Smart textile collection containers, networked beehives, a search engine that plants trees: All these projects – and many more – have been implemented in recent years on the initiative of our employees. Many of them are involved in various initiatives and programs around the world for environmental protection and sustainability. Through their commitment, they strengthen a sustainable corporate culture and contribute to achieving the goals of our CR strategy.
Our employees are not only committed to the environment and climate, but also to social issues. You can find more about this here in the CR report on the Social Commitment overview page and in more detail under Volunteering and Financial Commitment.
Milestones achieved, ongoing projects and goals
Since 2018, Deutsche Telekom has had official sustainability ambassadors – the ”Green Pioneers”. Within a few years, their number has multiplied from around 80 to over 300.
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Where we come from
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2018
The internal initiative “Stop wasting, start caring” launches and bundles existing and new projects to conserve resources.
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2018
Our Green Pioneers sustainability ambassadors emerge from the “Stop wasting, start caring” initiative and bring a wide range of ideas for improvements to the company from the very beginning.
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2019
At the official launch of the Green Pioneers, they define ten focus topics that are aligned with the core business: including sustainable design & packaging, paper consumption and mobile phone collection campaigns.
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2023
On the initiative of the Green Pioneers and our HR teams, our employees are planting mini-forests (“Magenta Pocket Forests”).
Where we stand in the reporting year
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2024
Currently, around 300 employees are involved in the Green Pioneers.
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2024
The Green Pioneers share their knowledge with colleagues during our “Learn from Experts” (LEX) sessions.
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2024
On the initiative of the Green Pioneers, Ecosia will be set up as the default search engine on all Deutsche Telekom computers. Ecosia uses its profits to finance reforestation projects.
Where we want to go
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Current
The Green Pioneers are increasingly expanding their activities: internationally, our sustainability ambassadors are networking more and more and are also exchanging ideas across companies.
Green Pioneers for a sustainable corporate culture
As internal sustainability ambassadors, the Green Pioneers are specifically on the lookout for potential for improvement and initiate measures. With campaigns such as swap meets, planting and garbage collection campaigns or an in-house carpooling service, they motivate their colleagues to be more sustainable in their everyday work – for example, by offering the opportunity to order second-hand office supplies. In addition, the Green Pioneers gave the impetus to shred old packaging and reuse it in logistics as filling material.
Currently, around 300 Green Pioneers are working in Germany at around 60 locations and in more than 30 working groups. Depending on their location, interests and know-how, they join together to form thematic or regional “hubs”. We support their use, e.g. by making participation possible through flexible working models.
Since their inception, the Green Pioneers have already brought many positive changes to the company – around topics such as resource conservation, circular economy, biodiversity, mobility and much more.
International Green Pioneers Highlights from 2024
- The Ecosia search engine has been the standard in the browsers of the entire Telekom Group since 2024 – on the initiative of the Green Pioneers. Ecosia uses the profits from wanted ads to plant trees.
- In 2024, more than 230 orders for used office supplies were placed in Germany.
- In Spain, the Sustainability Ambassadors brought colleagues together for the European Mobility Week to drive to work together at “Magenta Carpooling”.
- In Hungary, workers organized a Plastic Cup Pirates Volunteer Day, where over a ton of garbage was collected from the Tisza floodplain in Szeged.
Smart technology for textile recycling
In Germany, the Green Pioneers have been dedicated to textile recycling since 2021: on their initiative, smart textile containers have been set up at various Telekom locations to return old uniforms, worn-out jeans and disused cotton towels to the textile cycle. IoT (“Internet of Things”) technology is installed in the special collection containers, which displays the level of textiles in the Telekom cloud. This allows us to see when the containers are full and avoid unnecessary trips to empty them – this saves CO2 and fuel. The salvaged clothing is recycled to a high standard. In 2024, 75 tons of clothing were collected, the equivalent of approx. 770,000 liters of water and over 1,100 tons of CO2 are saved. In 2024, the Green Pioneers have expanded the initiative to Austria.
Strengthening the circular economy
Since the end of 2019, we have been working with the non-profit company AfB, which focuses on inclusion and specifically creates jobs for people with disabilities. AfB carefully refurbishes Deutsche Telekom devices that are no longer needed in Germany and offers them for sale – mostly notebooks, PCs and monitors. The Green Pioneers support this through internal sales campaigns for our employees in Germany and Switzerland. In the reporting year, Deutsche Telekom employees purchased more than 200 refurbished IT devices at the sites, thus contributing to extending the service life of the equipment.
The commitment of the Green Pioneers in numbers
Over 300 Green Pioneers in Germany and 15 internationally
More than 200 IT equipment that is no longer needed is returned to the cycle through internal sales campaigns
Approx. 770,000 liters of water and over 1,100 tons of CO2 saved through optimised logistics in textile recycling
Promoting knowledge sharing
The Green Pioneers have extensive knowledge. They share this knowledge as multipliers – for example at the “Learning from Experts” (LEX) sessions, our platform for the flexible exchange of knowledge among colleagues. There, for example, they talked about planetary overload limits and climate communication. In total, our Green Pioneers held more than 20 LEX sessions in 2024. The sustainability ambassadors themselves also take part in further training initiatives, for example via the interactive platform Green Talks. There, experts share their knowledge and perspectives, for example on Deutsche Telekom’s sustainability strategy, green AI and sustainable design guidelines in the reporting year. In addition, since 2024, the Green Pioneers have been able to deepen their knowledge of climate change with the help of creative methods – for example, in the new T-Systems learning program “Climate Fresk”. The “Fresk” workshops are open to all employees.
Working for a cleaner environment
Our employees are also active in environmental protection away from the Green Pioneers: in the reporting year, employees in Greece continued a campaign with the environmental organization ENALEIA as part of the COSMOTE BLUE initiative for less plastic pollution in the Mediterranean. From 2023 to the end of 2024, we were able to remove over 60 tons of plastic waste from the oceans and remote coastal areas and recycle almost 37 tons of it. In addition, we have set up an educational program for fishermen on topics such as responsible fishing and ocean cleanup. So far, around 260 fishermen have taken part.
T‑Systems also organized a garbage collection campaign in 2024: on the occasion of World Earth Day in April, employees in five countries collected waste from public areas, among other things.
Looking ahead
Working together to promote the transition to an even more sustainable Telekom and society – this is the mission that the Green Pioneers in Germany have been pursuing for seven years now. In the coming years, the focus will be increasingly on international cooperation to exchange best practices and try out new approaches.
Deep Dive for experts
Management & Frameworks
The Group Corporate Responsibility (GCR) department organises meetings, lectures and activities for the Green Pioneers and shapes the framework conditions.