Digitization is changing our society. Deutsche Telekom supports this change, simplifying and enriching people’s lives. However, increasing digitization requires a lot of energy, which is why they are committed to using energy more efficiently, reducing the energy consumption of their networks and sourcing their electricity group-wide completely from renewable energies from 2021 onwards.
Deutsche Telekom has set a group-wide climate target to help them in these efforts: Until 2025 they want to be climate-neutral regarding their own emissions. To this end, they are going to reduce their worldwide emissions by up to 95 percent. They will neutralize the last five percent or so of their carbon footprint through high-quality carbon removal projects. By 2040 at the latest, the requirement of climate neutrality will then apply to the entire value chain from production to customer use. This target applies to the entire Group including T-Mobile US and raises again the ambition of their climate protection targets.
Major levers for achieving their climate protection target are, on the one hand, the efficient use of energy and the switch to new, energy-efficient technologies for network operation and data centers. The purchase of 100 percent electricity from renewable energies also ensures that no climate-damaging emissions are generated by the operation of their networks and data centers.
They are working to process data traffic from no more than a few, particularly efficient data centers. Deutsche Telekom also continues to optimize their current data centers through measures such as modernizing cooling systems and advancing the IT technology used there. Both of these are measures that can significantly reduce energy consumption.
They are also replacing legacy technology in their networks with new technology, i.e., by switching to IP technology in their fixed-line network.
Other measures that they take to reduce energy consumption and, as a result, CO2 emissions, include more efficient management of their properties as well as making the company fleet climate friendly.
Deutsche Telekom is particularly interested in helping its customers conserve resources and reduce their energy consumption through solutions such as the company’s growing offer of sustainable products and services. These solutions help millions of customers cut back on tons of CO2 every year. An example – cloud computing: by using software and IT infrastructure directly in the TelekomCloud, their highly efficient data centers consume up to 80 percent less energy compared to what happens when customers use their own infrastructure.
Read more about Deutsche Telekom’s corporate responsibility on telekom.com