ETNO's Environmental Charter
24 telecommunications companies in Europe, including Telenor, signed the environmental agreement Environmental Charter of European Telecommunication Network Operators in the autumn of 1996. The objective of the agreement is to develop the European telecommunications industry in the direction of greater sustainability. Each individual company is to reduce its own environmental impact as well as offering communications products with a positive environmental impact.

ETNO's Environmental Group
In order to follow up the charter, a special work group for the environment was set up in 1997 in which Telenor is represented. The principal areas of activity for ETNO's Environmental Group are the spreading of information and sharing of experience in the various fields of environmental work, for example:

• EU's environmental policy; the hearing of all proposals for directives, plans and programmes
• Contact with the EU commission for the environment (DG-XI), and with various European professional associations (EICTA, ETSI and others)
• Environmental management systems EMS)
• Joint environmental indicators which enable comparisons between businesses
• Concrete themes such as energy, waste, climate change, emissions, environmentally efficient purchasing, electromagnetic fields
• Annual environmental reports[!]
• Objectives, strategies and plans of action for the work group

The main working methods are:

• Quarterly meetings (with approximately 20 participants)
• Workshops every second year with approximately 50-60 participants
• ETNO's international conference on the environment and sustainability, every second year (approx. 200 participants)

• Plenary meetings in Berlin, Toledo and Budapest
• ETNO Environmental Report - 2000
• ETNO Environmental Conference in Ipswich, November 2000
• Work in a number of project groups:
  • Environmental Indicators
  • Environmental Matrix
  • Climate change (led by Telenor)
  • Raising Environmental Awareness
  • Telephone Poles Purchase and Management
  • Eco-Rating and TLC Operators
  • Stakeholder communication

Global e-Sustainability Initiative, GeSI[!]

At ETNO's workshop in France in November 1999, an interim committee was set up to prepare a platform for global environmental collaboration between the telecommunications industry, the sub-contractors, ITU (The International Telecommunications Union) and UNEP (the UN's environmental programme). The work has been in progress throughout 2000, and the result has been the development of a global network for the telecommunications industry and its sub-contractors. The new network is called the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, GeSI.

So far, the following have been prepared:

• Principles for GeSI (vision, objectives and strategy)
• Proposals for task teams and projects
• The content of a charter, through which the participants are obliged to co-operate actively in the ICT sector.
• A programme for the signing of the charter in Torino, Italy on 5 June 2001.