OPPO pledges carbon neutrality across its operations by 2050 at MWC 2023

New Delhi, March 2 Global smart device brand OPPO on Thursday released its Climate Action Report: Climate Pledges and Low Carbon Development Strategy, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 in Barcelona.

In the report, OPPO pledged for the first time to achieve carbon neutrality across its global operations by 2050.

With technical support from global consultancy Deloitte, the report outlines five key areas in which OPPO will work towards achieving this goal low-carbon manufacturing, reducing the carbon footprint of products, investing in options that generate less carbon, utilising digital technology to manage carbon emissions, and collaborating on industry standards to address climate change.

Starting in 2020, OPPO has published a sustainability report each year to publicly disclose its plans and practical progress towards sustainability goals.

In 2022, the smart device brand completed its first global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and used this data as the scientific basis for its carbon reduction strategy, and now, in its new report, it pledges to make its operations carbon neutral by 2050, said the company.

"Achieving our goal of becoming carbon neutral will require both determination and patience. Guided by our mission of 'Technology for Mankind, Kindness for the World', we promise to pursue carbon neutrality with the same zeal and commitment that we invest in our technological innovation," said Tony Chen, OPPO Founder and CEO.

OPPO has held onto its global position as the fourth-largest phone manufacturer for two consecutive years, with users in over 60 countries and regions worldwide.

As its business grows rapidly, OPPO is equally concerned about how to reduce its environmental impact.

Among the carbon emissions generated by OPPO's various operations, factories and data centres are the two most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 62 per cent and 31.9 per cent respectively, the company mentioned.

While continuing to drive commercial growth, OPPO is also exploring innovative ways to achieve greener manufacturing and business operations.

Through energy saving and emission reduction initiatives, by the end of 2022, the company has managed to reduce 6000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its operation each year, equivalent to the amount of greenhouse gas absorbed by 3,330 square kilometres of forest in a year.

Since 2020, the company stated that it has systematically carried out a series of energy-saving upgrades to key machinery in its factories.

One such project has involved automating previously manually operated machines.

Compared with manual control, the automated equipment can be set to operate precisely according to the real-time requirement, thus reducing power consumption to the bare minimum, for example, with the automation upgrades introduced to the corner-cutting machines, power consumption has fallen by 54 per cent.

In addition, OPPO is also working on the construction of carbon-neutral data centres.

Its first self-built data centre, OPPO Binhai Bay Data Centre not only uses 100 per cent renewable energy but also continues to explore and apply cutting-edge, low-carbon technology, according to the company.

Moreover, the power consumption of data centres and their GPU server clusters is also rising significantly.A

Most traditional data centres rely on mechanical equipment such as fans and air conditioners to cool the building, which in turn consumes more energy and produces higher levels of CO2.

To improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, OPPO is deploying immersion cooling technology for GPU server clusters in its data centre.

Immersion cooling technology, which refers to the direct immersion of servers in a non-conductive liquid, directly draws the heat generated during operation away through the liquid, without the need for active cooling by devices such as fans and air conditioners.

The liquid that has risen in temperature is cooled by circulation and then returned to continue absorbing thermal energy.

The deployment of immersion cooling technology leads to a 45 per cent improvement in energy efficiency, and an industry-leading data centre power usage efficiency (PUE) as low as 1.15.

While constantly thinking about how to improve the user experience of its products, OPPO also aims to provide greener products.

The company has made sustainability a key goal in the life cycle management of its products to minimise their impact on the environment.

While designing the packaging of its products, the company said it follows the internationally recognised green packaging principle of 3R+1D (reduce, reuse, recycle and degradable).

In 2023, starting in the European market, nearly all plastics have been removed from the packaging of OPPOa¿s smartphones, making them 100 per cent biodegradable and more eco-friendly.

Approximately 45 per cent is also made from recycled fibres, sourced from recycled wastepaper or plant-based materials (such as sugarcane and bamboo byproducts), helping to reduce the demand for raw materials, the company mentioned.

The volume of electronic waste generated globally has grown by 21 per cent over the past 5 years, making it the fastest-growing category of household waste.

To tackle the problem of e-waste pollution, OPPO has established several product recycling systems and launched a trade-in service in both domestic and international markets to promote the recycling of used electronic devices.

In 2021, 1.2 million phones were recycled in China, amounting to a total weight of 216 tons.

This number rose to 1.3 million phones and 240 tons in 2022, also in the EU and other regions, OPPO is involved in the Green Dot programme as well as partnering with professional recycling firms to help recycle used products.

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