Our Environmental Commitment
At Consolidated Communications, we are committed to preserving and sustaining the natural environment and we know our actions have direct and indirect impacts on our local, regional and global footprint.
In 2023, we continued our focus on sustainable business practices with increased attention on managing our environmental impact metrics through a new tracking platform tied to our utility invoicing system. This platform allows us to monitor and track not just our spending on energy,
but the sources and environmental impact of our energy choices.
Upgrading our infrastructure
As Consolidated emerges as a fiber-first company, we are providing tremendous benefits to our customers. Beyond these enhanced services, we’re also taking advantage of the environmental opportunity that fiber expansion provides to build a more sustainable network. Optical fiber itself is made entirely from readily available materials, reduces power consumption of our network and is more reliable, reducing truck rolls to
address service disruptions, further reducing our carbon footprint.
The impact of fiber broadband is exponential, giving each customer served the power to reduce their own carbon footprint by empowering customers to work, play and communicate digitally while avoiding emissions related to traditional means of travel for meetings and gathering.
When workers log in from home using their reliable, high-speed internet connections, they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half.
Tracking our Environmental Impact
Measuring our resource use is crucial to effectively managing our environmental footprint. As we align our tracking systems, Consolidated is setting benchmarks on our greenhouse gas emissions, water use and more. For the year ending Dec. 31, 2023, Consolidated reports the following environmental metrics:
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
- Scope 1 GHG Emissions: 2,454 mt CO2e
- Scope 2 GHG Emissions: 60,340 mt CO2e
- Total Electricity Usage: 203,331 MWHs; 15% reduction from 2022
- Renewable Energy Usage: 32.4% of electricity used from renewable sources
- Total Water Usage: 25,230,887 gallons; 8% reduction from 2022.
Detailed information on our environmental goals and objectives related to energy, waste, our fleet and more is available in Consolidated’s 2023 ESG Report.