What impacts do our business operations have on society, the economy and the environment? To what extent are we contributing, with our products, solutions and measures, to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 
(SDGs)? These questions guide us in our impact measurement.
We know that to achieve our overarching aim – to constantly increase our business operations’ positive impacts and minimize their negative impacts – we must precisely measure the impacts of our activities.
With the support of experts from within and outside of the company, we have developed a multi-stage impact measurement approach. It enables us to identify the impacts of projects, products, and measures in key ecological and social areas, and to identify their contributions to the SDGs. This process was validated by an examination performed by TÜV Rheinland in the year under review.
We use the results of impact measurement to continually improve our sustainability performance. In addition, they give us valuable information that helps us in transparently communicating the sustainability benefits of our products to consumers and business customers, investors, and other stakeholders .
At the beginning of the process, the responsible experts explain the sustainability aspects of the products and measures concerned. If significant ecological or social/societal impacts are identifiable, we determine how to proceed:
To obtain transparent and comparable results, we describe the various impact contributions using established metrics for use of resources, and with the help of external frameworks, such as the SDGs. That allows us to also evaluate our contributions to sustainable development from a global perspective. In doing so, we always ensure that our methods are based on robust data and assumptions, and are effective for several years. We also describe the relevant starting point, or baseline, as accurately as possible so that we can reliably evaluate and account for the concrete external impact.
Each completed impact assessment adds to our understanding of the interactions involved – and does so also with respect to all subsequent analyses. We are continually refining our impact measurement process, which has been in place since 2020. In doing so, we take account of both internal requirements and external requirements, such as those arising from regulatory provisions and market developments. At the same time, we are working to bring about commonly accepted standards for measurement of the societal impacts of our products and services – for example, in the framework of the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC).
In the year under review, we determined the impacts of a total of 13 projects, products, and measures. Overall, 50 of our products and solutions have earned one of the two labels #GreenMagenta or #GoodMagenta described. We have included descriptions of concrete, selected examples applying to the Germany and System Solutions segments and to all segments. Our Europe segment and DTSE also offer labeled products. A current overview of all labeled products is available on our website.
Since 2020, various products of the Germany segment have undergone our impact measurement process. As part of such assessment, the products were reviewed for any contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The analyzed products – digital solutions – help companies reduce their emissions, save energy and create circular economies.
The Deutsche Telekom Sustainability Manager
The Deutsche Telekom Sustainability Manager (Telekom Nachhaltigkeitsmanager) is a central platform for successful management of Environment/Social/Governance (ESG ) aspects and issues. New provisions such as the Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz – LkSG) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD ) now require companies to achieve greater transparency in their sustainability activities. Via the Deutsche Telekom Sustainability Manager platform, we provide digital tools that support companies in complying with legal requirements in the area of ESG and in achieving their ESG goals.
For example, the tools support CSRD-compliant preparation of ESG reports and precise calculation of carbon footprints, and they help enhance transparency in supply chains.
The Deutsche Telekom Sustainability Manager also helps companies structure their reporting process, by facilitating targeted entry of performance indicators and precise allocation of responsibilities. Each performance indicator can be linked to specific tasks, measures and goals. Online guides facilitate data entry. By supporting companies in measuring their impacts, the Manager helps companies reach their goals. In addition, it streamlines and accelerates the entire reporting process. Also, it supports user-friendly online publishing of downloadable sustainability reports – which has the added benefit of saving paper.
By helping companies record and manage their sustainability indicators, the Deutsche Telekom Sustainability Manager contributes to SDG 13 (Climate Action).
This solution has been awarded the #GreenMagenta label.
One device for all network functions: Deutsche Telekom’s uCPE device
As the market for electronic devices keeps growing, so do its negative environmental impacts, such as unsustainable resources consumption in production, and continual accumulation of electronic waste. With a view to reducing the numbers of devices our customers require, the Germany segment is now offering devices that combine a range of different features that used to call for separate devices. The devices, known as “universal Customer Premise Equipment (uCPE)” devices, have been available from the Germany segment since 2023, for companies in Germany that have international locations. The devices bring together and virtualize a full complement of network services, including services that used to necessitate separate devices, such as SD-WAN , firewall and route-optimization services. Use of uCPE devices in connection with other services is planned for a later date.
Often, customers use different devices to manage different network and security functions. But each device comes with its own space, power and cooling requirements. Because it combines a range of different network functions in one unit, therefore, the Germany segment’s new uCPE device is helping the segment’s business customers reach their sustainability goals. As a single unit that replaces multiple devices, the new device enables customer locations to significantly reduce their power consumption. In addition, it reduces transport costs, thereby helping to streamline logistics processes. Furthermore, the new uCPE device comes with “extra CPU” chips that customers can activate as necessary, as their requirements grow, without having to order larger devices. This also helps keep the new product’s carbon footprint small.
In the framework of a 24-month contract period, replacement of three separate devices with a single uCPE device can save about 1 900 kg of CO2e emissions.
This solution contributes to the following SDGs:
The uCPE device has been awarded the #GreenMagenta label.
More-sustainable management of companies’ devices
Smartphones and tablets play an indispensable role in our everyday working lives. At the same time, companies are finding that the task of managing all of their employees' company-owned devices is becoming more and more complex. In many cases, when devices reach the end of their useful lives within the company, they are simply put away and are no longer used. In addition, in many cases devices are replaced before they have reached the end of their useful lives, and then are neither used nor properly recycled.
In cooperation with the “everphone” mobile device service, the Germany segment offers its business customers “Device as a Service” plans. Under such plans, the Germany segment manages devices for its customers. This responsibility includes active collection of devices from employees, exchange and expert repair of defective devices, and certified disposal and recycling of devices taken out of service. This increases the service lives of devices within companies.
Our impact measurement in 2021 found that Device as a Service can reduce emissions by about 50 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per company smartphone and tablet. The refurbishment rate increases to over 97 percent. Also, employees become more aware of the need to use devices sustainably, throughout the entire value chain. In addition, the high refurbishment rates and longer usage lifetimes associated with the service ease pressures on production, logistics, and disposal processes (SDG 12).
The service also contributes to the following SDGs:
We have awarded this service our #GreenMagenta sustainability label.
Our sustainability platform promotes awareness of mobility-related emissions
Direct and indirect CO2 emissions from companies' own or purchased resources (Scope 1 and 2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) can be reduced relatively easily with targeted measures. It is important to note, however, that indirect emissions occurring throughout the value chain (Scope 3) will increasingly be the real key to reducing company-wide emissions. Such emissions include CO2 emissions generated through employees' business travel and commuting.
Telekom MMS, which is part of the Germany segment, is now offering business customers the “EcoShift” sustainability platform. Via EcoShift, in combination with a special CO2 app , companies can keep records of their employees’ mobility habits. On the basis of such records, the application shows companies the resulting carbon footprints and, on the platform, links the data with specific recommendations. In addition, a system dashboard enables companies to monitor and analyze their CO2 emissions from business travel and commuting – and derive measures for reducing them.
After operating this sustainability platform with nearly 2 000 app users, our impact measurement has shown that it has reduced CO2 emissions by about 12 metric tons annually per 100 employees. The platform's transparent presentation of emissions data helps make employees more aware of their travel-related emissions, and it can inspire them to begin cycling to work or to use public transportation for their commutes. The platform was developed, and is now being operated, with electricity from renewable energies (SDG 13).
The service also contributes to the following SDGs:
We have awarded this service our #GreenMagenta sustainability label.
Since 2020, various products of our systems business segment have undergone our impact measurement process. In addition, the products have been reviewed for any contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With them, T-Systems is seeking to enable customers to operate more sustainably.
Supply Chain Transparency Suite
Today’s complex global supply chains, unfortunately enough, often entail human rights abuses, such as child labor, as well as heightened risks for workers’ health, such as risks from accidents and toxic chemicals. Now the Systems Solutions segment has developed the Transparency Suite, a software-based solution for protection of human rights. As an added benefit, the Suite supports compliance with the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz – LkSG), including its socially and ecologically oriented provisions.
The Transparency Suite comprises a risk management system that is automatically updated on a daily basis. Depending on the package selected, the Suite combines internal and external data in ways that support ongoing assessment of supply chains and the suppliers directly or indirectly involved in them. Using the requisite data it continually collects, the Suite divides supply chains into risk clusters, identifies human-rights violations and highlights available corrective measures. In the process, the Suite also makes use of external resilience data, augmented reality and artificial intelligence (AI), which will make further automation increases possible in the future. Also, the Transparency Suite can be used to compile data for reports to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA).
The strategic approach applied by our Transparency Suite provides the basis for comprehensive CSR reporting. As a result, it contributes to the following SDGs:
This solution has been awarded the #GoodMagenta label.
Smart Groundwater Monitoring
Climate change is bringing increasingly frequent and severe droughts, and the water shortages they cause highlight the need to conserve and protect groundwater resources. In the medium and long terms, changes in annual rainfall distribution will affect groundwater formation and lead to local drops in groundwater tables. Pumping of groundwater can exacerbate this problem. Consequently, the agriculture sector, which uses water especially intensively, needs to find ways to reduce its water consumption.
Now, the Systems Solutions segment’s “Smart Groundwater Monitoring,” an IoT solution, is facilitating sustainable water management strategies. It includes a digital water meter that collects and analyzes groundwater-use data. Precise water-flow monitoring can help make water use in field irrigation more sustainable. The system’s detailed-analysis capabilities support more-efficient, variable distribution of water rights, and they facilitate faster detection – and elimination – of weaknesses in water-management strategies. The system also provides hourly notification of pumped water quantities, and this simplifies compliance with obligations for notification of competent authorities. Our impact measurement, taking account of 600 pumping sites over a 10-hour period, found that fine-tuning of irrigation in keeping with weather conditions can save up to 30 percent of the groundwater (540 000 m³) that would normally be used. Throughout the course of a year with five months of irrigation, the system can reduce CO2e emissions by more than 130 000 kg, by enabling farmers to monitor groundwater use remotely.
The digital water-meter system contributes to the following SDGs:
This solution has been awarded the #GoodMagenta label.
Digital bill of lading helps conserve resources and make processes more efficient
A digital bill of lading developed in close cooperation with various commerce/industry partners is now providing a modern alternative to conventional paper documents in supply chains. Doing away with printed documents saves valuable resources: Every million sheets of paper saved represents savings of 7.7 metric tons of CO2 equivalents and nearly 6 000 cubic meters of water.
Also, the system helps optimize processes – and thereby reduce resources consumption – by using real-time communication and reducing document losses.
The digital bill of lading is an innovative, sustainable way to make business workflows more efficient. This solution, therefore, contributes to the following SDGs:
The digital bill of lading has been awarded the #GoodMagenta label.
Sensor-equipped containers for used textiles, for optimized recycling processes
Demand for clothing and textiles keeps growing – along with incineration-based disposal of textiles that reach the end of their life cycles, which has negative climate impacts and wastes resources. Current practices for managing discarded used clothing and textiles are using growing quantities of new raw materials. To promote circular economies, and thereby help conserve resources, we collect discarded textile items for upcycling, using collection containers connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). The containers have integrated fill-level sensors that help to analyze and optimize the collection process, and make it as efficient as possible.
The system makes it possible to optimize personnel assignments and pick-up routes, because the sensors automatically monitor the containers’ fill levels and send out just-in-time notification, via the IoT cloud, whenever a container fills up. Collected textile items are made available for reuse, wherever possible, or are properly recycled by our partners. The optimized container emptying that the automatic fill-level monitoring and notification makes possible has reduced the average annual pick-up route distances by 30 percent, or by about 9 400 km. That corresponds to CO2e savings of about 23 metric tons of CO2e per year, for ten containers for collecting discarded textiles. Also, Deutsche Telekom has collected about 21 metric tons of textiles for reuse. That corresponds to a CO2-emissions reduction of 315 metric tons (cumulative) and 138 million liters of water saved (also cumulative).
This solution also contributes to the following SDGs :
11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities): By helping to cut CO2e emissions and save time, the connected waste-textile containers help cities and communities become more sustainable.This Deutsche Telekom sustainability solution is strongly focused on promoting a sense of responsibility, and it has been awarded the #GreenMagenta label.
A new app provides an easy way to apply for maternity and parental leave
Applications for maternity and parental leave present challenges for both employees and our human-resources department, because they tend to involve a lot of red tape, including the obtaining of all required documents. Now, a new parental leave app offers our employees an innovative way of managing all the paperwork. And it supports expectant parents throughout their entire parental leave.
By providing a comprehensive, detailed overview of the application process for parental leave, and monitoring the status of submitted applications, the app plays a useful role – for all involved persons – from the time an employee first notifies the company of a pregnancy until the time they are able to return to work. With just a few clicks, users can download needed forms – and, in most cases – complete them within the app, which offers the added benefit of saving paper.
With estimated savings of 340 kg paper and 880 kg CO₂e per year, the parental leave app is making a positive environmental contribution.
In addition, the app provides access to the “Stay in ContacT” network, via which employees on parental leave can stay in touch with employees in the workplace – and cultivate contacts that can facilitate their return to their regular jobs.
With the parental leave app, we are contributing to the following SDGs:
This solution has been awarded the #GoodMagenta label.
A fun and games way to learn about online security: “AwareNessi – the fantastic security activity book“
Children today begin using the internet at very young ages. But not enough children are being taught, age-appropriately, about data and information security, however. Deutsche Telekom is now publishing “AwareNessi – The Fantastic Security Activity Book,” an internet-safety magazine for children between the ages of eight and twelve (and their parents). With its fun-and-games approach, “AwareNessi” warns children about internet risks without making them afraid.
“AwareNessi” supports parents in talking with their children about internet safety, and in teaching them to use the internet with care (SDG 4).
This service also contributes to the following SDGs:
We have awarded this solution our #GoodMagenta label.
Finding solutions
means finding the courage
for open dialog, even beyond
the boundaries of a company.
Let’s all dare to be
more transparent!
Finding solutions means finding the courage for open dialog, even beyond the boundaries of a company. Let’s all dare to be more transparent!
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