SECTORS / GICS-452020 / TRANSITIONS

Networking Equipment · transition pathways

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The recognised primary transition pathway for networking equipment, plus the upstream sectors networking equipment firms depend on for their own decarbonisation. A consulting firm cutting business travel still needs aviation to decarbonise; a REIT cutting tenant energy still needs the grid to clean up. These are the rate limiters.

Primary pathway

SBTi ICT sector pathway

Same pathway as IT hardware. Industry consortia (e.g. ITU-T L.1470 for ICT trajectories) provide complementary technical guidance.

Reference ↗
Decarbonisation pathways
hover to read · click to pin
03163941252020203020402050
Year readout

Hover the chart to read off Best / Realistic / Worst values at any year. Click to pin the readout.

2050 endpoint:
Best 15% · Worst 80%
ICT sector absolute emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020 · Source: SBTi ICT 1.5°C pathway, BAU growth (~5% pa traffic)
Dependant pathways· 2

Upstream sectors networking equipment firms rely on. The faster these decarbonise, the faster the firm can hit its own targets — even when it does everything in its control.

Semiconductor manufacturing

Scope 3 · cat 1

Networking ASICs, optics, photonics. Fab decarbonisation pace caps supply-chain Scope 3 reductions.

framework:SEMI sustainability initiatives, SBTi ICT
Decarbonisation pathways
0631252020203020402050
Best15%
Realistic45%
Worst85%
Fab energy + PFC emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020
Source: SEMI sustainability roadmap, SBTi ICT (covers fabs)

Power & electricity

Scope 3 · cat 11

Networking equipment runs 24/7 in customer data centres and central offices. Use-phase emissions scale with grid carbon intensity at deployment locations.

framework:IEA Net Zero by 2050 (Power), Ember Global Electricity Review
Decarbonisation pathways
0501002020203020402050
Best0%
Realistic15%
Worst60%
Grid carbon intensity · % of 2020 gCO2/kWh · base 2020
Source: IEA WEO 2023 — NZE / APS / STEPS
Decarbonisation by location — coming soon

Once we have HQ + operations location data per firm in this cohort, we'll overlay Ember grid-carbon-intensity data per country so you can see the geographical decarbonisation tailwind (or headwind) each firm is operating against.

Source: ember-energy.org · Global Electricity Review + per-country grid carbon intensity (gCO2/kWh).