MTN Nigeria Boosts Climate Action With 6.4% Emissions Cut

In September 2025, Nigeria strengthened its climate goals, committing to reduce emissions by 32% by 2030 while promoting greener jobs, innovation, and a fair transition to a low-carbon economy. Before then, MTN Nigeria was working to expand its own climate efforts. In its 2024 Sustainability Report, the company disclosed an 11% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2021 levels. That progress has continued. 

In its newly released 2025 Sustainability Report, the company’s operational emissions fell by 6.4%, driven by investments in cleaner and more efficient energy solutions.

The company’s climate efforts are anchored on Project Zero, MTN’s long-term strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. In 2025, the techco invested NGN10.1 billion in the initiative and recorded savings of about NGN8.5 billion. The programme built on work done in 2024, when MTN replaced 86 outdated cooling systems with more energy-efficient units across data centres, switch centres, and telecom sites. In 2025, the company expanded its strategy further by replacing diesel-powered systems with gas-powered electricity and inverter solutions, while also increasing its solar-powered rural telephony sites from 194 to 229 to improve connectivity in underserved communities.

The progress, however, has occurred within stark realities. Diesel made up 58.11% of the techco’s total energy consumption in 2025, far exceeding gas-powered independent power producers at 23.63% and electricity from the national grid at 18.04%, with renewable energy contributing just 0.05%. This is not merely an environmental challenge but a financial one. MTN estimates that powering its nationwide network with diesel costs more than NGN60 billion every year. Nigeria’s power sector is marked by persistent grid instability, with 12 national grid collapses reported in 2024 alone, conditions that continue to force telecom operators to lean heavily on generators to sustain network operations.

Notably, MTN Nigeria was one of only four Nigerian companies (alongside Seplat Energy, Access Bank, and Fidelity Bank) that published inaugural financial reports using IFRS S1 and S2 sustainability reporting standards as early adopters, well ahead of the mandatory compliance deadline. More than one-third of MTN Nigeria’s major suppliers have also aligned with the company’s long-term environmental goals, focused on reducing emissions across its supply chain and operations. 

Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Karl Toriola, described the 2025 report as “an important milestone in our commitment to IFRS S1 and S2-aligned disclosure and accountability,” adding that sustainability remains central to the company’s long-term value-creation strategy. In presenting the 2024 report, Toriola had similarly anchored the company’s ambition to the dual imperatives of building business resilience and unlocking long-term value a consistency of message that suggests the techo’s climate commitments are not a seasonal gesture but a structural shift, even if the road to net zero remains long and diesel-drenched.