Sustainable products
Our products connect people, help conserve resources and improve medical care.
State-of-the-art technologies open up new opportunities, particularly when it comes to leading a more sustainable lifestyle – encompassing everything from more efficient industrial production processes, energy supply, and health care all the way to agriculture. Technological advances provide all of us, including consumers, with a whole host of options for making our lives more sustainable. This is exactly what we focus on at Deutsche Telekom. We are keen to systematically harness the diverse opportunities cutting-edge technologies offer to achieve greater sustainability. That is why we continuously work to develop innovative and pioneering solutions.
Sustainability – from production to disposal
To ensure we can offer consumers and business customers sustainable products, services, and solutions, we take the entire life cycle into consideration.
Sustainability performance is one of the key assessment criteria when selecting our suppliers.
In the manufacturing process, we are, among other things, making greater use of sustainable materials and inks, not to mention eco-friendly and resource-efficient packaging.
When it comes to the utilization phase, independent certifications such as the Blue Angel and TÜV Green Product labels help customers recognize whether a device is especially energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. The Fairphone is also the first device in our product portfolio to bear the Fairtrade seal of approval. Thanks to rental models, for example for routers and receivers, devices can be used for a particularly long time and thus in a way that reduces resource consumption and emissions. Moreover, we award our sustainability label to products and services that meet the strict criteria and offer a particular ecological or social added value.
For business customers, we offer comprehensive products and solutions that help cut down on resources and emissions by boosting efficiency.
Many of our products and services also play a role in achieving the societal objectives featured in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations in 2017. As we already cover 100 percent of electricity requirements in many of our national companies with renewable energy, our customers can surf the web on a climate-neutral basis and thus play their part in achieving SDG 13 “Climate action”. From 2021, this will apply to all Group companies worldwide.
Efficient collection processes and collaborations with certified specialists for refurbishing and recycling also ultimately ensure that used products and resources can be put to further use as far as possible, true to the concept of a circular economy.
Measuring progress
A sustainable product portfolio plays a significant role in shaping business models that are fit for the future. Based on clear key performance indicators (KPIs), we conduct an annual review of what proportion of our Group’s revenue can be attributed to sustainable products. Similarly, we calculate the positive CO2 effects that customers generate by using our products. We commission an external agency to review our KPIs and report on them in our annual CR report.
