- Deutsche Telekom is intensifying its commitment to sustainability
- Strategic partnership with Utopia, Germany’s largest online community for environmentally conscious consumption
- 'Change-maker Manifesto' signed
- Deutsche Telekom relies on sustainability as a growth market
Deutsche Telekom is breaking new ground in sustainable communication: the Bonn-based Group has agreed a strategic partnership with Utopia, Germany's largest Internet platform for sustainable living and strategic consumption. Telekom CEO René Obermann underscored this partnership in Berlin today by signing the Utopia Change-maker Manifesto.
With more than 65,000 members in Germany, Utopia is the largest Internet platform for sustainable consumption in Germany. Deutsche Telekom hopes to gain an open and honest discussion from this pioneering cooperation. The exchange of ideas, expectations and insights will supplement the important dialog with experts and rating agencies and is intended to assist Deutsche Telekom on its way to becoming a leading company in the field of sustainability.
"Sustainable management is deeply embedded in our corporate culture, not just a nod in the direction of something fashionable. Part of this involves getting rid of the holier-than-thou image still associated with this issue. The partnership with Utopia will assist us in this. And so for me there is no contradiction between acting sustainably and earning money at the same time. On the contrary: We should regard the economic power in this development as an opportunity," says René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG.
As the first Dax-30 company to sign up to the 'Change-maker Manifesto', Deutsche Telekom is sending out a clear signal. In this voluntary commitment, Telekom sets out in ten categories both concrete objectives and measures for sustainable corporate management. The 'Change-maker Manifesto' includes topics from waste avoidance through energy efficiency and climate protection to social responsibility. Just as important are, of course, the issues of openness and transparency, through regular documentation and publication of the results, for example in the Group's CR report.
Here Utopia sees itself in the role of a mediator between companies and customers and wishes to give help and advice. Dialog provides the opportunity for companies and customers to get to know one another in a completely different way and motivate one another to go for sustainable activities.
"It is the declared objective of Utopia to break up the old fronts in environmental discussions in order to inspire as many consumers, companies and politicians as possible about sustainability and to assist them on their way there. Deutsche Telekom is the first German DAX company to set out clear and measurable objectives for itself with the 'Change-maker Manifesto', taking on a pioneering role and communicating it aggressively, and we support this.
We got to know Deutsche Telekom and its CEO, René Obermann, as extraordinarily reliable, open and serious regarding this issue and we hope this good example catches on and other companies make more active use of their enormous opportunities to shape the course of events," says Claudia Langer, the founder and head of Utopia.
Deutsche Telekom has considered sustainability as part of its corporate culture for more than fifteen years now, not least as a significant element of its recently introduced new strategy.
According to estimates, sustainability and sustainable solutions could potentially generate a business value of up to EUR 84 billion in the German ICT sector over the next ten years. 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. For Deutsche Telekom, this means restructuring its business and driving up revenue from growth areas through investments in intelligent networks and its portfolio of IT, Internet and network services. According to forecasts, state-of-the-art ICT solutions will enable substantial reductions in CO2 emissions. In Germany, up to 25 percent, or about 207 megatons could be saved by 2020 (Smart 2020 study).
On Thursday, as well as signing the 'Change-maker Manifesto', René Obermann also introduced the new Telekom Green Car policy which is valid from today. By the end of 2015, CO2 emissions from new automobiles are supposed to fall to an average of 110 grams/km. That corresponds to an average consumption of 4.2 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers. This defined objective thus is well below the target figure for climate protection objectives of the European Union, which is aiming for 120 grams/km by 2015. In addition, the Green Car policy contains a definition of five vehicle categories with CO2 emissions varying between 110 to a maximum of 190 grams/km. These vehicle categories will be revised annually and adapted to the technical progress made by the vehicles, and to the reductions in CO2 emissions already achieved. A bonus/penalty system for company vehicles supplements this program. In other words, anyone traveling in a climate-friendly way will save money. On the other hand, the owner of a company car with higher CO2 emissions will be hit in his wallet. An additional eco-training course for staff car users, free of charge, completes the Green Car policy. Experience shows that this can reduce consumption by an average of eight percent.
In addition to the Green Car policy, Deutsche Telekom has also agreed a large-scale partnership with Deutsche Bahn and announced this on Thursday as well. Effective immediately, all Deutsche Telekom employees on business trips will travel CO2-free with Deutsche Bahn: based on the annual total travel of Deutsche Telekom staff, more than 128 million kilometers, Deutsche Bahn will feed the same amount of electricity from renewable sources – i.e., hydroelectric, wind and solar power – directly into its network. This partnership alone will allow Deutsche Telekom to play its part in avoiding no less than 5,700 tons of CO2 in the future.
About Deutsche Telekom AG Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 151 million mobile customers, over 38 million fixed-network lines and more than 15 million broadband lines. 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 over 50 countries and has around 260,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 64.6 billion in the 2009 financial year – almost half of it outside Germany. (As of December 31, 2009) About Utopia AG Utopia AG operates the leading Web portal for strategic consumption and sustainable lifestyle in German-speaking countries (www.utopia.de). Utopia gives consumers information and orientation and helps them to design their lives in a more sustainable way. In addition, Utopia assists the process of establishing a dialog between consumers, companies and the world of politics on ways to make society more sustainable. With over 65,000 registered members, Utopia is by far the largest community in this field. Alongside Utopia AG, there is a second pillar, the Utopia Foundation, which aims to accelerate change in society towards greater sustainability and to support those driving social change. The Utopia Foundation is headed by a Board of Trustees made up of innovators from the public, academic and corporate worlds. Two and a half years after its launch, Utopia is the website of choice and a much sought-after partner for companies, NGOs and politicians on all issues involving sustainable consumption.