Telecoms Must Rethink Climate Resilience

Telecommunications companies need to plan for climate risks across the wider digital infrastructure system, not just within their own networks, according to Dana Haidan, chief sustainability officer at Virgin Media O2.

Haidan writes that the UK had its hottest summer on record in 2026, while the first nine months of the year brought heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and flash-flood warnings. Climate projections suggest such conditions will become more familiar. Extreme weather can affect several connected services at once: heat can raise cooling demand as the power system faces strain, while floods can damage equipment and block engineers’ access to sites.

Telecoms networks also rely on transport links and other critical infrastructure. Haidan says operators’ individual disruption plans need to work when one event puts several dependencies under pressure. She calls for closer collaboration with government, regulators and other infrastructure industries, and says climate adaptation should be treated as a strategic national issue.

She also argues that climate risks should shape long-term investment, network planning and executive governance. Because telecoms infrastructure can operate for decades, businesses can use climate scenario planning to make decisions that remain sensible across a range of possible conditions and identify when a different approach may be needed.

Haidan says measures that reduce network energy use can also improve efficiency and reliability, and that resilience, adaptation and net-zero efforts should be considered together. The source article ends while listing possible forms of cross-sector cooperation, so it does not provide the full list.