One major cause of species extinction is the fact that more and more space is being taken up by industry, agriculture, and transportation. As a telecommunications company, we take up significantly less space compared to companies in many other industries. However, our business activities can also impact biodiversity in other areas of our value chain – particularly with our suppliers at the start of the chain. This is why our suppliers must also comply with our environmental principles. We verify this regularly during our on-site ¥¥¥social audits¥¥¥.
We drew up a statement in 2022 specifying how we contribute to conserving biodiversity and protecting forests from clearance activities. Our commitment to biodiversity conservation and protection from deforestationsets out the measures we are implementing to this end along our value chain. This includes our approach to sustainable purchasing, our climate strategy and our practice of taking aspects of biodiversity into account in our network expansion work.
ICT solutions can help preserve biodiversity. In our “Bee and Me” project, intelligent sensors are being used to collect data from beehives and transmit them to beekeepers. The beekeeper simply needs to look at their smartphone or tablet app to find out whether their bees are healthy. They can then take action if they notice any anomalies. To date, we have established a total of 42 beehives in Europe (including 23 conventional hives and 19 “digital” ones that are equipped with sensors), providing a home to some 1.7 million bees in total. There was no change in the inventory of the hives in 2022.
We also cooperate with environmental and nature conservation organizations. Proceeds from our various cell phone collection campaigns (only available in German) in Germany have so far benefited the following organizations (only available in German), among others: Landesbund für Vogelschutz Bayern e.V.; Pro Wildlife e.V; Frankfurt Zoological Society (projects for the protection of gorillas); and Hellabrunn Zoo, Munich (species protection projects).
The safety of the electromagnetic fields used in mobile communications is a publicly discussed issue. In 2022, the possible impacts of such fields on animals and plants continued to be debated. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection has determined that there is no scientific evidence (only available in German) that high-frequency fields below the legal limits endanger plant and animal life.
In the fight against climate change, we support international reforestation projects. Trees store carbon, produce oxygen, regulate the water balance, provide a habitat for countless species, and thereby promote biodiversity. In 2020, we officially terminated our active partnership with the Plant-for-the-Planet foundation, after its work was widely and publicly criticized. Many of our employees remain active within the foundation’s “Trillion Tree Campaign” initiative, however, with efforts such as organizing tree-sponsorship donations or tree-planting campaigns. For this reason, the number of planted seedlings shown in our interactive tree counter (only available in German) continues to grow. In our Magenta Forest campaign, we have now grouped the various projects underway throughout the Group in this context, thereby highlighting the fact that many small efforts can add up to make a big difference. One and all are welcome to participate in this campaign – by having trees planted, via an online site; making donations; or joining with others to plant trees in their local areas and have them registered, along with their geodata. Donors can also have their names displayed within the virtual Magenta Forest. In addition, we have asked our employees to use the Ecosia search engine for their internet searches wherever possible. Use of Ecosia contributes to global afforestation, and to our Magenta Forest: with the income it generates from search engine advertising, Ecosia plants trees in over 30 countries, in cooperation with local organizations. In 2022, our Ecosia searches financed over 60 530 tree plantings. Together with the trees we planted ourselves as well as donated trees, our Magenta Forest grew by over 1 030 trees in the year under review.
Our contribution to the SDGs
One major cause of species extinction is the fact that more and more space is being taken up by industry, agriculture, and transportation. As a telecommunications company, we take up significantly less space compared to companies in many other industries. However, our business activities can also impact biodiversity in other areas of our value chain – particularly with our suppliers at the start of the chain. This is why our suppliers must also comply with our environmental principles. We verify this regularly during our on-site ¥¥¥social audits
¥¥¥.
We drew up a statement in 2022 specifying how we contribute to conserving biodiversity and protecting forests from clearance activities. Our commitment to biodiversity conservation and protection from deforestation sets out the measures we are implementing to this end along our value chain. This includes our approach to sustainable purchasing, our climate strategy and our practice of taking aspects of biodiversity into account in our network expansion work.
ICT
solutions can help preserve biodiversity. In our “Bee and Me” project, intelligent sensors are being used to collect data from beehives and transmit them to beekeepers. The beekeeper simply needs to look at their smartphone or tablet app 
to find out whether their bees are healthy. They can then take action if they notice any anomalies. To date, we have established a total of 42 beehives in Europe (including 23 conventional hives and 19 “digital” ones that are equipped with sensors), providing a home to some 1.7 million bees in total. There was no change in the inventory of the hives in 2022.
We also cooperate with environmental and nature conservation organizations. Proceeds from our various cell phone collection campaigns (only available in German) in Germany have so far benefited the following organizations (only available in German), among others: Landesbund für Vogelschutz Bayern e.V.; Pro Wildlife e.V; Frankfurt Zoological Society (projects for the protection of gorillas); and Hellabrunn Zoo, Munich (species protection projects).
The safety of the electromagnetic fields
used in mobile communications is a publicly discussed issue. In 2022, the possible impacts of such fields on animals and plants continued to be debated. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection has determined that there is no scientific evidence (only available in German) that high-frequency fields below the legal limits endanger plant and animal life.
In the fight against climate change, we support international reforestation projects. Trees store carbon, produce oxygen, regulate the water balance, provide a habitat for countless species, and thereby promote biodiversity. In 2020, we officially terminated our active partnership with the Plant-for-the-Planet foundation, after its work was widely and publicly criticized. Many of our employees remain active within the foundation’s “Trillion Tree Campaign” initiative, however, with efforts such as organizing tree-sponsorship donations or tree-planting campaigns. For this reason, the number of planted seedlings shown in our interactive tree counter (only available in German) continues to grow. In our Magenta Forest campaign, we have now grouped the various projects underway throughout the Group in this context, thereby highlighting the fact that many small efforts can add up to make a big difference. One and all are welcome to participate in this campaign – by having trees planted, via an online site; making donations; or joining with others to plant trees in their local areas and have them registered, along with their geodata. Donors can also have their names displayed within the virtual Magenta Forest. In addition, we have asked our employees to use the Ecosia search engine for their internet searches wherever possible. Use of Ecosia contributes to global afforestation, and to our Magenta Forest: with the income it generates from search engine advertising, Ecosia plants trees in over 30 countries, in cooperation with local organizations. In 2022, our Ecosia searches financed over 60 530 tree plantings. Together with the trees we planted ourselves as well as donated trees, our Magenta Forest grew by over 1 030 trees in the year under review.
Reporting against standardsGlobal Compact