National regulatory authorities (NRAs) for telecommunications in Europe face different challenges to prioritise environmental initiatives and drive the sector towards more sustainable practices. Such challenges include the growing energy consumption of data centres and the need for harmonised indicators to compare sustainability data.
Most NRAs agree that they need a clear legal mandate entrusting them with environmental powers, as well as harmonised horizontal measures (e.g. through a code of conduct) to ensure that NRAs tackle the most pressing sustainability issues in the sector.
Only two NRAs have a specific legal mandate allowing them to collect environmental data. However, the number of NRAs with legal responsibilities for the environment could rise to four.
This Cullen International report presents data on the current environmental powers of telecommunications NRAs, their main challenges regarding environmental sustainability and their current sustainability priorities.
The report reflects the input and participation of 20 European NRAs, interviewed in the period from July to September 2025: RTR (Austria), BIPT (Belgium), HAKOM (Croatia), OCECPR (Cyprus), CTU (Czech Republic), DIGST (Denmark), ECPTRA (Estonia), Arcep (France), BNetzA (Germany), EETT (Greece), NMHH (Hungary), ComReg (Ireland), RRT (Lithuania), MCA (Malta), NKOM (Norway), ANCOM (Romania), RÚ (Slovakia), AKOS (Slovenia), CNMC (Spain) and Ofcom (the UK).
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