Green network index (GNI)
The GNI is a global, data‑driven benchmark that measures the environmental sustainability of mobile and fixed telecom networks. Developed by GSMA Intelligence, the index provides a single, comparable score that captures how efficiently networks use energy and resources, how effectively they decarbonise, and how sustainability aligns with network performance and availability.
The industry’s most comprehensive effort to date to measure and compare network sustainability at scale, covering
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Additional case studies
What is the Green Network Index?
A single score. A clear sustainability signal. The Green Network Index translates complex sustainability data into a 0–100 score, enabling consistent comparison across markets, technologies and operators. It addresses a long‑standing industry challenge: the lack of a unified, holistic measure of environmental sustainability for telecom networks. The GNI is designed to:
- Highlight best practices and improvement areas
- Complement existing ESG and sustainability reporting frameworks
- Enable benchmarking across operators and countries
- Support year‑on‑year performance tracking
How the index works
Data is sourced from operator submissions, GSMA Intelligence datasets, and publicly available information. All operator‑level results are fully anonymised, ensuring confidentiality while enabling robust benchmarking.
The Green Network Index is built on nine normalised indicators, grouped into three core pillars that together reflect both environmental impact and network effectiveness. Each indicator is scaled from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger performance. A weighted average produces the final GNI score.
Methodology overview
Pillar 1: Energy and carbon efficiency
Measures how efficiently networks consume energy and manage emissions, accounting for differences in scale, traffic and technology mix.
Pillar 2: Renewable energy usage
Assesses the extent to which networks rely on renewable and low‑carbon energy sources across operations and infrastructure.
Pillar 3: Network performance and availability
Ensures sustainability progress is evaluated alongside service quality, recognising that greener networks must also remain reliable, resilient and performant.
Insights and use cases
For mobile and fixed network operators
- Benchmark environmental performance against peers
- Identify priority areas for efficiency gains
- Track progress over time using a consistent metric
- Support internal sustainability strategies with data
For policymakers and regulators
- Compare sustainability outcomes across countries
- Identify leaders and laggards at national level
- Inform evidence‑based policy and infrastructure planning
For investors and industry stakeholders
- Gain a transparent, comparable view of network sustainability
- Complement ESG disclosures with quantitative benchmarks
- Understand sustainability performance without revealing operator‑specific data
GNI Year 2 Members
GSMA Intelligence is deeply grateful to all participating network operators for their valuable contributions. We would like to sincerely thank China Mobile (CMCC), HKT (Hong Kong Telecom), Singtel (Singapore), Optus, Telkomsel, Globe Telecom, AIS, Airtel India, Openserve, Turkcell, Zain (across multiple networks), and BNET.
Their engagement and expertise provided highly insightful input, particularly in shaping and refining the methodology.
Beyond their technical contributions, they have been exceptional partners throughout the process, offering constructive feedback, practical perspectives, and a strong spirit of collaboration that significantly strengthened the overall work.
About GSMA Intelligence
GSMA Intelligence is the definitive source of global mobile operator data, analysis and forecasts. Its datasets cover every operator group, network and MVNO worldwide, delivering one of the industry’s most comprehensive and trusted data foundations.
The Green Network Index reflects GSMA Intelligence’s independent role and analytical expertise in supporting the industry’s transition towards more sustainable networks.