Vodafone is on track to source its European mobile and fixed network with 100% renewable electricity within the next year. The carrier said it will push to replace fossil fuels with energy from wind, solar, or hydro sources across its 11 European markets.

The pledge comes after the company’s $88 million investment in energy-efficiency and renewable projects for base stations, data, and switching in a move to hasten its transition to clean energy. As a result, the carrier said its annual energy consumption dropped by 186 gigawatt hours (GWh), despite ongoing growth in data usage.

“Our accelerated shift to 100% renewable electricity on our European networks will change the way we power our technology for good – reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, helping our customers manage their resources more effectively, and reduce their carbon emissions while helping to create a healthier planet for everyone,” Vodafone Group Chief Executive Nick Read said in a statement. “As society rebuilds and recovers from the COVID-19 crisis, we have an opportunity to reshape our future sustainably to ensure that recovery does not come at a cost to the environment.”

Within the next 12 months around 80% of the energy used by Vodafone’s networks will be sourced from national electricity grids via power purchase agreements and green tariffs. The remaining 20%, supplied by Vodafone’s landlords on buildings and other infrastructures, will be covered by renewable energy guarantees of origin (REGO) certificates.

The mobile giant’s Europe-wide Green Gigabit Net pledge brings forward a previous commitment made in 2018 – after joining the Climate Group’s RE100 initiative – to have its fixed and mobile networks fully powered by renewable electricity by 2025. The Climate Group in partnership with CDP launched RE100 in 2014. It's focused on forming a coalition of global enterprises committed to 100% renewable electricity to scale up the demand and delivery of renewable power.

Vodafone, upon joining the RE100 initiative, committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its own network operations by 40% by 2025. Complementary to its 2021 renewables goal, the carrier also announced an ambitious new target to cut a cumulative total of 350 million tons of carbon emissions – a number equivalent to the U.K.’s total annual carbon emissions for last year – by 2030.

This migration, according to the carrier, will be “largely delivered” by IoT services such as logistics and fleet management, smart metering, and manufacturing activities.