GSMA report: Southeast Asia mobile emissions rise amid data surge

A new GSMA report reveals that operational emissions for mobile operators in Southeast Asia have risen by approximately 20% since 2019. This increase is primarily driven by a 350% surge in regional data traffic between 2019 and 2024, alongside a heavy reliance on fossil-fuel-based power grids.

While Asia-Pacific telecommunications companies have increased their renewable electricity usage to 15% of their total needs, the region still trails global averages. Southeast Asian markets specifically meet only 4% of their electricity needs with renewables, with Malaysia recording 5%. Despite these challenges, some individual operators are making progress; Globe Telecom in the Philippines aims to power one-third of its operations with green energy by 2025, while Telekom Malaysia and Thailand’s True have surpassed 20%.

Regarding data centre expansion, GSMA’s head of climate action, Steven Moore, stated that energy demand from data centres is not currently a “big risk” for ASEAN telcos. He noted that unlike operators in China, India, and South Korea, telcos in this region have not yet planned significant expansions of their data centre capabilities. This is partly due to energy constraints in Singapore and challenges in building infrastructure in southern Malaysia due to pressure on local energy grids.