Scope 3 emissions - a building block for a new climate target
Indirect emissions along our value chain, or Scope 3 emissions, make up the majority of our total emissions. For climate protection to be credible, these emissions must be recorded so that targeted measures can be implemented at company and product level to reduce our carbon footprint.
CO2e-Emissionen (Scope 1-3)
Interactive graphics
52 %
2 %
12 %
34 %
Emissions from upstream activities
Scope 3
8,776 kt CO2e
 
Transportation services, purchased products and services, capital goods, production waste, upstream energy and fuel supply chains, business travel, and employee commuting.
Emissions from Deutsche Telekom's own activities
Scope 1
277 kt CO2e
 
Operating the systems, buildings, and vehicles belonging to Deutsche Telekom.
Emissions from purchased energy
Scope 2
2,077 kt CO2e
 
Generation of district electricity and heating purchased by Deutsche Telekom.
Emissions from downstream activities
Scope 3
5,695 kt CO2e
 
Transportation of products sold to customers, use of sold and rented products and disposal and recycling of sold products.
Please click on the percent values for further information.
Data assured by PwC. For detailed assurance comments see „DT Group in Germany“ and „T-Mobile USA“. Values for 2016 have been adjusted retrospectively.
We have been disclosing the Scope 3 emissions generated throughout the Group since 2016. In 2018, these emissions amounted to around 14.4 million metric tons of CO2e, which is roughly equivalent to the level recorded for the previous year. At around 5.7 million metric tons of CO2e, emissions in Germany were also at the same level as the previous year. The majority of emissions can be attributed to procurement (in particular of devices and network technology) and the use of our products and services (for sold or rented) fixed-line and cell phones, routers, and media receivers, and for products such as laptops or television sets that our customers use so they can make the most of our services. Of equal importance are the emissions resulting from the manufacture and transportation of technology for establishing our networks.
In 2018, we modified the method for calculating Scope 3 emissions. To ensure comparisons can be made with the previous year’s values, we have recalculated the data for 2017 using this method.
Overview of Scope 3 emissions (t CO2e)
National Company
20161)
20172)
2018
Annual comparison (2017/2018)
Germany (incl. T-Systems)
4,860,747
5,664,571
5,698,724
Hungary
565,804
436,463
470,090
Croatia
318,982
256,846
207,131
Slovakia
263,246
215,655
190,230
Greece
1,239,494
963,630
1,156,680
Romania
498,445
403,794
312,653
Austria
116,802
124,952
172,127
Czech Republic
185,775
183,248
113,912
Netherlands
190,656
184,267
204,051
Poland
362,078
463,699
448,032
Albania
only recorded since 2017
3,416
7,366
Macedonia
only recorded since 2017
93,757
95,048
Montenegro
only recorded since 2017
30,112
34,900
United States
4,217,941
5,118,509
5,156,652
T-Systems (without Germany)
only recorded since 2017
207,039
166,709
Total
12,819,969
14,349,959
14,435,047
1)Corrections for 2016 led to some changes being made compared to the previous year’s report.
2)The 2017 rise resulted from the national companies in Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro, and T-Systems units being recorded for the first time, which contributed to the 27-percent increase of the Group value compared to 2016.
Due to the large proportion of emissions in our supply chain, we have a responsibility to reward our suppliers for eco-friendly activities and thus also to reduce our Scope 3 emissions. Since as early as 2016, we have been disclosing our activities to bring on board suppliers under the auspices of the supplier engagement rating of the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). This rating assesses how well companies have been able to integrate the topic of climate protection into their supply chain. In 2018, we once again improved on the previous year and achieved an “A”, as we did in 2016. This has secured our place on the Supplier Engagement Leader Board. An important step in achieving this was calculating the supplier-specific emission intensities based on supplier responses to the CDP Supply Chain Program. This involves calculating the ratio between a supplier’s overall emissions (Scope 1 and 2 and Scope 3 from the upstream supply chain) in grams and the supplier’s overall sales. As we know the procurement volume attributable to a given supplier, we can also calculate our proportion of the supplier’s emissions based on emissions intensity. Our calculations do, however, depend on our suppliers providing complete and correct information.
Employee commuting In the reporting year, we carried out a Group-wide survey on commuting and more than 71,000 employees took part. In the year under review, we recorded a reduction in emissions arising from commuter traffic, with levels dropping from 762,000 in 2017 to 538,000 metric tons of CO2e. A more detailed analysis and a comparison with other companies will help us in 2019 to understand how we can reduce these emissions in the future while taking into account the mobility needs of our workforce.
Do you have questions on this topic? Ask our expert:
Indirect emissions along our value chain, or Scope 3 emissions
, make up the majority of our total emissions. For climate protection to be credible, these emissions must be recorded so that targeted measures can be implemented at company and product level to reduce our carbon footprint.
CO2e-Emissionen (Scope 1-3)
Interactive graphics
Scope 3
8,776 kt CO2e
Transportation services, purchased products and services, capital goods, production waste, upstream energy and fuel supply chains, business travel, and employee commuting.
Scope 1
277 kt CO2e
Scope 2
2,077 kt CO2e
Scope 3
5,695 kt CO2e
Data assured by PwC. For detailed assurance comments see „DT Group in Germany“ and „T-Mobile USA“. Values for 2016 have been adjusted retrospectively.
We have been disclosing the Scope 3 emissions generated throughout the Group since 2016. In 2018, these emissions amounted to around 14.4 million metric tons of CO2e, which is roughly equivalent to the level recorded for the previous year. At around 5.7 million metric tons of CO2e, emissions in Germany were also at the same level as the previous year. The majority of emissions can be attributed to procurement (in particular of devices and network technology) and the use of our products and services (for sold or rented) fixed-line and cell phones, routers, and media receivers, and for products such as laptops or television sets that our customers use so they can make the most of our services. Of equal importance are the emissions resulting from the manufacture and transportation of technology for establishing our networks.
In 2018, we modified the method for calculating Scope 3 emissions. To ensure comparisons can be made with the previous year’s values, we have recalculated the data for 2017 using this method.
Germany (incl. T-Systems)
4,860,747
5,664,571
5,698,724
Hungary
565,804
436,463
470,090
Croatia
318,982
256,846
207,131
Slovakia
263,246
215,655
190,230
Greece
1,239,494
963,630
1,156,680
Romania
498,445
403,794
312,653
Austria
116,802
124,952
172,127
Czech Republic
185,775
183,248
113,912
Netherlands
190,656
184,267
204,051
Poland
362,078
463,699
448,032
Albania
only recorded since 2017
3,416
7,366
Macedonia
only recorded since 2017
93,757
95,048
Montenegro
only recorded since 2017
30,112
34,900
United States
4,217,941
5,118,509
5,156,652
T-Systems (without Germany)
only recorded since 2017
207,039
166,709
12,819,969
14,349,959
14,435,047
1)Corrections for 2016 led to some changes being made compared to the previous year’s report.
2)The 2017 rise resulted from the national companies in Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro, and T-Systems units being recorded for the first time, which contributed to the 27-percent increase of the Group value compared to 2016.
Due to the large proportion of emissions in our supply chain, we have a responsibility to reward our suppliers for eco-friendly activities and thus also to reduce our Scope 3 emissions. Since as early as 2016, we have been disclosing our activities to bring on board suppliers under the auspices of the supplier engagement rating of the CDP
(formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). This rating assesses how well companies have been able to integrate the topic of climate protection into their supply chain. In 2018, we once again improved on the previous year and achieved an “A”, as we did in 2016. This has secured our place on the Supplier Engagement Leader Board. An important step in achieving this was calculating the supplier-specific emission intensities based on supplier responses to the CDP Supply Chain Program. This involves calculating the ratio between a supplier’s overall emissions (Scope 1 and 2 and Scope 3 from the upstream supply chain) in grams and the supplier’s overall sales. As we know the procurement volume attributable to a given supplier, we can also calculate our proportion of the supplier’s emissions based on emissions intensity. Our calculations do, however, depend on our suppliers providing complete and correct information.
Employee commuting
In the reporting year, we carried out a Group-wide survey on commuting and more than 71,000 employees took part. In the year under review, we recorded a reduction in emissions arising from commuter traffic, with levels dropping from 762,000 in 2017 to 538,000 metric tons of CO2e. A more detailed analysis and a comparison with other companies will help us in 2019 to understand how we can reduce these emissions in the future while taking into account the mobility needs of our workforce.
Do you have questions on this topic?
Andreas KröhlingAsk our expert: