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In the context of our annual climate goal monitoring, we have reviewed and revised the method for the calculation of our climate target in 2018. In accordance with the framework of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, we have been calculating our emissions using the market-based method since 2015. We are now applying this calculation method to our climate target. This means that the purchase of electricity from renewable energies through certificates or electricity from low-emission sources can also be taken into account. Consequently, we also adjusted the 2008 baseline to reflect the proportion of renewable energy at that time. The baseline reduced from 2 602 431 metric tons of CO₂ to 1 481 400 metric tons of CO₂. As a result, the climate target will be reduced to 1 185 120 metric tons of CO₂ by 2020, which also represents a reduction of -20% compared to 2008. With this calculation method, we are at the forecasted level for 2017.

Deutsche Telekom stands for outstanding company training and education offers in the commercial and technical field. With a total of around 6,600 apprentices and students on cooperative degree programs in the 2018/2019 training year, Deutsche Telekom is one of Germany's biggest training providers. We train competent employees throughout Germany. Our commitment to education and training is much more than an active response to the growing shortage of highly qualified specialists. We take corporate and social responsibility seriously, with dedication that extends beyond national borders. Fast-paced technological progress is becoming more and more dynamic, thus creating a growing need for qualified specialists in areas where innovation and technical development take place. The purpose of our new training concept is to strengthen and boost our capacity for innovation at Telekom. We are constantly bringing new talent and expertise into the Group. This enriches our internal pool of qualified junior employees, who will be moving up through the ranks in the years ahead.

The HfTL University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig is a key provider of vocational training and professional development courses, particularly in the technology sector.

Targeted promotion of the best talent in IT and customer advice/in sales
In our “Young IT Talents” ( YITT) and “Young Sales Talents” (YST) programs we promote apprentices and students on cooperative study programs who demonstrate special talent in the field of IT, customer advice and sales. The aim is to identify very good apprentices and students at an early stage, and promote and retain them. In the competition for talent, both programs ensure our attractiveness as a potential employer after completion of the training or course of study.

Perspectives create more opportunities for disadvantaged groups
In cooperation with the German Federal Employment Agency, we help members of disadvantaged social groups to start off in the working world or further develop their skills.

The entry-level training internship is aimed in particular at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who receive basic income support or have difficulty finding their place. The project has been a big success.

We are continuing to offer single mothers and fathers the opportunity to undertake a course of training or cooperative study program with reduced working hours. We offer part-time training in all training programs at Deutsche Telekom and in cooperative study programs.

We offer our employees attractive offers to help them achieve a better work-life balance. A good work-life balance is essential for satisfied and motivated employees, and for an efficient, innovative and energetic workforce as a key to business success. This requires flexible working conditions, family-friendly offers and effective health promotion as well as, not least, establishing work-life balance as a permanent part of the corporate culture.

With our flexible working conditions, we provide our employees with new opportunities to achieve an even better work-life balance.

• Guaranteed right of return from part-time work: Deutsche Telekom encourages setting up part-time positions and guarantees employees the right to return to their original weekly working hours.
• Tandem: With our award-winning job sharing model, we offer our employees new ways to achieve a better work-life balance. With a tandem partner, challenging positions or even management roles are also possible on a part-time basis. 
• Lifetime work accounts: A lifetime work account can be used to finance time out or to support a period of part-time work without any difficulty.
• Mobile working: Working from home or on the move is the normal state of affairs at Deutsche Telekom. In addition, the most important framework regulations were set out for the first time in a general collective agreement in order to implement mobile working as a new and innovative way of working. 

With the following family-friendly offers we provide our employees with targeted support in their private lives to make it easier for them to reconcile work and family life. 

• Childcare offers: At a number of sites with large numbers of employees, Deutsche Telekom provides childcare facilities, holiday childcare programs, and parent-and-child offices. 

• Free consulting and placement service: Our cooperation partner “awo lifebalance” and an online service assist our employees with regard to childcare (including emergency childcare), care for relatives, and household services. 

• Employee networks: Information on reconciling work and family life, contacts and discussion forums in various networks, such as the “Väternetzwerk” (Fathers’ Network) or “Stay in contacT” are available. 

• Family Fund: Support for employee projects that help improve the work-life balance for employees. 

• Social Fund: Fast financial aid to employees who are unable to find a way out of financial difficulties they are facing through no fault of their own, and subsidies for recreational activities for severely disabled children. 

• Welfare service: Support for children who have lost one or both parents, employees in crisis situations, students from low-income families and leisure activities for senior citizens. 

• Recreation service (ErholungsWerk): Employees can take advantage of low-cost family holidays at one of our 18 holiday resorts. 

In addition, promoting the health of our employees is a key component of our work-life strategy. 

• Preventive health care: Deutsche Telekom regularly offers its employees numerous preventive healthcare services, for example, a medical check, health screening, vaccinations or dietary advice.
• TALK TIME: Deutsche Telekom offers professional support for all difficulties experienced in a professional and private context. The experts from the BAD Employee and Executive Advisory Service take time and look together with those seeking advice for solutions, e.g., in the case of problems in a relationship, with the family or at work. 

Our complete range of offers for a better work-life balance can be found at www.telekom.com/work-life

For its commitment to the UN's goals, the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers honored Deutsche Telekom with the Building Public Trust Award for exemplary reporting practices. The jury selected Deutsche Telekom as best company in the "SDGs" (Sustainable Development Goals) category for its 2016 Annual Report. According to the jury, Deutsche Telekom does the best job of systematically analyzing the contribution that its products, services and activities make to fulfilling global sustainability goals. With this new prize category, the panel of experts takes into account current national and international reporting developments.

We started a poster campaign in the summer of 2017 to create awareness of the SDGs among out employees. To this end, we first distributed posters at our Bonn headquarters and hung them in high-traffic zones. In addition to illustrating all the SDGs, the posters also show Deutsche Telekom's contribution to achieving the goals. The posters are available for download here.

The Junior Engineer Academy gets secondary-level students (grade eight and higher) excited about technical professions and careers in engineering. The Junior Engineer Academy is offered as an elective at participating schools for two years and conducted in collaboration with universities, scientific institutes and companies. The project was implemented for the first time in 2005 and gives students the opportunity to put the knowledge they learn in the classroom into practice. Since the beginning of the project, the school network has been growing steadily. In 2017, nine new Junior Engineer Academies joined the network, which means that there are already 88 schools in Germany that offer an academy. In 2017, for example, students from secondary schools in Leipzig were able to research interesting telecommunications projects the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HfTL). One group of students developed a cost-efficient robot that can be used in IT classes at school.

For the school year 2018/2019, Deutsche Telekom Stiftung is inviting applications for new junior engineering academies across Germany for the last time. Schools that would like to integrate the teaching model on a long-term basis into their teaching schedule can submit an application to Deutsche Telekom Stiftung along with their concepts. Deutsche Telekom Stiftung will provide the winning schools with seed funding of up to 10,000 euros to enable them to set up a Junior Engineer Academy. Participants are encouraged to meet regularly at annual JIA conferences to share their experiences.

Under the pilot project "Year of voluntary social/digital work" (FSJ Digital) in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, young people with an interest in media supported non-profit organizations, such as facilities for seniors and people with disabilities, with digital projects and the application of new media. Volunteers received media teaching support during their entire time on the program. The concept was tested at 25 facilities in Saxony-Anhalt. The program offered a wide spectrum of activities ranging from digital storytelling to creating accessible web content. The project was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and supported by Deutsche Telekom and NrEins.de AG. The project is being evaluated after completing its second year.

The Calliope Mini mini-computer helps young schoolchildren learn how to program a computer. In 2017, Calliope gGmbH provided pilot schools in the states of Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia with mini-computers. The Deutsche Telekom Stiftung foundation supports the project by developing and testing learning materials and course concepts. Ideas for the creative use of digital technology are currently being worked on at six universities within the scope of the "Elementary school digital learning" project.

Young people need to learn how to skillfully and creatively use digital tools so they can actively shape their lives and have the opportunity to work in a future-oriented profession. With its "GestaltBar – the digital workshop" project, Deutsche Telekom particularly targets students at lower-level secondary schools. The goal is to use a hands-on approach to introduce young people to digital technology and give them some insight into the different technical professions. Courses include topics like robotics, app development and 3D printing. The project is initially being conducted in four pilot locations – Bonn, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne.

One of the goals of the BuyIn procurement joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange is to ensure a sustainable supply chain. To this end, both companies introduced a joint Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) in 2017. It specifies joint principles and values in the corporate responsibility area and sets forth strict ethical, social, ecological, and human rights expectations and requirements for suppliers.

This Code can obviously not replace the laws and regulations of countries where our suppliers are active. Rather, its aim is to facilitate compliance with these laws and regulations and guarantee that they are implemented faithfully and effectively. As of July 2017, the Code applies to all procurement activities of Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and the BuyIn joint venture, that is:

• All current contracts (new contracts)
• Contract changes such as extensions and additional negotiations
• Project negotiations (based on framework contracts of all types – except catalog call-offs)
• Individual orders

The Supplier Code is a fixed component of the General Terms and Conditions/General Terms and Conditions for Purchasing. All new suppliers must accept it within the scope of the supplier onboarding process.

In November 2017, the 23rd World Climate Conference took place under the presidency of the Fiji Islands in Bonn. Diplomats, politicians and representatives of civil society came together at the Conference of the Parties (COP). We contributed to the content of the Conference with an event and provided state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Digitalization for climate protection and sustainability
On November 14, 2017, our headquarters in Bonn were entirely focused on climate protection. The real potential of digitalization for climate protection is still being underrated. In order to change this, we have joined our stakeholders for a dialog about "The impact of ICT on climate change – curse or blessing". Along with our partner, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), as well as numerous stakeholders and experts from politics, civil society and corporations, we discussed the opportunities and risks of information and communication technology (ICT) for climate protection. In collaboration with partners, we presented products and solutions for connected and therefore sustainable life and work - for example, relating to e-mobility, Smart City and logistics.

Fiber optics for the climate summit
For the 23rd World Climate Conference in Bonn, Deutsche Telekom provided the technical infrastructure. For the supply of the two temporary tent towns alone we laid over 25 kilometers of optical fiber and copper cables each - capacities that would also suffice for the supply of a small town. Antennas that were installed for the event ensured the necessary wireless capacity. In this way, the park in Bonn where the tent towns were located was equipped with modern, broadband communications technology that will also benefit future events.

The sheer amount of infrastructure that an event with over 25,000 visitors requires can be seen in the following “Netzgeschichte” (network story):

We are using combined heat and power (CHP) plants in addition to the conventional power grid. In the year 2017, we commissioned a new CHP module at the Berlin site. The majority of our 32 units in total (as of late 2017) power our network nodes. The CHP plants convert the energy supplied by gas into electricity and heat. We use the waste heat produced on site to heat our office buildings, which brings overall energy efficiency to a level of up to 90 percent. As a comparison, electricity generated by conventional sources and fed through the general German power grid has an efficiency level of roughly only 40 percent. This is how we can reduce the carbon emissions of our network operation through the use of CHP plants.

Sustainable urban district concept
A local heating pipeline runs from our CHP unit in Berlin to a neighboring school. With the waste heat of the plant, the heating needs of the school and its gym could be covered entirely in 2017. This helps reduce carbon emissions by up to 700 tons a year.

Updated CHPs save additional resources
In October of 2017, we completed the update of two CHP plants. Absorption chillers in both units now convert waste heat into cold air, which will then be used to cool network nodes. Additionally, environmentally friendly dry coolers have also been installed in order to further reduce water consumption during the cooling process. The consequence is that the use of water and chemicals needed for the operation of the CHPs can be reduced considerably in the future.

Our experts can take advantage of special courses for their personal professionalization and career development under the Go Ahead! system. In 2012, thanks to Go Ahead!, we positioned expert development and expert careers as an equivalent path at the Group in Germany alongside our leadership development system Step up!. This standardized system aims to make job requirements transparent and elucidate which development paths will lead to which career and development goals. At any time, our employees can use a dedicated IT tool to explore suitable training and development measures for their particular role.

Our skills development measures are available via CAMPUS, a modular training program aimed at developing and building essential strategic skills for experts. Within CAMPUS, we offer a portfolio of courses tailored to different sectors, such as finance and controlling. Our repertoire also includes a range of more general qualifications, such as project management.

Go Ahead! helps the Deutsche Telekom Group ensure medium and long-term skills planning and talent promotion across different areas. Both Step up! and Go Ahead! make it possible for employees to switch from an expert to a managerial career and vice versa.

Realignment of leadership development activities
Deutsche Telekom AG faces big challenges as an ICT company. These include extremely dynamic markets, technological innovation, regulation and tough competition to name a few. That means a lot of responsibility for managers. They need to be able to make decisions fast while weighing risks at the same time. They need the courage to be innovative while staying focused on consistently high performance levels. In many cases, they also need to engage in effective internal collaboration with other departments - the only way to keep our customers happy in the medium and long term.

Our leadership development measures address these strategic challenges at Deutsche Telekom with the goal of continuing to develop the entrepreneurial leadership skills of our managers at all levels and to help our managers master these challenges and support their individual development. The general goal is to promote more effective leadership at all levels and improve innovative strength, internal collaboration and entrepreneurship.

Our Group-wide leadership development portfolio, LEAD (Leadership Excellence and Development), which was developed in 2013, is structured in three program categories:

• Transition LEAD programs: providing support for managers who are assuming a leadership role for the first time or assuming a senior leadership role as an executive
• Open LEAD programs: open offers for further development in the employee's current position
• Talent LEAD programs: development measures for talented employees to prepare for the next level

The OPEN LEAD portfolio was particularly designed for managers at the operative level and comprises business-oriented courses that deal with the three key themes "leading business," "leading people," and "leading yourself." These include both face-to-face courses as well as virtual and online formats. Based on their current needs, managers can choose courses that

• Support them in their business development ("Leading business"),
• Strengthen their leadership role and team responsibility ("Leading people"), or
• Focus on personal development ("Leading yourself)."

The Group also provides segment-specific offers to support the development of leadership skills throughout the Group.

International mobility, exchange and knowledge transfer
In order to drive the development of know-how as well as a shared Once Company concept across national borders, we put extensive efforts into international development measures: The Group-wide program, Telekom x-change, offers top performers and high potential employees here in Germany and internationally the opportunity to work for three to six months in Germany or at an international subsidiary. Since the program was launched in 2009, the number of people going on international assignments has steadily grown.

Another example of successful international exchange and knowledge transfer is the Master Classes development program for top experts, which was initiated by the Europe and Technology segment in 2009. In the program, colleagues in different positions and from different countries discuss forward-thinking topics like innovation, change management and leadership.

Stakeholder involvement is an important tool for the strategic development as well as the practical implementation of our CR activities. We are open to our stakeholders' concerns and use the results of our stakeholder dialog in our innovation process. We listen to their criticism and address their requests and comments so that we can structure our management processes accordingly.

Deutsche Telekom came up with six principles for working with stakeholders and communicated them internally in 2012 to help our employees better implement our stakeholder involvement strategy. The first principle requires our employees to respect the interests of our stakeholders and make sure these are taken into consideration in decision-making processes. Employees are also required to actively include interest groups using participative formats, to focus on key stakeholder topics and to take a balanced approach to dealing with different stakeholder interests. Moreover, stakeholders are to be provided with extensive information on all activities relevant to them.

The principles were developed during a participative process involving internal and external stakeholders. Based on an assurance engagement, the PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing firm confirmed during the reporting period that there is moderate assurance that our principles are suitable for stakeholder involvement in compliance with AA1000.

In addition to publishing our stakeholder involvement principles, we included a concise commitment in our strategy, which is designed to help our employees implement these principles. It reads:

• Valuing our stakeholders: We listen to our stakeholders and provide them with transparent information about our activities.
• Getting our stakeholders involved: We address relevant topics and engage in dialog and collaborations with our stakeholders.
• Understanding our stakeholders: We take the concerns of stakeholders seriously and take appropriate steps in response to them.

We focus our CR activities on areas in which we are able to make a particularly effective contribution to the sustainable development of society. In this context we defined the following three CR action areas, all of which are directly connected to our core business:

We take responsibility …

...for connected life and work
We are helping shape the change in the increasingly digitized work and living environment. Deutsche Telekom supports cultural change with innovative products and solutions toward greater self-determination and quality of life both in our professional and personal lives. Our goal is to be a driving force for sustainable life and work.

…for connecting the unconnected
Irrespective of their social or economic opportunities, we try to get as many people as possible involved in the development of the society they live in. With this in mind, we promote numerous community initiatives and support projects for media skills development.

… for a low-carbon society
Global warming and its consequences are one of the greatest challenges facing mankind. We have launched large-scale initiatives to reduce our own emissions for the long term. At the same time we are also empowering our customers and partners to make their contribution to climate protection with our solutions.

Our Group-wide corporate values are set forth in our five Guiding Principles, which were published for the first time in January 2009. They are the key to creating and maintaining values for our customers, our employees and our shareholders, as well as for society and the environment. They are firmly integrated in all of our major business units and market segments.

Telekom's five Guiding Principles:

• Customer delight and simplicity drive our action.
• Respect and integrity guide our behavior.
• Team together - Team apart.
• Best place to perform and grow
• I am T - count on me.

Our Guiding Principles are a component of our HR work and are very important when it comes to reliable collaboration and the ability to delight our customers. We conduct regular employee surveys to find out how our employees apply our Guiding Principles in their everyday work. We also assess employee satisfaction and how well they understand our corporate strategy by way of pulse surveys. This feedback is used to embrace our Guiding Principles even stronger at the Group. To achieve this, we spread video messages featuring our Board members, place a focus on special aspects and address the importance of our Guiding Principles for various business processes.