Orange Wholesale was created with a bold promise to put Corporate Social Responsibility at the heart of its service commitments, and help customers focus on their users while minimizing their own carbon footprint. On a daily basis, this means that all of our 3,300 global staff are playing their part in pursuing Orange’s goal to reach “net zero” carbon by 2040, with several meaningful milestones planned or reached.
François Moreau de Saint-Martin,
EVP Strategy - Orange Wholesale
How can customers rely on Orange Wholesale to meet their own energy efficiency and carbon footprint targets ?
When our customers work with us, they use infrastructures and networks that are managed responsibly. We have implemented circular economy and purchases of decarbonized energy for example. Also, they rely on a player which pools its infrastructures and networks, so carbon emissions are ultimately shared between the different users. This represents their scope 3* with us as a supplier.
How is Orange Group’s impetus regarding CSR passed on to Orange Wholesale?
We will be net zero carbon in 2040. It’s a very strong ambition that comes from the top and involves all the Group’s employees. First, we have a major project about indicators. Orange Wholesale will be able to produce accurate extra-financial reporting of our environmental, social and governance performance early 2025 for our 2024 data. Another facet is to be able to project our carbon emissions more reliably, based on what we are planning for our business, the action plans we are putting in place, and the expected decarbonization of our power supply in the countries where we are present.
What are our main action tools in terms of recycling?
At Orange Wholesale, in addition to recycling submarine cables, we are developing circular economy for active network equipment. For example, we have provisioned a significant and growing proportion of our own network equipment as second-hand equipment.
Is it possible to reduce the carbon footprint of telecoms services despite the explosion in data traffic?
Yes, we’re succeeding in following trajectories that enable us to reduce carbon emissions despite the increase in traffic. This is what "net zero" is all about. This means dividing our carbon emissions by 10.
* Scope 1 emissions - from owned or controlled sources; Scope 2 - indirect emissions from purchased energy; Scope 3 - indirect emissions in the value chain of the reporting company
When it comes to CSR, our destinies within Orange Wholesale have always been intertwined. Our aim is to put CSR at the heart of all our activities.
By eco-designing* all our offers, providing customers with tools to calculate our products' carbon footprint, developing responsible sourcing strategies, with consistent communication and stakeholder engagement, we aim to be a trusted partner in achieving our customers' environmental and social goals.
*Eco-designing a product means considering its environmental impact from stage 1 of its design
Agnès Pégorier,
Marketing - Anticipation & Unified Communications - Orange Wholesale International
Nathalie Chevrier,
Head of communications and CSR - Orange International Networks
We started using the new generation of mega submarine cables, carrying up to 40 times more capacity at a significantly lower energy cost per megabyte. We also have introduced Ethernetics, which uses Artificial Intelligence to optimize and reduce energy consumption of our PoPs by 12%. Our ambition for 2024 is to be able to measure the carbon footprint of all our solutions ourselves, and to go and train everyone in-house.
With our ‘carbon calculator’, we can compile a carbon footprint assessment of our main offers for our customers. This is very important. A customer said to me, with starry eyes, "I’ve been asking all operators for a carbon footprint assessment, and you’re the first to provide me with one".
Being involved in this program gives enormous meaning to our commitment and resolve to drive this transformation, to be a voice on CSR issues and above all to take action in the transformation of the company, to become more virtuous with regards to the planet and society.
Alain Masson,
CSR Program Director, Orange Wholesale France
