Since cell phones first became popular, people have been pleading with cell phone makers for chargers that would work for more than one model, and now it looks like mobile makers have finally heard the cry.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), which represents more than 750 of the world’s cell phone providers, announced on behalf of itself and 17 mobile operators and manufacturers a pledge to implement an industry-wide standard for a universal charger that would work for future mobile phones. While the most obvious benefit of the plan for consumers is the convenience of being able to more easily access a charger that would work with their cellulars, the environmental aspect was an equally driving factor in creating the initiative.

How would a universal charger aid the earth? One of the primary ways is in the issue of replacement phones; there were over 1 billion mobile phones sold in 2008 and 50-80% percent of those were replacements for consumers’ current cell phones. With a universal charger–or universal charging solution (UCS), as the GSMA has identified it–people could purchase a new cell phone, but continue to use the charger they already owned. That would mean the elimination of between about 56,000-90,000 tons of replacement chargers per year, saving non-renewable resources and cutting down on the use of potentially-harmful substances.The UCS would also be more energy-efficient than the vast majority of current chargers with an estimated 50-percent reduction in standby energy consumption.

The target for the new universal charger is January 1, 2012, with hopes that by that point the majority of all new mobiles will support a universal charging connector and most new phone chargers will meet the high energy-efficiency standard. To unite the charging process, Micro-USB will be used as the common charging interface.

Already on-board are most of the major cellular companies, including AT&T, LG, Samsung and T-Mobile, but you can expect the list to grow as the initiative gathers more attention.

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