Liberty Latin America aims to become carbon neutral

Liberty Latin America is studying its emissions footprint as part of plans to become carbon neutral.

The company consumes 1.89mn gigajoules annually, 25% of which comes from renewable energy, according to its latest ESG report with data from 2021.

Liberty has operations in Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, with 7.5mn wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1.6mn fixed lines and 2.8mn broadband subscriptions.

Network traffic reached 11,032 petabyte.

The company consumed close to 500GWh of electricity, as 99% of consumption came from the grid.

"We have dedicated an important period of 2021 to calculate the direct and indirect CO2 emissions resulting from the activities of Liberty Latin America," the report said.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 233,454t of CO2 equivalent, mainly from the use of grid electricity and fuels consumed by the vehicles fleet and generators. Electricity accounted for 95% of emissions and fuel for the rest.

"Given that most of the consumption occurs in carbon-intensive networks in the Caribbean and Central America, our electricity-related emissions are substantial," the report said.

This year, Liberty Latin America will collect data from the value chain to establish science-based emissions reduction targets.

In Costa Rica, the company has started this process, aiming to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% and scope 3 emissions by 35% by 2027. Most energy in Costa Rica comes from renewable sources.