Climate change strategy

When it comes to our overall energy footprint, TELUS categorizes energy consumption (kWh) in three main categories (based on World Business Council for Sustainable Development Greenhouse Gas Protocol):

• Scope 1 or direct energy sources (such as fuels that include natural gas, gasoline, diesel, propane and heating oil)
• Scope 2 or indirect energy sources (such as electricity)
• Scope 3 or other energy sources (such as air travel).

We continue to approach our strategy by focusing on three areas: mitigation, adaptation and innovation.  

Mitigation

Our goal is to reduce absolute energy consumption by 10 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 over 2009 levels. Below is a list of 2011 highlights that are moving us toward our goal:

• Formed an energy management leadership team made up of senior leaders across numerous business units to oversee the implementation of our climate change strategy
• Eliminated 55.5 million kWh of energy waste in our operations resulting in the avoidance of approximately 22,000 metric tonnes of CO₂e emissions. That’s approximately:
  • $5.98 million saved in operational costs
  • The equivalent of 3,800  cars taken off the roads
  • The equivalent of not powering 1,800 Canadian households.

Adaptation

As part of ongoing environmental and situational monitoring and in support of our climate change strategy, the TELUS Business Continuity Office assesses the impact of climate change on TELUS facilities and business operations. The output of this assessment is to incorporate climate change strategies and plans into business continuity planning processes, including mitigation, response and recovery activities.

The goal for 2012 is to conduct a formal climate change impact assessment and to incorporate climate change impact assessments into business continuity site planning processes to ensure adequate protection and readiness of TELUS facilities and business operations.

Innovation

Our objective in 2012 is to incorporate our products and services into our innovation strategy with respect to climate change.  For example, there are currently more than 1.7 million digital TV boxes (also known as set-top boxes) in use and each one could be using more energy than a small refrigerator. In 2011, TELUS partnered with BC Hydro to offer British Columbians an energy efficient option. TELUS is now offering ENERGY STAR® qualified set-top boxes in B.C. These devices use 30 per cent less electricity than a standard box.  The energy efficient models, manufactured by Cisco, will use less than 180 kilowatt hours of electricity each year – much lower than the 280 kilowatt hours a year consumed by the standard models.

Furthermore, TELUS will invest in 2012 in two intelligent Internet Data Centres that will allow substantial growth in efficient, reliable and secure cloud-based computing services for Canadian consumers and businesses. These facilities will be built with the following key features:

• Modular design allowing space and power to be added as required in 10,000 square foot increments
• Uptime Institute Tier III rating for reliability
• Build to LEED Gold standard
• Advanced cooling system that allows free cooling using outside air for 98 per cent of the year
• Industry-leading design for electrical and cooling efficiency with a Power Usage Effectiveness rating of 1.15
• Minimal use of batteries for back-up systems
• Near closed-loop cooling system that dramatically reduces water consumption when supplemental cooling is required
• Connection to TELUS’ reliable national computing grid allowing workloads to be moved to available capacity across the country thus optimizing the use of capacity and reducing peak loads.

Additionally, the following are examples of our innovative energy management program accomplishments:

• TELUS Mobility team test piloted new heating, ventilation and cooling projects at numerous sites and launched network utilization projects resulting in the elimination of close to 1 million kWh of waste
• TELUS Real Estate Operations implemented building consolidation projects and launched TELUS’ Work Styles program resulting in a reduction of almost 20 million kWh in energy consumption
• TELUS’ National Service and Infrastructure Support team retired legacy equipment, launched network optimization projects and improved efficiency within existing infrastructure resulting in the elimination of close to 3 million kWh from the network
• TELUS Business Transformation server rationalization projects yielded close to 450,000 kWh of energy waste elimination
• TELUS Network Transformation projects such as installation of temperature control systems, infrastructure upgrades, data centre free-cooling projects and HVAC upgrades resulted in just over 9.5 million kWh of energy waste elimination
• TELUS actively engages with external blue-chip companies through a sustainability network, where we discuss and share best practices.

TELUS Garden

TELUS Garden is a one million square foot downtown Vancouver development that will radically transform an aging block of prime real estate into cutting-edge residential, retail and commercial space. This investment will create one of the most technologically and environmentally advanced properties in all of North America, providing a 46-storey, 455,000 square foot residential tower and a 24-storey, 493,000 square foot office tower.

TELUS Garden represents our commitment to our future friendly® brand promise and our triple bottom line approach to business. Targeting a Platinum and Gold LEED certification for our office tower and a Gold LEED certification for the residences, respectively, TELUS Garden will be a premier work and living space demonstrating our commitment to innovation. Some of the building features will include:

• Harnessing heat within the building to be reused in the office and residential spaces
• Use of photovoltaic panels
• Storm water management design
• Exterior solar shades
• High-efficiency heating and cooling
• Vegetative green roof technology
• Use of renewable materials in construction
• Waste recycling
• Electric car charging stations.

To learn more about the most sensational real estate development in Vancouver’s recent history, watch now.

Our 2011 results

TELUS’ energy use in 2011 increased by one per cent over our 2010 consumption. Our footprint is made up of direct energy (gas, natural gas, diesel, propane) and indirect energy (electricity) for our owned real estate properties, cell tower sites and fleet and remote generator fuel. It does not include our leased office spaces, retail properties or TELUS Health and Financial Services.  Our indirect energy consumption increased by three per cent, while our direct energy consumption decreased by four per cent. Throughout 2011, we focused our efforts on eliminating waste energy from our operations and identifying further efficiency improvements and reductions. Although we have tracked our TELUS International operations energy consumption for the past two years, this year we are having our consumption at our International Philippines operations independently assured.

We also measured our energy efficiency in terms of kWh/customer connection in 2011. Our energy efficiency improved by 2.8 per cent in 2011 over 2010, going from 88 to 86 kWh/customer connection.

Carbon disclosure

TELUS remains committed to reducing our carbon emissions by 25 per cent by 2020. Our emissions increased in 2011 by three per cent. We attribute this increase largely to the fact that the provincial emission factors increased in Alberta and British Columbia. This means that the electricity grid in these provinces became increasingly reliant on power that emits a higher intensity of carbon dioxide equivalents.  If the emissions factor values were to remain the same as they were in 2010, our emissions would have actually remained in line with 2010 levels.  Our direct emissions, made up of our fleet fuel, remote generator fuel and fuel used at our leased properties, declined by three per cent overall. Our indirect emissions increased by five per cent and our total emissions from our domestic operations increased by three per cent overall. When we include our international operations the change remains at a three per cent increase.

Our Scope 3 emissions, defined as air travel emissions, have continuously declined since 2008. In 2011, these emissions dropped by 1 per cent over 2010. TELUS has implemented an active flight reduction program and encouraged an increased use of our internal teleconferencing and videoconferencing technology.

We also measured our CO₂e-efficiency in terms of CO₂e/customer connections in 2011. Our CO₂e-efficiency improved, just as our energy did, however, not at the same rate. Our CO₂e-efficiency improved by 0.4 per cent in 2011 over 2010, going from 0.0287 to 0.0286 tonnes of CO₂e/customer connection.

Conference solutions and reducing our energy footprint

Since we began reporting on this metric in 2001, we have seen continuous improvement in our emissions avoidance. In 2011, TELUS’ internal and external teleconferencing solution use increased by 25 per cent over 2010. We have previously calculated the associated carbon savings with the teleconference and videoconference usage, however because we have an active Work Styles program encouraging team members to work remotely, the traditional methodology no longer accurately reflects the realities of the present work environment. Because we have calculated the carbon avoidance from our Work Styles program, including the savings in these calculations would represent double accounting. We do, however, know our conference technology allows customers and team members to reduce emissions related to travel.