ILECs Recovering Old Copper Could See Carbon Benefits: Analyst

As incumbent local exchange carriers make plans to decommission their copper networks, they could see big benefits in reporting recovery of that copper as "avoided emissions" of carbon, Analysys Mason's Rupert Wood blogged Friday. Most ILECs will likely fully decommission their copper by 2035, and many well before then, Wood said. The estimated carbon cost of recycling copper from removed cables varies, but all those estimates show a far smaller carbon footprint than the carbon cost of producing carbon from ore, he said. While the operator and recycler must agree about sharing the emissions savings, copper recovery from telephone networks could be reported as avoided carbon, he said.