Strategic and organizational approach to sustainability

We see ourselves as a responsible company and have made that a core element of our Group strategy. We are committed to implementing sustainability along our entire value chain – and to playing an important role in meeting today’s environmental, economic, and social challenges. We are expressly committed to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the German Sustainability Code, and the Code of Responsible Conduct for Business. Furthermore, we support the SDGs of the United Nations (UN), in particular contributing to the following goals: 3 Good health and well-being, 4 Quality education, 5 Gender equality, 8 Decent work and economic growth, 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure, 11 Sustainable cities and communities, 12 Responsible consumption and production, and 13 Climate action.

Our CR strategy includes three fields of action: “Connected life and work – enabling a sustainable lifestyle in the digital world,” “Connecting the unconnected,” and “Low-carbon society.” In addition, the following topics are of particular importance within our sustainability management system: data security and data privacy, digitalization, sustainable supply chains, circular economy and resource decoupling, as well as being a responsible employer.

Our Board of Management bears overall responsibility for our CR goals, discussing and making decisions on key CR-related issues. The Group Corporate Responsibility (GCR) unit develops Group-wide policies and guidelines. Its aim is to further develop our corporate culture, particularly in terms of sustainable innovation and social responsibility. The CR managers from the different business units and national companies are responsible for implementing our CR strategy and work together in the international CR Manager Network. GCR is also advised by the CR Board, which is composed of the heads of the Group’s key areas. Our values and basic principles are anchored in our Guiding Principles, the Code of Conduct, the Code of Human Rights & Social Principles, and other subject-specific policies. The cornerstones of our sustainability management activities are formally set out in our CR Policy, which is binding for all Group units. As part of our CR controlling activities, we record environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and performance indicators. We use this data primarily to calculate our Group-wide ESG KPIs (key performance indicators), which we use to measure and control our CR performance. In some cases, the KPIs and other metrics can also be linked to the SDGs to show the progress we are making in the SDG focus areas.

The Socially Responsible Investment ESG KPI indicates the percentage of Deutsche Telekom AG shares held by investors who show a predominant or at least partial concern for environmental, social, and governance criteria in their investment strategy. And our commitment to greater sustainability is paying off: As of September 30, 2020, around 13 % of all T-Shares were held by investors who show at least a partial concern for environmental, social, and governance criteria, and 9 % were held by investors who manage their funds primarily in accordance with aspects of socially responsible investment (SRI). In the reporting year, our share was added to a further sustainability index: the Euronext Vigeo World 120 from Vigeo Eiris.

We are making our contributions towards solving social challenges measurable. To this end, we have developed a process and methodology to evaluate the external impact of selected products, solutions, and measures. This helps us to keep our key sustainability activities results-oriented and to make our contribution to achieving the SDGs visible.

Detailed information will be published in our 2020 CR report.