Grameenphone won the HSBC-The Daily Star Climate Award in 2011 in Green Operations category for its responsible approach to energy conservation and reduction of carbon footprints.

Widely known as GP, the country's largest mobile operator promises "Kache Thakun” (Stay Close), which, it believes, should not come at the cost of irreparable damage to the environment. As such, it initiated the “Building Greener Network” project in 2007 to explore greener and more efficient alternatives and has been carrying on the scheme.

Its first priority -- as far as its environmental roadmap is concerned — is to “take responsibility for the excess carbon dioxide generated by its own operation”. By 2015, Grameenphone aims to reduce 40 percent of its emission.

“Millions of people in Bangladesh still live in the rural areas that are off-grid [without electricityl. The base stations in these locations are run by diesel generators, which consume a lot of energy,” said Nafis Ehtesham, acting head of GP's Climate Project, Technology Division. “Apart from its high cost, a generator affects the environment adversely by emitting carbon dioxide.”

In addition to the base stations in remote and off-grid areas, there are more than 1,500 sites that also require considerable diesel usage. Nafis stated that each off-grid site consumes around 11,000 litres of diesel each year, which is equivalent to 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

To address this issue, Grameenphone, on an experimental basis, installed its first two solar sites at Ajmiriganj, Sylhet, in December2007.

"It [experiment) was a huge success,” recalled Nafis. “In the two off-grid areas, the generators ran for a total of 20 hours during the whole year, whereas in other off-grid sites diesel generators are run for around nine hours a day,” he said.

Inspired by the success, Grameenphone in 2009 set up 12 more solar sites, and currently it has 134 sites run by renewable energy.

According to the largest mobile operator, once 160 sites become “green”, some 1.7 million litres of diesel will be saved each year, which is equivalent to reducing emission of 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Grameenphone has also installed DC ventilation systems by replacing air conditioners, which requires 40-50 percent of the site's total energy requirement. The DV ventilation system cuts the operating hours of air conditioners and thus reduces energy consumption as well as carbon dioxide emission.

“We have saved 87,109,440 kWh electricity and over 53 crore taka through implementing this project,” said Nafis.

Grameenphone believes that people can live a greener life by adopting 3R principle: Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.

“We are encouraging our respective companies and partner organisations to develop and implement a climate and environmental strategy. We also need to inspire and encourage others through our advocacy programmes," Nafis continued as he spoke of the company's overall vision regarding “green business”.

Grameenphone will now concentrate on installing solar plants at the grid-connected sites too, thereby eliminating the use of generators altogether in the next phase.

Some other energy-saving initiatives are also being developed to make the network “greener”, said Nafis.

Grameenphone hopes that its environment-friendly model can serve as a case study for the telecom industry across the world.

“Climate change and the dangers it poses to our country and the world are real, and we definitely have to shoulder some responsibilities,” added Nafis.