Podcast: Vodafone taps IoT to reduce carbon emissions

Erik Brenneis, head of IoT for Vodafone, joins the Light Reading podcast to discuss growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) market, how IoT can be used to further corporate social responsibility goals, and how technologies like blockchain are shaping the future of IoT.

"It's a significant market today – there's roughly 12 billion IoT devices in the world," says Brenneis. "We have 118 million IoT devices on our global network … We expect the IoT market to more than double over the next ten years." The expansion of 5G and private network deployments will also be key in supporting growth in the IoT space, he adds.

In addition to providing forecasts for the IoT market, Brenneis discusses how Vodafone's customers are utilizing IoT to meet their sustainability goals and reduce carbon emissions. Vodafone recently announced its own corporate social responsibility goals – last year, Vodafone Business said that the service provider's total global carbon emissions will be "net zero" by 2040.

Editor's note: In the podcast, Brenneis says that Vodafone's networks will be powered by renewables by 2021; Brenneis is referring to Vodafone's European networks only.

You can find all of Light Reading's editorial and custom audio programs on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud or Spotify.

— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading