Our Contribution to
the Sustainable
Development
Goals
Birgit Klesper
Senior Vice President, Group Corporate Responsibility
& Sustainability, for Deutsche Telekom AG
Birgit Klesper retired as of January 1, 2022, and handed over the leadership of GCR to Michael Hagspihl.
“Acting sustainably is a core element of our corporate strategy. We are making our contribution to many of the SDGs through our climate- and environmental-protection measures and our work toward a democratic society with equal opportunities. In addition, our digital innovations enable our customers to play their part in overcoming ecological and societal challenges.”
We support the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). Various studies have come to the conclusion that 103 (of a total of 169) subgoals associated with the SDGs can benefit from the use of ICT. Examples include the study entitled “ICT-centric economic growth, innovation, and job creation” published in 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union, and the “SMARTer2030” study launched by the GeSI (Global e-Sustainability Initiative) initiative in 2019.
We contribute to society and the environment with many of our products, solutions and measures, and, as a result, to achieving these goals. Our network infrastructure forms the technological foundation; it enables solutions to social and ecological challenges, hence contributing to achieving many SDGs. That is why we believe we can make the biggest impact on SDG 9: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.”
In our contributions both in this CR report and our annual report, we draw attention to the SDGs. The relevant sections are marked with the corresponding SDG symbols. In addition, we explain how our commitment to the SDGs benefits our company. Our transparent external reporting in relation to the SDGs has earned special recognition, e.g. from PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).
The following overview details how we contribute to implementing the SDGs. It also shows how we measure our contribution, and refers to specific examples from the current CR report.