Ahead of COP26, the global climate change conference, on 31 October;

Robert Pritchard, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, offers his view on what enterprise service providers should do:

“With the world’s politicians (well, most of them), media and enterprises set to descend on Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in less than a week’s time, questions will be raised in all industries as to who will be the ‘good COPs’ and who will be the ‘bad COPs’.

“In the enterprise telecoms sector, every service provider now has a position on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, but having a position does not equate to delivery. Companies need to articulate, prove and demonstrate their sustainability commitments if they want to be a ‘good COP’ – and continue to win business.

“The ESG value/supply chain stretches from the end customer to the service provider and equipment manufacturers. We all have skin in this game, so, to make credible assertions, enterprise service providers need to have demonstrable and independently measurable commitments to addressing the climate crisis. No measurement – no credibility.

“When service providers proffer their ESG strategies, they need to show a commitment to these issues from senior management to ‘the man in the van.’ Increasingly, customers demand this – and enterprise seems to be ahead of governments and regulators on these challenges when it comes to actual delivery.”