At Nokia, sustainability is embedded in everything we do across our operations, products and services. This, combined with the positive effects of mobile technology for consumers, enables us to make a real difference to the environment and to driving sustainable development.
Nokia’s China operations epitomise Nokia’s philosophy and commitment to the environment, both through our Green building headquarters and our manufacturing facility, both housed within the greater Xingwang Industrial Park. This Industrial Park in Yizhuang, Beijing houses Nokia and its key suppliers such as Sanyo Energy, Ibiden Electronics, Inpac and Foxcomm Precision Components together as tenants to produce mobile phones under stringent environmental standards for manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales, and product end-of-life. International logistics company, DHL, manages all the park logistics.
A recent research study by analyst firms THINKTANK Media, SOL and SDR, labelled the Xingwang Industrial Park as “one of the largest and most complete industry value chains in the world.” The study found that the Xingwang Industrial Park achieves on an annual basis:
Ø A decrease in energy consumption equivalent to nearly 45,000 tons of standard coal.
Ø A reduction in Carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 88,000 tons.
Ø Water conservation of half a million tons.
Ø A reduction of packaging equivalent to the volume of sustainable logging of more than 1,500 hectares of Chinese red pine forests.
Ø Direct economic benefit of the energy conservation alone of almost 100 Million US Dollars
The Nokia headquarters for the Greater China region, as well as one of our global R&D bases, are housed within the Nokia Green Building, stretching over 70,000 m2 and housing over 2000 employees. The building, which was designed in accordance with LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), boasts several features that result in 37% less water and 20% less energy consumption compared to similar commercial buildings.
This is achieved through several design features such as ‘breathing glass curtain walls’; environmentally friendly parking areas; roofing materials with a high Solar Reflectance Index to dissipate heat, central energy control systems for air conditioning, lighting and projectors, amongst others. The building is the first New Construction to receive the LEED Gold certification for a commercial office in China. This accomplishment is recognised by Nokia across the globe and several other offices have adopted many of the sustainable practices from the China campus.
In Middle East and Africa, Nokia also takes sustainability and our commitment to the communities in which we operate seriously. Nokia employees take a personal responsibility for their impact on the environment by travelling less and using technology such as video conferences to conduct meetings as an alternative. Several employees also use public transport, cycle or walk to work to minimise carbon emissions. Nokia also encourages employees to work from home when possible to reduce the number of commuters. In our offices, we have minimised the need to print documents by having many automated systems in place. We also practice responsible recycling of materials such as paper, plastic and glass used in the offices, and we encourage employees to recycle their old phones, or to switch their phone chargers to more energy-efficient ones.
However, our greatest efforts in the region have been on generating consumer awareness on the issues of energy consumption and recycling. An estimated two thirds of the energy consumed by a mobile device is lost when the device is fully charged and unplugged from the charger but the charger remains connected to the mains (this is called the “no load” consumption of a charger). In May 2007, Nokia was the first mobile manufacturer to put alerts into the phone to remind consumers to unplug the charger after use. And over the last decade, Nokia has reduced the no load energy consumption of our chargers by an average of 80%.
Nokia also operates the world’s largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme, across an estimated 5000 Nokia Collection points in 85 countries. In MEA, the program has been launched successfully in many countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Consumers are able to bring old, unwanted and broken mobile devices and accessories, not only from Nokia but any manufacturer, to the Nokia Customer Care points where they are collected for responsible recycling. All materials in Nokia phones can be used again to make parts for new products such as bicycles, kettles or even dental fillings, or to generate energy. In this way, nothing is wasted.
The sad truth is that only 3% of current mobile phone owners claim to recycle their devices. This stat was confirmed in research studies conducted in several countries across the globe including Nigeria and UAE. If all of the around 4.6 billion people using mobile phones globally recycled at least one of their unwanted devices, this could save 370,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce gases to the same extent as taking 6 million cars off the road. This is significant proof point and highlights the need for continued consumer education if we are to build a sustainable future. Nokia will continue to be a pioneer in this area.