Sustainability for telecoms is a journey without end

ADVA has set itself ambitious carbon emission reduction targets. The policy serves its long-term business interests, it says, as doing nothing will be very costly.

ADVA became, in 2019, only the fourth company in Germany to achieve approval for its emissions target to limit global warming to 2oC above pre-industrial temperatures.

Klaus GrobeLast year ADVA adopted more stringent emissions targets to limit global warming to 1.5oC, with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) organisation approving its programme.

Trimming half a degree centigrade may sound minor but the resulting targets become far more challenging, says Klaus Grobe, director, sustainability at ADVA.

“Since there are massive non-linear physical processes in the background, that leads to massively more aggressive reduction targets,” he says.

If ADVA’s 2019 targets required a 20 per cent reduction in emissions from its car fleet and electricity needs, now they are to be reduced to a third by 2032.

“It’s a huge step,” says Grobe.

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Sense and sustainability

What causes someone to change roles, to turn to sustainability after years as a distinguished engineer? An interview with Klaus Grobe of ADVA; the second in a series of articles about work.

Klaus Grobe spent nine productive years as part of the Advanced Technology team at ADVA. 

Grobe had authored 150 academic papers, issued 25 patents, and had published, along with co-author Michael Eiselt, a textbook on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) when, in 2015, he decided to switch roles and become ADVA’s director of sustainability. 

Two factors influenced his decision: one was the importance he attached to the topic of carbon emissions and global warming, the second was a sense that it was time for a change. 

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that being a technologist had become boring but it wasn’t that exciting anymore,” says Grobe. “I was looking for something new and perhaps more relevant.” 

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