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Employee initiatives

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Green Pioneers in Germany

Internal sustainability ambassadors around the world are dedicated to promoting a sustainable corporate culture. With their efforts, they support implementation of our CR strategy.

The internal Green Pioneers ambassador program was launched in Germany in 2018. Its aim is to promote and expand responsible management and conduct among the workforce. Group Corporate Responsibility (GCR) creates suitable conditions for the Green Pioneers’ work. Community Management, which is part of GCR, organizes regular meetings to share information and experience, offers internal and external expert talks, and helps plan activities. The Green Pioneers community celebrated its fifth anniversary during the year under review. It used the opportunity to look back on what it had achieved and was congratulated personally by CEO Tim Höttges. As of the end of 2023, the Green Pioneers groups had about 2 167 members and subscribers on YAM UNITED (1 665 in 2022). This shows a growing interest in the initiative and in Deutsche Telekom’s sustainability activities.

Depending on their location, interests and expertise, the Green Pioneers come together to form subject-related or regional hubs. They act as internal multipliers for change by motivating employees to get involved in numerous resource conservation campaigns, such as an exchange for office supplies, clothing exchange campaigns, tree-planting and waste collection campaigns, and an internal company ride-sharing agency. There are now 335 Green Pioneers in Germany. Active at 53 locations and in 19 departments, they seek out improvement potential and initiate appropriate measures. The Magenta Pocket Forests initiative, for example, was set up by HR teams and Green Pioneers. During the year under review, they planted mini forests comprising over 1 000 trees in total at three Deutsche Telekom locations. On the initiative of the Green Pioneers, smart textile containers were installed at our locations in North Rhine-Westphalia to collect old company uniforms, worn-out jeans and cotton hand towels and put them back into circulation in the textile ecosystem. The upcycling containers use Internet of Things img (IoT) technology and their contents are collected independently, thanks to fill-level sensors that send a notification to the Deutsche Telekom iCloud when they are ready to be emptied. This saves unnecessary trips and thus reduces carbon emissions and fuel consumption. The cotton textiles collected are sent on to be upcycled. In 2023, we collected 21 metric tons of clothing in our upcycling containers, and we saved 135 million liters of water and 335 metric tons of CO2 as a result of our textile collection and recycling activities.

With a view to boosting our employees’ motivation and commitment, we seek to offer them additional leeway and options for structuring their working lives, such as flexible work arrangements. In addition to their core activities, our employees can also gain cross-departmental experience and apply their knowledge and skills. For example, the Green Pioneers take advantage of these opportunities to work on sustainability activities. There is similar employee commitment to sustainability activities in the Europe segment: in the Good Cause Initiative, cell phones are collected for a good cause in cooperation with local NGOs and authorities.

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Green employee networks in the Systems Solutions segment

There are also numerous employee initiatives aimed at sustainability and environmental protection within the Systems Solutions segment, for example:

Green Magenta Forest – reforestation program (T-Systems Mexico)
The local business unit of T-Systems in Mexico set up a reforestation program in 2023 as part of its climate change mitigation strategy. Together with the Corporate Reforestation Program, three different types of tree were planted in urban neighborhoods.

The aim is to do our bit to help preserve biodiversity and raise awareness about maintaining green spaces among the employees at T-Systems Mexico and local residents. As part of this project, they were provided with information on the importance of urban green spaces as well as how and what to plant. About 150 employees got involved in the program in the reporting year and around one metric ton of CO2 was captured in the first year of the program thanks to the trees planted.

Volunteer work as part of the European Week for Waste Reduction (T-Systems ITC Iberia)
As part of the European Week for Waste Reduction, T-Systems ITC Iberia employees had the opportunity to take part in a voluntary trash-pickup campaign in the Barcelona area. The aim was to show them how vital these kinds of joint sustainability initiatives are for a greener and more livable future. The campaign was carried out in collaboration with the Adecco foundation, which is dedicated to the integration of those with disabilities. In addition to T-Systems ITC Iberia employees and their families, there were also people with disabilities taking part in the initiative.

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Environment

  • Climate protection & risks CO2e emissions Renewable energy Energy consumption & efficiency Enablement factor Circular economy Waste prevention, recycling & resource conservation Environmentally friendly products & services Mobility Employee initiatives

    • Highlights

    Day after day, we work to

    develop climate-neutral business

    practices and establish circularity

    Day after day, we work to develop climate-neutral business practices and establish circularity

    In ramping up our climate targets, we have fulfilled the stringent criteria of the Science Based Targets initiative and become the first DAX-40 company to have a recognized, science-based net-zero climate target.

    For the first time, we are outlining our route to net zero here in the form of a climate transition plan. We are already implementing the key measures set out in the plan. We achieved significant improvements in our KPI “Energy Intensity” by introducing efficiency measures in our networks and data centers.

    To reduce Scope 3 emissions, we set up a task force that works closely with suppliers to explore new approaches to recording CO₂ emissions. Other sustainability criteria are applied to procurement decisions to create an economic incentive. One of the main criteria is the requirement to observe the principle of circularity for network technology and devices from the design and procurement stage onwards. When it comes to devices in particular, circularity can only be achieved in cooperation with customers. We addressed these stakeholders directly in 2023 by means of programs to purchase used devices, special initiatives, and our infotainment magazine “Heute retten wir die Welt! Ein bisschen.” (English: “Today we save the world! A little bit.”) on MagentaTV.

    We support our customers in their efforts to adopt a more climate-friendly lifestyle. Our products and solutions generated positive CO₂ effects for our customers amounting to 16.9 million metric tons in Germany alone in 2023.

    Further examples of our progress in 2023, from the perspective of the Group and that of our segments, can be found in the subchapters.

    Highlight numbers

    Highlight numbers

    Progress of selected KPIs in  2023

    • 2022 2023 Progress
    • CO₂e emissions Scope 1&2 for the DT Group (in kt of CO₂e) 233 217 -7%
    • CO₂e emissions Scope 1–3 for the DT Group (in kt of CO₂e) 11 811 10 476 -11%
    • CPE Take-Back and Mobile Device Take Back for the DT Group (without TMUS) 4.5m. 4.8m. +7%
    • Enablement factor 3.76 4.78 +27%
    • Energy intensity 91 70 -23%

    Topic overview

    Climate protection & risks CO2e emissions Renewable energy Energy consumption & efficiency Enablement factor Circular economy Waste prevention, recycling & resource conservation Environmentally friendly products & services Mobility Employee initiatives

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