Telia Company has announced new environmental targets to help the Nordic and Baltic countries to achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions and waste by 2030. It also plans digital inclusion initiatives to reach 1 million people by 2025 and will implement privacy and security strategies by 2023 to gain and maintain customers' trust.
The operator said it is adding short-term and medium-term targets to the 2030 environmental goals that it announced in 2019. To achieve Science Based Targets covering the entire value chain by 2025, Telia will reduce emissions from its own operations by at least 50 percent. It said that by 2020, it had reduced its own emissions by 79 percent compared with its 2018 baseline.
Telia will talk to suppliers to ensure that at least 72 percent of supply chain emissions are covered by set science-based targets, too. This compares with 16 percent achieved in 2020.
To reach zero waste, Telia will step up action to prevent or reduce, re-use and recycle materials. It said 84 percent of materials from its own and network operations will be re-used or recycled by 2025 and it will report progress towards that rate in 2022.
Telia will significantly increase sales of second-hand mobile handsets, as well as phones sold “as a service”, where device life is extended by repairs, upgrades and refurbishment. In 2020, only 2 percent of phones sold were reconditioned ones, but 17 percent were provided as a service.
Turning to the issue of digital inclusion, Telia said it aims to reach 1 million people cumulatively by 2025 through schemes focusing on children, older people and other groups, without being specific about these initiatives. In 2020, 120,000 people had taken part in schemes, or had obtained information from dedicated TV programmes or websites.
Looking at the matter of privacy and security, Telia said it aims for top-tier positions in customer privacy in every market by 2023, as tracked using the internal Brand Scorecard. It said that in 2020, it had achieved first or second place in all markets. The operator also intends to reach preferred supplier status in 2023, thanks to best-in-class security practices. This is a new goal and Telia will report on it in 2022.
Other internal goals have been set to boost integration of sustainability aspects into business processes such as risk management, product development, sales and investments. These cover areas such as employee diversity, where Telia aims for a 50-50 balance between the sexes in top management by 2025. It had achieved 38 percent female representation in its extended leadership teams by 2020. Other goals cover human and environmental impact assessments, supply chain management, employee conduct, risk-based implementation of AI ethical guidelines and ISO certifications.
