1. T.F. Guerin (2008) “Our Future, Our Legacy, Our Way”
Presentation to the Green Broadband Stream at Broadband World Australia Conference, 5-7 November, Sydney.
“OUR FUTURE, OUR LEGACY, OUR WAY”
Broadband World Australia1,
Sydney, 5-7 November 2008.
by
Dr. Turlough Guerin2
Group Manager Environment, Telstra Corporation Limited
To ensure our future is low carbon, as a nation we need to alter our current legacy which is reliance
on fossil fuels. An important contribution to getting there is to build a high-speed, ubiquitous
broadband network. This will enable flexible working, efficient deployment of field staff and fleets, and
video conferencing, all of which will help to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Currently, per person, per annum we contribute 28 tonnes of greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere. Our challenge as a nation is clear. We have 40 years to reduce this to 3
tonnes per person, per annum. Climate change and global warming are not just
environmental issues, but forces that will shape how we will do business. In this
paper, I will address how Telstra is using broadband to reduce its own carbon
footprint and why broadband will enable our customers and the nation to do the same.
The effects of climate change are not going away. Why? In the past 12 months
climate scientists have confirmed our worst fears – early modelling vastly
underestimated the impacts. There is now a greater than 60% chance that the world
will experience a 2°C increase in temperature by mid this century, which will lead to
more severe droughts, heatwaves, storm events and sea level rise. But there is one
thing we can be 100% sure of. Our future will be carbon-constrained. That also means
there will be a cost on carbon.
A colleague from the banking industry told me last month that their courier company
has already passed on a fuel surcharge of 15%. Across the bank’s entire operations,
courier costs have increased by a million dollars. And this is only one of their
suppliers. Businesses and governments must act to reduce their exposure to this crisis.
Let me paint a picture of the working lives of many of us in corporations and
governments that illustrates our dependence on fossil fuels. We typically drive or use
public transport to get to work 5 days or more a week. During an average week, it’s
not uncommon for us to spend 10-15 hours in transit or in traffic. We fly interstate at
least every 1 to 2 months. When flying, for example the Sydney – Melbourne route,
we lose 6-8 hrs through travel and waiting. And that is assuming our flights are on
time.
1
Keynote address for the Green Broadband Stream.
2
Contactable by email at turlough.guerin@team.telstra.com

2. T.F. Guerin (2008) “Our Future, Our Legacy, Our Way”
Presentation to the Green Broadband Stream at Broadband World Australia Conference, 5-7 November, Sydney.
We may also do some international travel which multiples these losses further. And
we typically do our work in dedicated offices that have air conditioning, heating and
lighting regardless of whether we’re there or not.
Imagine a different working life. Where work was something we did, not somewhere
we went. Where video conferencing was the norm, not the exception. Where we
didn’t consider the office as the normal place or only place to do business. Where we
collaborate with team members or customers over the internet in real time. How can
this kind of future be possible? High-speed, wide-reaching broadband is how and is
one of the keys to unlocking a low carbon economy.
Here’s an example of how Telstra is using its Next GTM network to remove carbon
from our own business. Trimble GeoManager3 is a product offered to our enterprise
and government customers to improve the efficiency of their field work forces and
fleets. This product relies on field staff being connected via broadband. It finds the
shortest distance between jobs so work can be scheduled in the most time-effective
and spatially-efficient way. It leverages GPS technology with the additional feature
that it sends a regular positioning signal to a satellite. It allows work schedulers to
match the closest field staff, with the needed skills, to the next nearest job. When I
recently spoke with Telstra’s Executive Director of Network Enterprise Services, the
role responsible for rolling out Trimble, he acknowledged that the fuel savings are
significant. Trimble is now reducing travel kilometres between field jobs by 6%.
When running a large field work force and vehicle fleet, like ours, this equates to
millions of litres of fuel saved each year. But the greatest value in implementing
Trimble has been the recovery of lost time from the field workforce. Telstra has seen
an increase of more than 20 percent productivity in the field work force since
installing Trimble. This is transformational change: Increased productivity and
reduced carbon footprint.
A study released by our CEO last October, “Towards a High-Bandwidth, Low
Carbon Future”, quantified the emissions that could be avoided across the national
economy through the application of just seven broadband-enabled opportunities,
estimating a 5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 20154. Organisations
including the Climate Group and the Australian Computer Society, have since
independently reached similar conclusions to those of Telstra5. These studies point to
the leveraging power of the telecommunications and ICT industry. These studies
show that this leverage could be as great as 9 times6. This means that for each tonne
of greenhouse gas the telecommunications and ICT industry emits from operating its
own networks and equipment, it can enable the avoidance of up to 9 tonnes across the
economy. This leverage or multiplier effect is a major strategic advantage for any
industry, particularly for operating in a carbon-constrained economy.
3
For details of Trimble GeoManager refer to Telstra Enterprise and Government’s homepage:
http://www.telstraenterprise.com/productsservices/mobility/remoteandmobileassetsmanagement/Pages/
TrimbleGeoManager.aspx
4
Commissioned by Telstra and prepared by Climate Risk P/L and published at:
www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/csr/reports.cfm#climate in October 2007.
5
See www.acs.org.au and the Smart 2020 study at
www.theclimategroup.org/assets/resources/publications/Smart2020Report.pdf
6
Assumes 3 Mt emitted by the telecommunications sector in Australia (Telstra contributes to 50%
emitting 1.5Mt) and reported by Turlough Guerin in “Smarter, greener, together: Towards a High-
bandwidth Low-carbon Future”, presentation to the 2nd Annual Climate Change Summit, 23-24 July
2008, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

3. T.F. Guerin (2008) “Our Future, Our Legacy, Our Way”
Presentation to the Green Broadband Stream at Broadband World Australia Conference, 5-7 November, Sydney.
With increasing consumer concerns about green washing and expectations from
shareholders and customers that companies demonstrate good governance, the science
underpinning the environmental benefits of broadband is paramount. It is for this
reason that my team, Telstra’s Corporate Environment Group, are deploying life cycle
analyses7 which use the scientific method to measure the end-to-end impacts of our
services on the environment. Already we have measured the impacts of online billing
compared with conventional billing, and compared the environmental impacts of
teleworking with office-based working8. This financial year, we are determining
Telstra’s carbon footprint at the business unit level and measuring our carbon
footprint onto our largest customers8.
Our way, Telstra’s way, is to enable the reduction and avoidance of emissions across
the economy and not just our own9. Consider for a moment what we are enabling our
customers to do now:
• Enabling the more efficient deployment of field work forces, linking field staff to
jobs in the shortest possible time with least travel distance using Trimble
mentioned earlier.
• Enabling flexible working, with knowledge workers working from home more
than they do in a business office and collaborating with team members from
across the city or across the globe in real time. This is saving our customers in
travel but more importantly enabling a reduction in office space, which is a large
contributor to running costs and to a business’ carbon footprint10.
• Enabling replacement of business air travel with high definition in person, video
conferencing11.
Our strategy is straight forward. We build and operate high-speed, wide-reaching
broadband networks.
As a nation, we will need to reduce our emissions more dramatically than previously
thought if we are to avoid the impacts of dangerous climate change. Even through the
few examples mentioned, imagine what we can achieve together as a nation. Our
current legacy of high greenhouse gas emissions per capita is based on growth
coupled to use of fossil fuels. This will no longer serve our needs as an economy, as a
society, or that of the environment. Australia now needs to invest in infrastructure that
will enable a change in the way we work, the way we live and how we use energy.
High speed, wide-reaching broadband will be an important part of our way to get
there.
7
Based on the ISO standard 14040 series and peer reviewed by international experts in life cycle
assessment.
8
Telstra’s Corporate Responsibility Report 2008 (November).
9
Telstra is reducing its own emissions and savings from this past year are more than 25,000 tonnes.
Cumulative energy savings actions over the past 8 years are now resulting in financial savings of 14
million dollars (AUD) for the last financial year alone (Telstra’s submission to the Carbon Disclosure
Project 2007 www.cdproject.net).
10
Telstra’s life cycle assessment of teleworking has demonstrated the majority of greenhouse gas
savings come from office consolidation.
11
Several large global companies have publically reported commitments to reducing business air travel
by up to 20% made possible by high definition video conferencing.

4. T.F. Guerin (2008) “Our Future, Our Legacy, Our Way”
Presentation to the Green Broadband Stream at Broadband World Australia Conference, 5-7 November, Sydney.
Turlough Guerin – Biography
Dr Turlough Guerin is an environmental professional who has worked in corporate environmental
management roles in Rio Tinto, Shell and is currently Group Manager Environment for Telstra. Telstra
has been voluntarily reporting its carbon emissions for 8 years. Through its cumulative energy
efficiency initiatives over this time, the company has delivered $14 million in avoided energy costs in
the past financial year. In 2008, Telstra was awarded the Environmental Responsibility category winner
in the Communications Alliance and CommsDay Awards. In 2007, Telstra was a finalist in two
categories at the 2007 Banksia Environmental Awards.