Deutsche Telekom cites lack of standardized data as obstacle on road to net zero

In our upcoming report 'The sustainable telco: navigating the maze of Scope 3 emissions' we will take a look at how telcos are addressing indirect emissions, which are by far the largest source of GHG emissions for most communications service providers (CSPs). In addition to surveying 68 sustainability executives, working for 50 principally large telecoms operators worldwide for the report, we interviewed several sustainability leaders at major CSPs worldwide, including Saima Ansari, Senior Partner Manager focused on Sustainability and Technology at Deutsche Telekom.

Deutsche Telekom has set itself a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 not only in its own operations but across the entire value chain. To reach this target, it aims to be fully circular around technology and devices by 2030 and to reduce scope 1-3 emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 2020.

“Meeting the circularity goal by 2030 is a key milestone on the path to reaching our 2040 net zero target,” says Saima Ansari, Senior Partner Manager focused on Sustainability and Technology at Deutsche Telekom. But circularity, which entails reusing and refurbishing devices and equipment, is complex in its right, even before it interlocks with the rest of the Scope 3 puzzle.

Like many companies, Deutsche Telekom draws on information from public databases such as the Carbon Disclosure Project to understand its suppliers’ Scope 3 emissions. However, much more granularity is needed in the emissions data than what already exists explains Ansari. “If you don't know what's happening in your supply chain, you won't be able to identify how and where to reduce the emissions in your supply chain.”

For this reason, it also works with vendors to gather the emissions data via a detailed lifecycle assessment from their products.

Deutsche Telekom’s first step was to determine which Scope 3 categories were the most important and which suppliers have the most significant impact on its Scope 3 emissions and then it started to engage with the key suppliers to gather relevant information, set priorities, and work together to reduce their emissions.

Educating suppliers

Large suppliers typically have their own net zero targets and understand the importance of what Deutsche Telekom is trying to achieve, says Ansari. Smaller companies that lack sizeable sustainability teams, however, struggle and several “suppliers are not really prepared for it.”

Deutsche Telekom therefore works together with their suppliers and assists them in meeting our high sustainability requirements via a supplier developer program.

“There is an educational part,” explains Ansari. “It becomes tangible [to suppliers] when you talk about different measures that they need to adopt to be more c sustainable, from using renewable electricity in production, to increasing energy efficiency, or even the materials that we're sourcing or putting into the equipment that they send to us.”

The telco further encourages compliance by giving sustainability a weighted scoring of 20% out of the total scoring which is implemented in their procurement process.

The data challenge

But reporting obstacles remain, which the company alone cannot surmount. “I would love to see in our industry that a supplier gets a metric, and unless they are reporting on all their emissions … and setting themselves targets for net zero, then it'll it will be difficult for them to go into business with operators,” says Ansari.

However, the use of different methodologies to report information means: “The hardest challenge is getting the right data,” she states. “There is a piece of standardization missing, which [means] leads to very different results from similar companies -- I think that's my biggest pain point at this moment in time.”

DT’s answer for now is to draw on information about supplier’s emission from third party databases and then work with individual suppliers to generate a product based granular report. The information it requests includes product roadmaps, use of materials, adoption of renewable energy for manufacturing, their transport strategies, as well as plans to reduce waste in packaging, for example .

Another consideration is how the evolving use of technology might shape a telco’s Scope 3 emissions. When it comes to measuring the Scope 3 emissions associated with a consumer’s use of a Spotify or Netflix application on their mobile phone, for example, telcos may not have access to comparable data.

“All of those things are becoming more and more complicated when you talk about all the players now going into a cloudified and virtualized world. We want to ensure that we are reporting all our scope1, 2 and 3emissions … [go] to our customers and we expect the same from the other suppliers and application providers as well,” says Ansari. “We also do not want to hide anything.”

For this reason, she encourages “the industry … to report both Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions. If many companies choose not to record those emissions, then it becomes difficult for the whole sector.” Nonetheless recent progress has given her grounds for optimism. “In the past years at DT our policies … [and] the rigorous discussion that we're having with our suppliers [means] … I definitely see us closer to our targets.”