A Greenpeace India report just published – "Dirty Talking – Case for telcom industry to shift from diesel to renewable" – highlights the damaging effects of diesel generators on India's economy and environment and calls on Bharti-Airtel – the country's telecoms giant and one of the largest consumers of subsidised diesel – to clean up its act by shifting its network towers to clean, renewable energy and not dirty diesel.
Over the last decade, with the huge increase in foreign investment, India's telecoms market has become the second largest in the world; and, it looks set to overtake China for the number one spot.
But, as is so often the case, planning and strategy have become the usual casualties of growth and expansion. The industry now relies heavily on diesel generators to meet an energy demand estimated to be twenty-six billion units by 2012 and mitigate against the inadequacies of India's power grids.
Such ad hoc solutions are putting enormous strain on India's economy as well as its environment and the industry pumps over six-millions tones of CO2 from its state subsidised diesel generators into the atmosphere. The diesel subsidies alone cost the Indian government Rs. 2600 crore (about $575m) per year.
Join our call for Bharti-Airtel to stop exploiting state subsidies and polluting the environment by leading the way and showing the rest of the industry that clean, renewable energy is an option.
To read the full report and find out more, click here.