Our Contribution to
the Sustainable
Development
Goals
Melanie Kubin-Hardewig
Vice President Group Corporate Responsibility
Deutsche Telekom AG
„As the leading European telco, we also want to be a leader when it comes to sustainability.” A comparison with the 17 United Nations SDGs shows that many of our activities, services, and products are already helping to meet ecological and societal challenges today.“
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.
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.”
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.