and service, we work to support and create sustainable solutions with and for our partners. Our Lifecycle management approach enables our customers to manage their end-of-life assets in a secure and environmentally responsible manner.

 

As part of the IT Asset Disposition solution and service we are able to offer enhanced value recovery rates to ensure client assets are reused wherever possible returning enhanced values but also minimizing recycling rates and as such maximizing carbon offset values.

 

Carbon offset is subjective. Through our partnership, Telefónica Tech has provided research references and taken assumptions to provide best estimates of carbon offset values. These references and assumptions are contained in this report. Data is subject to change without prior notice based on updated research findings, government legislation, and market data becoming available.

 

Calculating carbon footprint is complex due to the evolving dynamics of products and supply chains.

 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in conjunction with HPE, HP Inc, Lenovo, Dell, AMD, and Cisco has created a ‘Product Attribute to Impact Algorithm’ (PAIA) in an attempt to assist with the calculation of carbon footprint.

See http://msl.mit.edu/projects/paia/main.html

 

Assumptions and Where Data Comes From

 

 

Complete Unit Working Methodology

 

Data surrounding laptop manufacture is more readily available with different manufacturers collating and reporting on the carbon footprint of their laptops. Numbers range from 250 – 400 Kg CO2 in the production of a laptop.   Data is based on –

 

Examples are

  • Lenovo T440s @ 394Kg CO2
  • Dell Latitude E7440 @ 276 Kg CO2


If we standardize on these values, we can assume:

  • A 1.5Kg laptop has a carbon footprint of 300Kg CO2
  • A laptop requires 1,200Kgs of the earth to be excavated to uncover minerals required to produce it

 

In the production of a laptop 190,000 liters of water are consumed.

 

Based on IT hardware being assembled of similar constituent parts we will apply the above three metrics on weight (per kg) basis when looking at CO2 and carbon offset values for other IT hardware that is sold for re-use. Current reporting lines are:

 

Reporting Line Kg per device Manufacturing CO2 emissions per device
Notebooks 1.5 300 Kg
System Units (PC’s) 3 600 Kg
All in One devices 3 600 Kg
TFT and screens 5 1000 Kg
Enterprise & Comms 15 3000 Kg
Networking Device 1.5 300 Kg
Miscellaneous 3 600 Kg

 

Component part working methodology

 

 

When reviewing component parts we need a smaller start point than a laptop as our base start point. For individual component parts, we will use benchmark manufacturing CO2 levels provided by cell phone providers. The manufacture of an average cell phone produces 55Kg of CO2 (ref: Mobiles: the global carbon footprint – The Restart Project). The constituent parts of a cell phone are far more akin to those of the component parts found within memory, CPUs, SSD disks, etc. We will as with complete units base the CO2 against weight. The average weight of a cell phone is deemed to be 175 grams, thus per 100 grams of weight represents a manufacturing CO2 overhead of 31.42 Kg.

 

Reporting Line grams per device Manufacturing CO2 emissions per device
Cell Phone 175 55 Kg
NIC Cards 75 23.56 Kg
3.5″ HDD 625 196.38 Kg
2.5″ HDD 275 86.40 Kg
SSD 100 31.42 Kg
Memory Dim 40 12.57 Kg
Motherboard 600 188.52 Kg

 

Steel Frames, Racks, Enclosures, and Chassis Working Methodology

 

 

All of the above primary components are steel. Steel is reported as a manufacturing CO2 overhead of between 1.4 tons to 1.85 tons of CO2 per ton of steel. (ref: What is the carbon footprint of steel? — Sustainable Ships – Beta (sustainable-ships.org) . We shall use 1.6 tons of CO2 per ton of steel in reporting metrics.

 

Reporting Line Kg per device

Manufacturing CO2 emissions per device

Steel 1 1.6 Kg


Refurbishing Overhead

 

 

Facility location

Country Certified tCO2e Qty of parts processed Processing CO2 in Kg per part %’age Weighting per facility Weighted average CO2 emissions globally
Baiersdorf Germany 15.296 36000 0.425 3.14 0.0133
Boston USA 240.351 216000 1.113 18.89 0.2100
Cirencester UK 233.091 330000 0.706 28.86 0.2040
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 56.319 3500 16.091 0.31 0.0050
Norcross Atlanta USA 169.607 225000 0.754 19.68 0.1484
Singapore Singapore 105.861 6000 17.644 0.53 0.0940
Toronto Canada 14.207 107000 0.133 9.36 0.0124
Warrington UK 180.890 220,000 0.822 19.24 0.1582
Totals 1,015.622 1143500
Global average CO2 Processing overhead per part 0.8453

 

Average processing overhead based on a weighted average of global processing facilities, processing in excess of 1 Million parts per year equates to 0.8453 Kg CO2 per part processing.

 

As part of Telefónica Tech’s service, we work to support and create sustainable solutions with selected partners. Telefónica Tech’s partner achieved Carbon Neutral status across their processing facilities in 2021, As such, the processing overhead can be regarded as net-zero, however, we have provided the above information as part of the working methodology.

 

carbon-neutral-org-logo

 

Transport CO2 Overhead

 

Transport CO2 overhead varies wildly based on type of freight, air, sea, road, and the courier along with whether shipments are dedicated or group haulage. According to the green ration book (ref: Carbon Dioxide from Freight Transport | The Green Ration Book).

 

Carbon Dioxide from Freight Transport

 

Average Kg of CO2 produced for every tonne carried one kilometer.

  • Air 0.903
  • Road 0.147
  • Sea 0.18

 

Recycling Overhead

 

 

Whilst recycling will not enable a direct carbon offset for re-use of the item, if the product is recycled, and thus kept from landfill, there is an inherent benefit based on not mining for the raw materials to generate minerals required. The report by Turner, Williams, and Kemp under ScienceDirect on ‘Greenhouse gas emission factors for recycling of source segregated waste materials’ suggests that aluminum has a -8143 Kg CO2 per ton whereas generic scrap metal has -3577 Kg CO2 per ton. Mixed Plastics offers -1084 Kg CO2 per ton.

 

Similarly, according to the NIH (ref: Recycling of metals: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions – PubMed (nih.gov).

 

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the recycling of metals in post-consumer waste are assessed from a waste management perspective; here the material recovery facility (MRF), for the sorting of the recovered metal. The GHG accounting includes indirect upstream emissions, direct activities at the MRF as well as indirect downstream activities in terms of reprocessing of the metal scrap and savings in terms of avoided production of virgin metal. The global warming factor (GWF) shows that upstream activities and the MRF cause negligible GHG emissions (12.8 to 52.6 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) recovered metal) compared to the reprocessing of the metal itself (360-1260 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of recovered aluminum and 400- 1020 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(- 1) of recovered steel).

 

The reprocessing is, however, counterbalanced by large savings of avoided virgin production of steel and aluminium. The net downstream savings were found to be 5040-19 340 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated aluminum and 560-2360 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated steel. Due to the huge differences in reported data, it is hard to compare general data on the recovery of metal scrap as they are very dependent on the technology and data choices.

 

Furthermore, the energy used in both the recovery process as well as the avoided primary production is crucial. The range of avoided impacts shows that recovery of metals will always be beneficial over primary production, due to the high energy savings, and that the GHG emissions associated with the sorting of metals are negligible.

 

Given compute tends to be primarily manufactured from the above 3 core materials (steel, aluminum, and plastics) based on recycled weight we have a subjective call to make on what we should allocate per ton. We have taken an average of the Turner, Williams & Kemp study providing a recycled CO2 saving of 4268 per ton in comparison to virgin mining for new minerals.

 

CO2 overhead of physical recycling per ton we will take an average from the NHI report of 32.7Kg of CO2 per ton.

 

Comparisons

 

Visualizing carbon offset is awkward. By way of comparison to visualize what a Kg of COlooks like, an average family car that travels 15,000 km a year produces 1830Kg CO2 (https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-CO2-emissions-from-new).

 

If we work on the basis that producing a 1.5Kg IT asset consumes

  • CO2 for new laptop = 300 Kg
  • 190,000 liters of water
  • 1,200 tons of earth excavated
  • Refurbishment CO2 cost = (4) kg

 

On an estate of 1,000 units if refurbished and resold based on the assumption that they have displaced the need for a new unit would provide a CO2 saving of 296,000 Kg (296 Tons ) of CO2 – or the equivalent of:

  • 162 cars’ emissions for a year
  • Saving 190 million liters of water and 1.2M tons of earth

 

Minerals Used in Manufacturing IT Hardware

 

Some or all of the below 66 minerals are consumed in the manufacturing of IT devices

 

Phosphorescent Coating – Transition Metals
ZnS – Zinc Sulfide Zn, S Sulfur, Hemmimorphite, Zincite, Smithsonite, Franklenite
Ag – Silver Ag Ag, Pyrargyrite, Cerargyrite
Cl – Chlorine Cl Halite
Al – Aluminium Al Bauxite
Cu – Copper Cu Chalcopyrite, Boronite, Enargite, cuprite, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, chalcocite
Au  – Gold Au Au
Y2O2S – Yittrium Sulfate Y
Eu – Europium Eu
KF,MgF2):Mn Potasium-Magnesium Fluorite: Manganese K, F, Mg, Mn Alunite, Orthoclase, Nephelite, Leucite, Apophullite; Fluorite, cryolite, vesuvianite, lepidolite: Dolomite, magnesite, espomite, spinel, olivine, pyrope, biotite, talc, pyroxenes
(Zn,Cd)S – Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Cd
Zn2SiO4:Mn, As – ZincSilicate, Manganese, Arsenic As Realgar, Orpiment, Niccolite, Cobalite, Arsenopyrite, Tetrahedrite
Gd2O2S:Tb – Gadolinium Sulfate:Tebrium Gd, Tb
Y2SiO12:Ce – Yitrium Silicate: Cerium Ce Monzanite, Orthite
CRT Glass
Pb – Lead Pb Galena, cerussite, anglesite, pyromorphite
SiO2 Si Quartz
Plastic Case, Keyboard
Thermoplastic – Polypropylene, PVC
CaCO2 _additive Ca Calcite, gypsum, apatite, aragonite
TiO2 – White Pigment Ti Rutile, Ilmenite, Titanite
Amonium Polyphosphate P Apetite, Pyromorphite, Wavellite
LCD, Liquid Crystal Display Monitors
Pb – Lead Pb Galena, cerussite, anglesite, pyromorphite
Thin Film Transistors Si Quartz
Ferro Electric Liquid Crystal Fe Hematite
Indium Tin Oxide Sn Cassiterite,
In Sphalerite (Commonly found with Zinc)
Metal Case
Iron Fe Magnetite, Limonite
Flat Screen Plasma Display Monitors
Glass Si Quartz
Pb – Lead Pb Galena, cerussite, anglesite, pyromorphite
ZnS – Zinc Sulfide Zn, S Sulfur, Hemmimorphite, Zincite, Smithsonite, Franklenite
Ag – Silver Ag Ag, Pyrargyrite, Cerargyrite
Cl – Chlorine Cl Halite
Al – Aluminum Al Bauxite
Cu – Copper Cu Chalcopyrite, Boronite, Enargite, cuprite, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, chalcocite
Au  – Gold Au Au
Y2O2S – Yittrium Sulfate Y Euxenite
Eu – Europium Eu Euxenite
KF,MgF2):Mn Potasium-Magnesium Fluorite: Manganese K, F, Mg, Mn Alunite, Orthoclase, Nephelite, Leucite, Apophullite; Fluorite, cryolite, vesuvianite, lepidolite: Dolomite, magnesite, espomite, spinel, olivine, pyrope, biotite, talc, pyroxenes
(Zn,Cd)S – Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Cd
Zn2SiO4:Mn, As – ZincSilicate, Manganese, Arsenic As Realgar, Orpiment, Niccolite, Cobalite, Arsenopyrite, Tetrahedrite
Gd2O2S:Tb – Gadolinium Sulfate:Tebrium Gd, Tb
Y2SiO12:Ce – Yitrium Silicate: Cerium Ce Monzanite, Orthite
Printed Circuit Boards, Computer Chips
Silicon Si Quartz
Cu – Copper Cu Chalcopyrite, Boronite, Enargite, cuprite, malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, chalcocite
Au  – Gold Au Au
Ag – Silver Ag Ag, Pyrargyrite, Cerargyrite
Tin Sn Cassiterite,
Al – Aluminum Al Bauxite

 

Reporting On Your Assets

 

 

Telefónica Tech will provide a CO2 report based on the above working methodology detailing each IT Asset we process for our customers.

 

Each report details the quantity and genre of assets, along with the carbon saving associated with Telefónica Tech processing the devices; preventing the need for new equivalents to be manufactured, in preference to the devices being scrapped to landfill. Similarly, we will also collate the tons redirected from landfill, the reduction in the excavation of virgin minerals to rebuild the asset, and associated water consumption. Finally. we will provide a comparison of the distance an average family car could travel for the same CO2.

 

 

*This methodology applies to specific projects.