Company boundaries, national borders: none of them matter when it comes to the climate. Deutsche Telekom adopts a similar approach above and beyond climate protection. And successfully, too. For the third time in a row, the non-profit organization CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) rated the way major corporations attempt to combat climate change through their supply chain activities. Deutsche Telekom ranks among the world’s best 7% of more than 9,600 participating companies, once again making it onto the list of Supplier Engagement Leaders.
According to the CDP, emissions generated from manufacturing products are on average more than eleven times higher than the emissions a company is responsible for “in-house”. A good reason to take a closer look at whether this important category of Scope 3 emissions is taken into account with the efforts to combat climate change. To identify the Supplier Engagement Leaders, the CDP analyzes the control logic, objectives, level and development of relevant Scope 3 emissions of participating companies, as well as their interaction with suppliers on this issue.
Deutsche Telekom climate protection targets
Deutsche Telekom was one of the first DAX Groups to base its climate targets on the latest scientific findings. The Group’s activities are geared to complying with the Paris Agreement that aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve this, the Group has committed to reducing its emissions by 90 percent by 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 at the latest. As an important step to achieving these targets, the company will meet all its power requirements with renewables throughout the Group NatCos as of 2021. A separate sub-target details emissions from the supply chain and from products and solutions used by Deutsche Telekom. The Group aims to cut these emissions by 25 percent per customer by 2030. With that in mind, the Group is working together closely with its suppliers, collating information on energy consumption, emissions, and climate protection targets, and running supplier workshops to develop specific measures including greener products, and production or packaging methods.
What is the CDP?
In its investors' program, CDP, an independent organization (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) evaluates companies’ commitment to protecting the climate and the environment every year. More than 9,600 companies from across the globe took part in 2020. CDP’s Supplier Engagement Report provides a snapshot of the overarching Climate Report where Deutsche Telekom made it onto the renowned A list for the fifth year running. This list singles out companies that are transparent about climate protection and are aware of their responsibility, adopt and monitor suitable measures, and assume a leading role with climate protection. In addition to the climate ranking, the CDP also publishes rankings on the use of water and forests. As a leading climate protection ranking, CDP’s analysis also makes its way into other important sustainability ratings, which, in turn, affect Deutsche Telekom’s ratings seen by investors.
