Global environment NGO Greenpeace today staged a protest against telco Bharti Airtel for not disclosing the measures taken by the company to lower its carbon emissions, including the shift towards renewable sources of energy to power its network operations.

The latest development comes after TRAI''s recommendations in April on fostering environment-friendly telecom policies where in it suggested measures to reduce dependency on fossil fuel and a format to measure carbon footprint in the telecom network. DoT is now studying these recommendations.

"The company's failure to respond specifically to key issues on their carbon and energy management has left us with no choice but to come here (at protest site) and ask them to act on their professed commitments," Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India said.

Greenpeace said it held a meeting with Bharti Airtel's representative after the demonstration but the company representative remained non-committal on their demand.

These include commitment to shift the sourcing of 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources and phasing out diesel usage in its business operations by 2015.

The NGO has called for airtel to catalyse a low-carbon economic growth, by using its brand power to advocate strong policies that promote renewable energy.

Last month, Greenpeace estimated that the diesel consumed by telecom companies for providing power at telecom towers was causing the exchequer an annual loss of about Rs 2,600 crore in the form of subsidy.

Bharti Airtel, the biggest telecom operator in terms of subscriber base, said it has started GreenTowers P7 initiative that aims at reducing diesel usage.

"The GreenTowers P7 programme is scoped for 22,000 tower sites, primarily rural areas having low or no Grid Power availability, out of which 5,500 sites have already been implemented in the first year as part of this 3-year programme," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

"Once completed, the initiative will reduce diesel consumption by 66 million litres per year with a significant carbon-dioxide reduction of around 1.5 lakhs metric tonnes per year," the statement said.

The company added it has already deployed alternate energy sources at around 1050 sites and saved 6.9 mn litres of diesel and Rs 280 million for the company.

According to the company, its Integrated Power Management System ( IPMS )) and variable speed DC generators (DCDG), has reduced diesel consumption by 1.2 mn litres and already saved Rs 47 million across almost 900 sites.