Honest Mobile is our favourite planet-friendly network.

With all of us streaming, downloading, texting and constantly online, the tech industry’s carbon emissions are now higher than the aviation industry’s. So if you want to cut your mobile’ s carbon footprint - and potentially your phone bills - then you can’t go wrong with the UK’s only carbon negative mobile network, Honest Mobile.

Please note: this is a sponsored post and we have been paid for the content. However, Green Salon only works with companies that we believe are doing good things for the planet, animals and people.

Did you know that using your phone for 3.5 hours a day for a year emits the same amount of carbon as flying to Rome and back?*

Every time we check a text on our phone, take a selfie or watch a TikTok reel, we emit a tiny amount of carbon. It seems like nothing in the scheme of things but with 7.7 billion smartphones in use globally, it adds up. It’s part of the reason why the technology industry now accounts for more than 3% of global emissions - higher than aviation.

Luckily, I found I didn’t need to go cold turkey on my smartphone when I signed up to the UK’s only carbon negative mobile network, Honest Mobile**, a B-Corp business at the forefront of cleaning up mobile phones’ contribution to climate change.

Even more luckily, in the process of doing my bit to reduce the emissions from my smartphone, I stepped into a new world of mobile phone provision that I never thought existed. What’s more, it’s all come at a significantly lower cost than I was paying before.

So is Honest Mobile too good to be true?

Let’s start with the cost:

At my previous mobile phone provider, I was paying £36 a month for an unlimited data plan, and was convinced that I was entangled in a contract to pay off a smartphone that added yet more money on to my monthly payments.

While Honest Mobile’s cheapest rate is £12.15 for 4GB on a 12 month contract, I was attracted by their £25 a month unlimited plan. I decided to investigate my contract which was as easy as texting INFO to 85075 . In under a minute I found out I could leave my contract by simply paying off the remaining amount for the smartphone in one go.

But, wait, it got better… I then discovered that with Honest Mobile my bill was going to go down each month by 5% each year until it was 30% cheaper.

So, hang on, my mobile phone bill was going to go down not up?

How about ease of switching?

As I’m naturally pretty lazy, the next issue for me was the hassle of switching from my old provider to Honest Mobile. According to research from 2010, we are more likely to get divorced in our lifetimes than change our bank account and the same statistic could be applied to my relationship with my mobile provider which had lasted decades longer than any of my romantic relationships.

Still, the lure of the £25 a month unlimited plan drove me onwards. In the event, Honest Mobile sent me a SIM card, I inserted it, downloaded their app and started the registration process which was not that tricky but nevertheless, being a bit of a technophobe, I panicked and got on to their customer services.

How friendly is the customer service?

It was at this point that I kicked myself for staying in a dysfunctional relationship with my previous mobile phone provider for so long. Within seconds of me entering my panicked request for help on the Honest Mobile chat function, an actual human responded to me in a calm and kind manner and sorted out my confusion within a couple of minutes.

She also assured me that I could keep my original mobile number and, if I was not happy with Honest Mobile, I could leave at any point with no financial penalties. This human touch impressed me so much that I joined up my whole family there and then.

So how does Honest Mobile** compare to the competition?

So how good’s the coverage?

Honest Mobile does not have its own network, so piggy backs on Three’s network, which covers 99.8% of the UK. I’ve actually not noticed the coverage being better or worse than my previous provider. And though I’m no tech whizz, as Honest Mobile customer service have discovered, even I’m impressed by the fact that their 5G is the fastest in the country.

What about the added extras?

Unlike Vodafone and EE, Honest Mobile has free EU roaming which is a boon to have for those lovely lazy train journeys across Europe that I do less often than I’d like. And being able to tether all my devices to my mobile’s hotspot means that I don’t ever get caught out without a signal for my laptop when I’m out and about.

And now for the sustainability part:

I was so taken with Honest Mobile’s value-for-money that it almost made me forget why I’d decided to sign up in the first place - their other values. As a sustainability coach I check companies’ eco-credentials before I recommend them and I was impressed with Honest Mobile’s.

They carbon offset the CO2 emissions generated from my streaming, texts, calls, charging and phone manufacture - twice over. While they do this partly by planting trees, tree planting is not a permanent way of storing carbon - nor does it happen quickly. So they also use Direct Air Capture, which is a way of sucking CO2 out of the air right now, and Biochar which locks up carbon for hundreds of years.

Most importantly, they are working hard to reduce their carbon footprint in the first place by opting for low energy solutions wherever possible as well as giving people the option of having a greener phone in their hand.

So, what are you waiting for? Cut your mobile phone’s carbon footprint and cost by ordering one of their SIMs now.

Use code GREENSALON50 to get 50% off your first month.

We analyse each brand for their commitment to sustainability but we are not a certification body, nor are we auditors, and we have taken the approach that we trust brands to tell the truth about their sustainability policies, practices and plans.

Affiliate disclaimer: ❀ indicates affiliate links with brands to help fund the Directory so that we can research further sustainable brands. This does not affect the price you pay.

* Based on figures from Mike Berners-Lee’s book, How Bad Are Bananas?

Ready to embrace a greener lifestyle? How our directory works is a great place to start!

Want to become part of our green living community? Sign up to our newsletter for tips on going green and special discounts from our partner brands.