T-Mobile has topped Green America's sustainability scorecard for the third year in a row.
The nonprofit released its wireless scorecard on clean energy use and reduction of greenhouse gasses, but it was focusing more on the bottom than the top, leading with the news that Verizon was at the bottom of the list.
T-Mobile leads due to its plan to reach 100% renewables by 2021, while Verizon trails due to what Green America said is only an estimated 3-5% renewables, though it has announced a new wind energy project that should boost that number.
Sprint was in second place given its goal of 100% clean energy by 2025 and its first project to provide 30% renewables. But given the merger of the number one and two wireless carriers — at least in terms of renewables — T-Mobile has signaled it will issue a new joint plan for 100% renewables.
AT&T gets credit for acquiring over 1.5 gigawatts of renewables since 2018, or what Green America said is an estimated quarter of its total use. But it got demerits for "the only telecom without a public target or timeline on clean energy."
"Verizon is supporting the transition to a greener grid by making substantial investments in renewable energy. We have set an ambitious goal to source or generate renewable energy equivalent to 50% of our total annual electricity consumption by 2025 and working toward achieving this goal by developing green energy at our own operations and by facilitating the development of renewable energy through long-term power purchase agreements," said the company in response to the scorecard. "Verizon is also actively working to improve the energy efficiency of our operations, including our global network, with the goal to be carbon neutral in our operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 2035 and will be announcing an approved science-based target no later than September 2021.
"Today we announced that we've joined The Climate Pledge - the commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early - which gives us another opportunity to work together with like-minded organizations to expedite our combined efforts."
