China Telecom has frequently used "tricks" to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, and comprehensively promote green and low-carbon development

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China Telecom's green lighting helps Guangxi's underground parking lots become green and intelligent, with an energy saving rate of over 70%, and China Telecom's 5G RedCap helps Baosteel build a fully connected factory and promote the green and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the steel industry...... In recent years, China Telecom has actively implemented the national "dual carbon" strategy, promoted the "1248" green and low-carbon development model, and frequently developed "tricks" for carbon reduction in green capabilities, and promoted green development through innovative practices.

Green and low-carbon development has become an inevitable choice for development

"There is no substitute for the ecological environment, and it is difficult to survive if you don't realize it." Green development is not only related to the quality of economic development, but also to the quality of life of everyone. Practice tells us that green and low-carbon development is the fundamental solution to ecological and environmental problems, and we must unswervingly follow the path of civilized development with production development, affluent life and good ecology.

Green and low-carbon is especially true for the communication industry, which has a profound impact on economic development and people's daily life, as the main construction team of modern social infrastructure. According to relevant statistics from the National Energy Administration, in the first half of 2023, the electricity consumption of the mainland's information and communication industry accounted for about 1.2% of the total electricity consumption of the whole society. Therefore, the green and low-carbon development of information and communication infrastructure is not only an inevitable requirement for the transformation and upgrading of the information and communication industry and high-quality development, but also an important means to support the economy and society to achieve the national "dual carbon" goal.

Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, the mainland's information and communication industry has continued to carry out energy conservation and emission reduction work, especially during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, relevant departments have issued a series of policies to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction of information and communication infrastructure. In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Implementation Plan for Promoting the Green and High-Quality Development of New Infrastructure such as Data Centers and 5G, clarifying the main targets for the green and low-carbon development of data centers and 5G in mainland China by 2025. In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the Guidelines for the Construction of Green and Low-Carbon Standard Systems in the Communications Industry (2023 Edition), which clarified the goals for the construction of green and low-carbon development standards for the industry and the key directions for the formulation of standards, and established a green and low-carbon ad hoc project team (SP4). Tao Qing, spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau, said recently that next, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will guide information technology facilities such as data centers and communication base stations to expand the proportion of green energy utilization.

In this context, on the basis of the original "1236" action plan, China Telecom has expanded and upgraded the "1248" green and low-carbon development model through actual exploration and iteration, and guided by the "1248" dual-carbon action plan, it has continued to strengthen eight green actions, including green new cloud network, green new operation, green new empowerment, green new technology and green new energy, and will run green and low-carbon through the whole process of enterprise production and operation. In 2023, the company achieved good results in energy conservation and carbon reduction, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 13 million tons through co-construction and sharing and various energy-saving measures, and the total greenhouse gas emissions per unit of telecommunications business decreased by 19.6% year-on-year, helping the whole society reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 100 million tons.

Innovate green and low-carbon application products

Jiangsu Zhongtian Kebao 5G+ "Green Smart Factory" has realized the three-dimensional green smart factory, and the comprehensive energy saving rate is expected to reach 13%; Tongwei Solar Jintang Base in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, relying on 5G customized network, runs at high speed in all links of the production line, reducing energy consumption by about 30%; Fujian Quanzhou Kemu Smart Factory has realized less manpower in the production workshop, intelligent management interaction, and green and low-carbon production with the help of 5G and industrial PON dual gigabit networks...... Behind these cases, one thing in common is that digital technology can help green development.

China Telecom consciously integrates its own development into the overall situation of comprehensively promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of society, injects green elements into the development of the industry through cloud-network infrastructure, and empowers the green development of the economy and society. In addition, China Telecom has firmly established and practiced the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", made full use of the advantages of digital technology, and continued to make efforts in ecological protection, pollution prevention, energy conservation and carbon reduction, so as to promote the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.

The prosperity of forests and grasslands leads to the prosperity of ecology. In Ningxia, based on the technical advantages of e Cloud hyper-converged services and AI algorithms, and relying on the Ningxia Smart Forestry and Grassland Cloud Platform, the Ningxia Forestry and Grassland Bureau has realized the intelligent management of forest and grass resources at all levels in the region, dynamic monitoring, fire risk early warning, and greening analysis, and improved the ability of forest and grass supervision and decision-making.

Migratory birds return one after another, showing ecological beauty. In Hubei Wanghu, China Telecom officially undertook the informatization project for the protection and restoration of wetlands of international importance in Wanghu, and built a scientific research and monitoring information management platform for Wanghu wetlands. Relying on China Telecom's all-optical network and Internet of Things coverage advantages in the Wanghu area, it collects and integrates biological, ecological, meteorological, water quality and soil data of the reserve, and relies on big data analysis technology to provide comprehensive information support for real-time monitoring of biodiversity, water quality and environment, so as to realize multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and all-weather uninterrupted monitoring of terrestrial aquatic wildlife, meteorological environment and water quality in the nature reserve, and provide strong support for the scientific management and sustainable development of biodiversity in the Wanghu wetland.

In addition, China Telecom has launched six green products, including green cloud disks, green cloud computers, and zero-carbon data centers, and launched a green point system for carbon reduction behaviors to help users form a green and low-carbon lifestyle and lead green consumption, and has built green environmental protection solutions such as energy consumption and carbon emission management platforms, air/water pollution source supervision systems, and biodiversity monitoring platforms, with more than 3,000 signed projects, serving customers in government, industrial manufacturing, construction and other industries, and empowering ecological protection, Pollution prevention and control, energy conservation and carbon reduction and other application fields to help the green and low-carbon transformation of thousands of industries.

Promote low-carbon operations and build a green cloud network

With the continuous development and improvement of communication infrastructure, the high-speed network and massive data brought by it mean greater energy demand, so it is necessary to promote green cloud network. Ke Ruiwen, Chairman of China Telecom, emphasized at the 2023 Digital Technology Ecology Conference that in accordance with the requirements of "green, low-carbon, safe and controllable", the digital information infrastructure in the intelligent era must not only focus on computing power and large models, but must pay close attention to green and security, and consider the endogenous nature of green and security in the early stage of construction planning. China Telecom has been strengthening green and low-carbon technology research, promoting the green development of cloud networks, and achieving the coordination and unification of enterprise development and environmental protection.

In Hunan, there is a data center cooled by lake water, the Dongjiang Lake Big Data Center, that is, a fully natural cooling data center cooled by direct supply of lake water, and in Hainan, China Telecom has cooperated with Hailanxin to develop a submarine data center project, which places the data cabin on the seabed and uses seawater resources for cooling...... The use of natural resources to reduce energy consumption is a microcosm of China Telecom's efforts to promote the construction of green data centers. China Telecom has actively promoted green infrastructure, built the country's first 100% clean energy traceable zero-carbon data center in Qinghai, achieved 314 days of natural cooling a year, PUE less than 1.2, and reduced carbon emissions by more than 300,000 tons annually......

In addition, China Telecom actively promotes green and smart infrastructure operations. On the one hand, we will gradually retire old equipment with high energy consumption, small capacity, and low integration, and on the other hand, apply the self-developed smart AI energy-saving system to digital infrastructure to achieve precise energy saving for 4/5G base stations, communication equipment rooms, and data centers.

China Telecom will give full play to the driving role of scientific and technological innovation in industrial development, and integrate green and low-carbon throughout the whole process of development to help build a beautiful China.