- Company intends to take on leadership role in corporate responsibility
- Deutsche Telekom makes daily life easier with core business
Deutsche Telekom is well on the way to adopting an international leadership role in terms of sustainability and corporate responsibility. This is also highlighted in the new 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report "We take responsibility": The company is making it easier for its customers and suppliers to participate in modern everyday life with sustainable and international products, processes and services. In this way, Deutsche Telekom is setting new standards and demonstrating continuity in the ongoing improvement of the Group, both in Germany and at international level.
Ecological issues for the Group, such as smart metering and smart grid, and economic topics, such as the rollout of sustainable investment and sustainable procurement, are presented along with social and societal focal points. Examples of the latter include the youth initiative "Yes, I can!", the Deutsche Telekom Foundation with its educational topics and the "Seniors Communicate" initiative from T-Mobile Czech Republic, which trains senior citizens to use mobile phones.
"We want to be an international leader in sustainability. As such, sustainability is an important part of our corporate culture and corporate strategy. We stand by our responsibility, and also believe that there are enormous business opportunities here at the same time," explained René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. According to estimates, the ICT industry in Germany can exploit potential business worth up to EUR 84 billion in the next ten years using sustainable solutions. This is based on so-called "SMART" concepts - that is, intelligent networks and solutions for sectors like facility management, logistics, energy management, industrial automation, and also on services like cloud computing. At the same time, it is possible to cut CO2 emissions by 207 metric megatons in these areas, corresponding to approximately 25 percent of total annual CO2 emissions in Germany. Deutsche Telekom is setting a fine example here. With one project alone, aimed at deactivating older technology in the network that is no longer used to capacity, the Group cut CO2 emissions by 90,000 metric tons (a saving of EUR 37 million) in Germany last year. Additional packages of measures will be introduced in future and developed by the Climate Change Group, a newly-established internal expert committee. This group will also specify the national and international climate protection targets.
As the report also makes clear, Deutsche Telekom is opting for greater sustainable investment. "Sustainability is becoming increasingly important to many investors and customers," said Obermann. "Already, over five percent of our shares are held by shareholders for whom sustainability is particularly important. I would like to significantly increase this proportion by 2012."
The CR Report also documents significant improvements in terms of supplier management and sustainable procurement. The Group increased the number of global audits of sub-contractors from four to 50, more than a twelvefold increase. In this way, Deutsche Telekom is underscoring its role-model function in terms of sustainability. Deutsche Telekom is making its contribution, using its core technical expertise to ensure that the population can participate in all technological aspects of life in Germany as it becomes a gigabit society - in the key areas of eGovernment, eHealth, broadband and network rollout. These technical possibilities have very specific benefits for citizens in their everyday lives. In this context, Deutsche Telekom is one of several enablers, making modern, sustainable product use possible, in line with the requirements of the SMART 2020 sustainability study.
With KPIs and precise, measurable structures, the 2010 CR Report is a significant step for Deutsche Telekom on the way to becoming one of the global leaders in CR reporting. Key sections of the report’s Strategy and Suppliers chapter have been certified by the consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), providing a clear seal of quality. This development and the report's greater international focus will be pushed further ahead with in future. There are already numerous examples, such as the Business Highlight section on the rollout of the CR strategy at T-Mobile Netherlands, that provide a good overview of the Group’s overall commitment. An important additional aspect is the new A+ rating, the highest achievable level in the international Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. This initiative, launched by a non-profit organization with UN links, examines in particular the transparency and credibility of corporate reporting.
Other important tools presented in the CR Report include the CR database and the CR program, which documents the report's milestones: Using specific action and performance areas such as "Low carbon society" and "Sustainable products and services", Deutsche Telekom presents binding KPIs in this program. Sustainability performance is measured against these figures from the CR program.
Deutsche Telekom is also taking a fresh approach to sustainability communication. As such, the online report can be personalized. The Group is also seeking more direct dialog with customers and suppliers. The Group has already taken an important step forward in terms of direct communication with its customers through the sustainability campaign "Big changes start small", launched in September 2009 (www.millionen-fangen-an.de). The strategic partnership with Utopia, Germany’s largest Internet platform for sustainable living and strategic consumption (65,000 members), is a further milestone in the intensification of direct communication. Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermann underscored the importance of this cooperation by signing the Utopia Change-maker Manifesto in April.
The CR Report as a certificate and printed document in German and English is closely linked with the detailed online report (www.telekom.com/cr-report2010). For example, content from the printed version is presented in detail in the online report. Another special feature of the online report is the section "In dialog". Under this heading is detailed information about Deutsche Telekom’s dialog with the different stakeholder groups, such as municipalities, shareholders and customers.
Deutsche Telekom's 2010 CR Report is available on the Internet at: www.telekom.com/cr-report2010
About Deutsche Telekom AG Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 150 million mobile customers, around 38 million fixed-network lines and more than 15 million broadband lines (as of March 31, 2010). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has over 258,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of EUR 64.6 billion in the 2009 financial year – over half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2009).