Photo credit WTL photos
When I published my review of tech company sustainability reports a couple of weeks back, it was suggested that I should add in telco’s as well. Instead, for clarity, I decided to publish a separate review of telco sustainability reports here.
| Company | Latest Report | Format | Remarks | External Audit | GRI Index | CEO involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BT | 2009 | Online and PDF | Granular links and multiple PDF download options | Yes | Yes – A+ Rated | Yes |
| Telefonica | 2009 | Comprehensive document with lots of charts and numbers (Spanish only) | Yes | Yes – A+ Rated | President | |
| T-Mobile | 2009-10 | In an otherwise good report, it was disappointing to see the Chairman’s involvement was a cut & paste of an online discussion he had about sustainability on another site as opposed to something specific to the report. Also, the fact that it contained a photo of the Chair using bottled waste doesn’t speak well for his commitment to sustainability | Limited | Yes – A+ Rated | Chairman – kind of! | |
| Swisscom | 2009 | Website | Very confusing layout. Very difficult to find any meaningful information | No | Yes – A Rated | No |
| Vodafone | 2009 | Very comprehensive PDF only report | Yes | Yes – B+ Rated | Yes | |
| Orange | 2009 | Very comprehensive PDF only report | Yes | Yes – B+ Rated | Yes | |
| China Mobile | 2009 | China Mobile is the 1st mainland Chinese co. listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and the thoroughness of this report is a testament to that (in English) | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Telecom Italia | 2009 | Excellent report with the information well presented and hugely transparent (wrt objectives achieved, objectives missed and targets) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Verizon | 2009-10 | Good supporting website and report but let down by lack of GRI adherence and no external auditing | No | No | Yes | |
| SK Telecom | 2008 | Download procedure for PDF is not straightforward and commitment to produce 2009 report by May 2010 has not been met. Also the report is short on numbers and more especially targets. | Yes | Yes – B+ Rated | Yes | |
| AT&T | 2008 | PDF with options to download individual sections | Nicely laid out with goals, numbers and pretty pictures! A very good report – a shame it was only to GRI level C and not externally assured. | No | Yes C Rated | Yes |
| Telenor | No date | Online | Telenor have a CR section on their site. This section is light on numbers, specifics and targets. | No | No | No |
| 3 (owned by Hutchinson Whampoa) | n/a | n/a | No Environmental or Sustainability site I could find | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Some points to note from the review: