Ericsson's CEO addresses UN Secretary General in conjunction with the World Business Summit on Climate Change

In support of the UN Global Compact Caring for Climate initiative, Ericsson's CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg addressed UN Secretary Ban-Ki Moon at an official meeting in Copenhagen. Mr. Svanberg said a new 21st century infrastructure is required to significantly contribute to the creation of a carbon-lean economy. "We must move away from dealing with emissions after they have already occurred, and focus instead on moving ideas, not people, with broadband being society's new highways.

"A large scale offsetting of CO2 emissions will require new ways of conducting business and new ways of living, and will also require large scale investments in Information and Communication technology (ICT). This sector could offset societal CO2 emissions by as much as 15 percent by 2020, and with an innovation-driven climate agenda, Ericsson estimates that this figure could be even higher. Ericsson's contribution is to provide the foundation for low-carbon services and solutions, through mass deployment of mobile and fixed broadband networks. Thus, leadership for Ericsson means growing the business while reducing carbon-related impacts", said Carl-Henric Svanberg.

Mr. Svanberg also spoke at the first plenary session of the World Business Summit on Climate Change, addressing industry and government leaders. The message to the global business community is that companies can turn the climate challenge into profitable opportunity and make a significant contribution to combatting climate change. To governments and regulators around the world, the message is that effective legislative and regulatory frameworks should make markets work for the climate. The results of the World Business Summit on Climate Change will be presented to the Danish government, host of COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009, and to world leaders negotiating the terms of the next international climate treaty.

"Today investments to reduce CO2 emissions of­ten only result in marginal improvements, or even increased emissions, due to an overall unsustainable development. In contrast, low carbon communi­cation solutions which instead can be seen as "21st century infrastructure" can contribute to direct emissions reductions and also pave the way for further reductions by supporting a long-term sustainable development, Mr. Svanberg concluded.