UK telecom company O2 recently finished measuring the extent of its greenhouse gas emissions, and claims to be the first telecom company to have its carbon footprint verified by the Carbon Trust. Not unexpectedly, the bulk of that footprint comes from the energy required to power its voice and data network. Here’s the money quote, from Environmental Leader:

The analysis found a one-minute phone call made on the O2 network emits 3.6 grams of CO2e*. This means a five-minute call is the carbon equivalent to boiling water to make one cup of tea, O2 said. Transferring one megabyte of data, meanwhile, emits 11 grams of CO2e.

There’s a joke about talking and hot air to be made... But, again, as I am oft wont to say, all media and communications have their impacts, and kudos to O2 for trying to raise public awareness of the carbon cost of their mobile network. What does O2 plan to do with this info?

It now plans to develop a tool that will allow customers to calculate the CO2 emissions associated with the services they use, provide comparison to various activities and put their every carbon impact into context.

This, after releasing its Think Big Blueprint sustainability strategy earlier in the year which had one good component (transition to renewable energy) and one dodgy one (stop offering free chargers with mobile phones).   * Carbon dioxide equivalent.