The recent COP26 UN Climate Change conference highlighted the urgency and incremental progress made through global agreement and collective action towards climate change. At Nokia our view on climate change is very clear: “decarbonization is needed across the board and digitalization will play a critical role” in what we do. Indeed, our CEO Pekka Lundmark has very succinctly said, “There’s no green without digital”.

We have embraced this ethos in our rollout services. In my previous blog, I had outlined that 5G networks can now be deployed in a far more sustainable way through digitalization of existing processes and procedures. By virtue of rolling out networks 100% digitally, deploy services is contributing to a greener environment.

Our digital collaboration platforms, workflow orchestration systems, digitalized interfaces, applications, and advanced pre-integrated site solutions are designed for exact site deployment requirements. Digitalization thus significantly reduces the amount of site visits needed to complete deployment and acceptance of every single 5G site. Saving close to 837 tons of C02 and ~1300 trees annually with digital documentation.

We are not stopping at digitalization. Our next step towards a green revolution is to look at the entire value chain in rollout activities and see where we could make a difference. We identified our product packing solution as one such area. Traditionally, product packaging has always been designed for securing and transporting goods with or without the minimal use of environmentally friendly materials.

Nokia’s design team has investigated all the aspects and has provided a very innovative solution for packaging. We call it ‘hybrid pallet packaging’. Hybrid pallets are made of environment friendly corrugated paper and plywood which provides a 30% weight reduction. Additionally, the higher stackability (load factor increased by 15%) increases as well. This leads to better transportation efficiencies and a faster removal process and waste management. The solution is thoroughly tested for all transport, vibration, and user experience tests.

Our hybrid pallet packaging solution also helps to save C02 emissions as compared to traditional packaging. We have estimated that 15,000 tons of C02 can be saved with close to 3,000 vehicle deliveries in a year due to higher stackability. As we move to making our planet greener, small incremental steps are driving our advocacy and business practices which are closer to a sustainable planet. I will be sharing more as we bring to light more sustainable ambitions in network rollouts by going green with digital.

Do get in touch with us to find out more and about how we support sustainable network rollouts.