We want to continue evolving to live up to our commitment to responsible digitalization. We look forward to regularly keeping you informed here about new or expanded Deutsche Telekom activities and initiatives in the areas of Digital Ethics, Digital Inclusion, the Future of Work, and Climate & Resource Protection.
| Accessibility | Telekom aims to make it easier for people with disabilities to access the information and knowledge society. We offer services tailored specifically to their needs. We also review our products for accessibility and adapt them when needed. |
| AI guidelines in the Code of Conduct for Suppliers | AI guidelines are also integrated into Deutsche Telekom's Code of Conduct for Suppliers. This makes clear the high expectations for suppliers to demonstrate commitment and integrity based on Telekom values, including in matters of digital ethics. |
| AwareNessi | „AwareNessi – das Cyber Activity-Buch“ is a children’s book that addresses cybercrime. It helps promote social, economic, and political cooperation among all people. |
| Bitkom digital conference | Deutsche Telekom is a regular partner of the support network for the Bitkom digital conference "Digitaltag" and is involved in a range of activities related to digitalization. |
| Carbon-neutral events | We plan and offset events to be carbon-neutral (and select hosting partners and others accordingly). Our Event Policy defines how we offset emissions from events. |
| Certifications, reviews, and audits in data protection | To strengthen data protection and data security across the Group, Deutsche Telekom regularly carries out relevant internal reviews, audits, and certifications of business units. The company draws on a system of reviews, audits, and certifications conducted by external and internal experts. In doing so, it takes on a pioneering role: In the telecommunications industry, certifications of individual business units are still the exception. |
| Charter for Digital Networking | Deutsche Telekom chairs and helps shape the Charter for Digital Networking - a code for responsibly shaping the digital society. Its principles were developed across companies, industries, and associations in 2014 as part of the German government's National IT Summit (now the Digital Summit) and signed by more than 80 institutions. |
| Chat network "Plaudernetz" (Magenta – Austria) | Working with Caritas, Magenta connects people by phone for conversations that help address loneliness through the free chat network. |
| Citizen participation | Citizen participation is essential to how we develop digital strategies for cities & regions. We involve residents in developing the strategy - and, in turn, the city - through both offline & digital channels, helping ensure that everyone can participate. |
| CR Report | CR reporting has been an established practice at Telekom for more than 20 years: In addition to our CR Report, we publish a nonfinancial statement in our annual report each year. To identify the reporting topics that matter most to us and our stakeholders, we regularly conduct a comprehensive materiality assessment. Our reporting is complemented by up-to-date information in the Responsibility section of our website and by our „We Care” magazine. |
| Cyber Defense Center | With its new integrated Cyber Defence and Security Operations Center, Deutsche Telekom is setting new security standards for customers and its own processes. |
| Cybersecurity Sharing & Analytics | Deutsche Telekom and six other major German companies founded the CSSA association in November 2014 to better protect themselves together against cyberattacks and threats. |
| Data Privacy Advisory Board | The Privacy Advisory Board is an independent advisory body to the Deutsche Telekom AG Board of Management. It supports constructive dialogue with leading privacy experts from academia, business, politics, and independent organizations. It advises on key issues relating to privacy and data security, taking into account aspects of digitalization, social developments, and ethical questions. |
| Data Privacy tips | Concise, easy-to-understand, and quick-to-apply basic privacy tips for consumers. The series launched in 2018 and has now been fully revised. All tips are now collected in the “Sicher digital” advice section. |
| Data transparency | To use Deutsche Telekom products, customers provide data. In the Customer Center, they can view and manage their personal data. We also clearly explain on the website “Your Data at Deutsche Telekom” what data we use and how. Of course, our customers can request information about their data under Article 15 of the GDPR and have it sent to them. Telekom applies the Privacy by Design principle (see PSA process) and its own guidelines for the ethical use of AI, Big data, and IOT as early as product development. |
| DIGITAL@School | More than 600 Telekom employees across Germany volunteer with the DIGITAL@School initiative. Their goal: to prepare children for the future and empower them to actively and independently shape the digital world. |
| Digital Education and Schools | As a trusted partner, Deutsche Telekom helps schools participate in digital transformation. In addition to a dedicated Telekom@School offering of high-speed internet connections, it provides cloud solutions for virtual collaboration and knowledge management, and equips schools with laptops, screens, and digital whiteboards. |
| Digital Ethics –
The Film | A Deutsche Telekom film on digital ethics in AI: explaining the areas of life where AI already affects us today and the benefits AI can bring to everyday life. |
| Digital Ethics Consulting |
Deutsche Telekom offers a range of services related to digital ethics: an initial workshop, consulting services, and an assessment of an AI maturity level, as well as the award of an AI certification seal. |
| Digital Ethics Sales Training | Digitalization is shaping more and more areas of our everyday lives, making ethical questions about data protection and privacy increasingly relevant. Now is the time to develop an ethical mindset across your company and build lasting competitive advantages. |
| Digital media literacy | Media literacy is key to using digital media safely and confidently. But media literacy alone is not enough. We want to help ensure that everyone can take part online. For us, this also means making the internet a place where everyone can feel equally safe and where we live together by democratic rules. |
| Digital Road-Trip | Pilot project providing iPad classroom sets, including training. THE CLASSROOM BECOMES A DIGITAL LAB! Learn, test, explore, and build valuable digital media skills—all in one workshop. This project is a joint initiative of the program, the Center for Teacher Education at Leipzig University, and Leipzig University of Telecommunications, supported by the Saxon State Office for Schools and Education. |
| Digital Responsibility | The Digital Responsibility website offers numerous interviews and information on the topic. |
| Digital sovereignty | SSI (Self Sovereign Identity) enables people to retain control of their personal identity data. SSI is therefore one way to manage identity in a decentralized manner. Generating SSI is part of Digital Ethics and helps ensure Digital Sovereignty. The Telekom science podcast "Skilling me softly" takes a deep dive into the value of Self Sovereign Identitiy. |
| Digital@Work | digital@work is an internal Telekom initiative that sees the digital transformation of the workplace as an opportunity to make everyday work easier for employees and simplify collaboration with others. Numerous digital tools help you make your work more flexible in terms of time and location, and work even more efficiently with colleagues, external partners, and service providers across business units and national borders. |
| DT „Statement on Extractives“ | In this document, Deutsche Telekom describes raw materials used in digital products that pose environmental and social concerns. It commits to supporting initiatives that improve transparency in its supply chains and reduce the negative impacts of raw material extraction. It also sets expectations for suppliers regarding the responsible sourcing of raw materials. |
| Ethical AI Guidelines | Nine AI guidelines for AI processes and products, and for how they are used. They provide a clear framework for Deutsche Telekom and also encourage public discussion of AI ethics issues. The guidelines serve as the basis for a wide range of measures by Deutsche Telekom. |
| EU Code Week in cooperation with Apple | As an Apple Authorised Education Specialist, Telekom invited students to take part in EU Code Week in October 2021. At flagship stores in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Munich, and Stuttgart, as well as at Telekom Hochschule Leipzig, they could explore the world of programming and app development. |
| Activity | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Forum Digital Ethics | Deutsche Telekom's Digital Ethics Forum showcases digital ethics activities and initiatives to visitors through a virtual tour. |
| Future Proof | A campaign that empowers Gen Z to bring their passion to shaping their future work and careers. |
| Generation Together (Hravatski Telekom) | Hravatski Telekom helps older adults bridge the digital divide and become digitally connected by donating tablets to nursing homes across Croatia as part of a national digital skills program. HT employees and volunteer club members actively teach older adults how to use digital tools, opening up a new digital world that connects them with their families and friends. |
| German Federal Government Digital Summit (2017-2021) | Deutsche Telekom contributes input to and helps shape the Digital Summit, which is hosted by the German Federal Government. |
| #GoodMagenta | Replacing the existing „we care“ label, #GreenMagenta and #GoodMagenta will in the future appear on selected sustainable offerings and initiatives from Deutsche Telekom. #GoodMagenta identifies projects, measures, and initiatives that make a positive contribution to addressing social and societal challenges in the digital world. For example, in this context, we advocate for a more tolerant and safer online space for everyone. |
| “Green” Blockchain |
Through its partnership with CEYLO, Telekom contributes to the “Green” Blockchain. Its green focus aims to:
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| #GreenMagenta | Replacing the existing „we care“ label, #GreenMagenta and #GoodMagenta will appear on selected sustainable Deutsche Telekom products and services in the future. #GreenMagenta identifies products and services that make a positive contribution to climate action and the responsible use of resources. For example, we use renewable energy and enable used smartphones to be reused. |
| #GrowYourBusiness (OTE/COSMOTEL) | Free online seminars that train VSEs/SMEs on a range of digital topics via the Youtube COSMOTE channel, along with live Q&A sessions where experts offer participants tips and solutions. |
| Group Policy on Privacy | Deutsche Telekom has a Group-wide privacy policy (Binding Corporate Rules Privacy) that governs the handling of personal data to protect personal rights. |
| Group Policy on Diversity, Equal Opportunity and Inclusion | With the introduction of the new Group Policy, Group-wide work and decision-making processes are carried out in line with the established principles for diversity, equal opportunity & inclusion, creating the foundation for fair and diverse collaboration. |
| Guide to the privacy-compliant design of AI-powered business models, services, and products at DT | Guide to the privacy-compliant design of AI-powered business models, services, and products at DT |
| Guidelines for Big data & IOT | Privacy principles for IoT and Industry 4.0 have been formulated. This is part of the privacy strategy. |
| Inklusion@DT | Deutsche Telekom is committed to enabling people with and without disabilities to work together. With the action plan „Vielfalt erleben – Inklusion@DT“, the Group has completed another building block for inclusion. |
| Activity | Brief description |
|---|---|
| LEX | Learning from experts: LEX is an international employee network with around 18,000 members, where colleagues share their knowledge with one another. |
| Living Culture | Our culture and values—this is what we stand for. We do more than provide society with infrastructure. We support people reliably in every situation in life. Personally and professionally. Always and everywhere. Our mission is to make people's lives simpler and richer in ways that last. |
| Magenta Silver Ager | Addressing the challenges older people face in a digital world. Supporting the development of solutions that enable older people to live self-determined, autonomous lives at home through technology. |
| Manifesto “New Work” | The Group Works Council and Deutsche Telekom have agreed on a manifesto “New Work,” which defines the foundation for their relationship and how they work together. This includes, for example, transparency and a trusting work environment. |
| More sustainable packaging | Deutsche Telekom has defined a set of requirements for sustainable packaging that must be considered both in its own product design and development and when procuring from third-party providers. These sustainability criteria are set out in a packaging policy as part of the „Standard Design Specifications“. For example, the policy requires the use of recyclable and biodegradable materials, as well as post-consumer fibers. |
| nachhaltig.digital | Deutsche Telekom sponsors the association „nachhaltig.digital“, which serves as a knowledge platform for sustainability and digitalization, helping small and medium-sized businesses use digitalization as a tool for sustainable business practices. |
| Network Sustainability Award Initiative with hub:raum | A Deutsche Telekom award that seeks and evaluates, based on specific criteria, solutions developed by startups, people from companies, and individuals, with a focus on network sustainability. |
| New Work | Our world of work will be different after the pandemic. The new normal has accelerated this change. Now it is time to shape New Work. |
| "Nummer gegen Kummer" | For more than 30 years, we have supported the work of the “Nummer gegen Kummer” association financially and with technical expertise. Telekom covers all connection costs and handles the technical implementation of call and online inquiry routing and anonymization. |
| Partnership with a UN subsidiary to measure cities’ sustainability based on the SDGs | Co-Creation Toolbox for cities & municipalities, developed in cooperation with the UN to help cities independently drive sustainable digital transformation. |
| Participation and membership in BVDW CDR Building Bloxx | Share and enlighten – We contribute to the public dialogue: defining a public framework and helping shape public discourse. Internally: framework, embedding CDR in the company. Externally: CDR engagement with public impact. |
| Participation and membership in CDR Kodex BMJV | Share and enlighten – We contribute to the public dialogue: helping shape public discourse. The initiative aims to make digital responsibility a standard practice for companies in all industries. |
| Participation and membership in "Deutschland sicher im Netz" | DT has been a member of the Deutschland sicher im Netz association for many years and, with Thomas Tschersich, once again provides its chairperson. Most recently, Dr. Thomas Kremer (V DRC) was active here. Daniel Hoff (DT Security) should contribute additional substantive information. |
| Participation and membership in Econsense Blueprint CDR | Helping shape the public discourse: With the Blueprint, econsense members aim to build a bridge between existing, relatively abstract guidelines on digital responsibility and the specific steps needed to implement them within the company. |
| Privacy and Security Assessment | The Privacy and Security Assessment process (PSA process) is a key component in ensuring security and data protection. For Deutsche Telekom, data protection and security are especially important because its services rely on customers’ trust in security. DT has recognized the resulting challenges and responded by developing and introducing the Privacy and Security Assessment (PSA). The PSA process ensures that all projects to develop and introduce new technologies and products meet the high requirements for technical security and data protection. Key concepts include Privacy-by-Design, Privacy-by-Default, Security-by-Design, and Security-by-Default. An important step is to identify the relevant data protection and security requirements. The requirements developed by Deutsche Telekom's security and data protection experts based on manufacturer recommendations, industry standards, and applicable laws and regulations are aligned and valid across the Group. In the next step of the PSA process, the requirements must be implemented, reviewed, and documented. For requirements that have not been met, a risk assessment is automatically generated based on the protection needs of the individual systems and, if necessary, an action plan is developed together with the project. The PSA process ensures that the Group's security standards are implemented for each relevant product and system and approved by security and data protection experts before it goes into operation. |
| Products for Digital Inclusion | Examples of specific products and services from Telekom Deutschland include smartwatches for seniors and Home-Service. |
| Professional Ethics for AI Engineering & Use | A voluntary commitment through a guide for employees with best practices, methods, and tips for implementing the AI guidelines in development processes. |
| Project "10 Million" (TMUS) | T-Mobile's "10 Million" project was launched to close the homework gap by providing students with free internet access, free mobile hotspots, and affordable devices for learning online and in the classroom. |
| Protection for Children and Young People | For years, Telekom has been committed to protecting young people online and provides families with relevant resources. These may take the form of specific services and products, technical security measures, or information resources. |
| Activity | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Used Mobile Phone Return Program | Deutsche Telekom recycles used mobile phones—easily, free of charge, and securely. Valuable metallic raw materials are recycled. Around 10–15% of all collected devices can continue to be used once all data has been cleared. Proceeds from sales and recycling are paid to nonprofit organizations that work with the mobile phone collection center as cooperation partners. |
| "reif", the youth magazine | “reif” is the magazine for young people from Deutsche Telekom. It features the latest news from the world of technology and IT. It talks about today’s lifestyle, with multimedia insights into the wide world of Deutsche Telekom. |
| Scroller, the magazine for kids | Scroller is an initiative by Deutsche Telekom to promote the competent, safe use of digital media. “Media, sure! But secure.” serves as the umbrella for the initiatives. The interactive children’s magazine contains material for school lessons and additional information for teachers, among other content. |
| Service Mobil | Since 2020, Deutsche Telekom's Service Mobil has traveled throughout rural regions of Germany to address customers' service needs directly on site. |
| Smart City | Deutsche Telekom supports the digital transformation of cities across Europe. Digitizing public administration is an essential part of promoting digital inclusion. |
| Social Media Guidelines | The document is intended for employees but is also available to the public. It sets out expectations and values that employees should follow in their Social Media activities. This applies to official Telekom accounts as well as private accounts that reference Telekom. A list of 9 do‘s and don'ts for Social Media interactions and personal posts. |
| STEM education support | Deutsche Telekom supports the initiative „STEM. Creating the future!“ through presentations, events, and panel discussions. The initiative focuses on inspiring students to engage with STEM and encouraging, supporting, and recognizing schools in the STEM field. |
| Teachtoday | A Deutsche Telekom initiative that helps people use digital media safely and confidently. “Medien aber sicher” serves as the umbrella for its initiatives. Teachtoday is aimed at educators and parents and includes a toolbox for 9- to 16-year-olds with more than 120 formats, from learning snacks to project weeks. |
| TelCo: Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in the Network | Technology/Networks: Strategic programs and complementary ongoing responsibilities for (a) developing and operating energy-efficient networks (modernization, use of AI, …) and (b) sustainable production (energy supply [generation, storage], supplier management, R&D partners). Close collaboration and integration of DT activities, with a focus on technology innovation (VTI / the „TESLA“ program), as well as on operational measures in Germany (the „PLASMA“ program at Technik Deutschland and PASM GmbH in its role for the German market) and for European national companies (the „DARWIN/Energy“ program). This contributes to sustainability goals (climate neutrality and energy efficiency), as most electricity is consumed in our networks - the foundation of our business. |
| Telekom@School | Since 2000, Telekom has offered internet access to all general and vocational schools across Germany through the Telekom@School project. Schools receive this access at a significantly reduced price. The connection is provided exclusively for educational purposes. Use of the Telekom@School connection for administrative tasks or technical school operations is expressly excluded. |
| Transparency Report – assisting security authorities | Telecommunications companies are legally required to assist security authorities, for example with surveillance measures that can monitor or record telecommunications connections. Telekom has now prepared its current cross-border Transparency Report for 2020 on this matter. |
| Activity | Brief description |
|---|---|
| T-Share in sustainability ratings and indices | As part of its CR strategy, Deutsche Telekom has participated in ESG ratings for many years. These ratings are selected based on reputation, relevance, and independence. |
| Trustworthy AI | Together with its technology partner Cognigy, Deutsche Telekom offers an AI-based solution for business customers. Smart voice and chatbots largely automate customer contact management. Telekom was among the first companies to have this offering assessed according to the BSI criteria catalog for trustworthy AI (AIC4). |
| Understanding Digital Inclusion | More and more areas of life are managed digitally. Digital inclusion therefore also means social inclusion. In Deutsche Telekom's view, in a digital society with equal opportunities, everyone has access to the necessary technology and offerings that fit their financial means. Digital inclusion also requires the ability and willingness to participate and act responsibly online. |
| Women’s STEM Award | For the eighth time, Telekom has presented its awards for the theses of talented female graduates. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. |
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