As one of the leading ICT service providers in the world, Deutsche Telekom have the potential – and bear the responsibility – to enable their customers to become sustainable consumers. Accordingly, top-quality customer support and communications that focus on customers’ needs are more than just the prerequisite for profitable business. They can help form the foundation for ecological, socially motivated buying decisions. Moreover, by researching sustainable forms of a digital future, Deutsche Telekom aim to lay the cornerstone for introducing products and services to the market that enable  customers to take responsibility for the climate and the environment themselves.

Green data centres

Deutsche Telekom is the first company worldwide to test a biogas-powered fuel cell for use in data centers. At the T-Systems data center in Munich, the fuel cell supplies computers and cooling systems with fully climate-neutral energy. The forage plants that are needed for biogas extraction are cultivated in the area around Munich. The facility is one of a series of projects that T-Systems has launched to ensure that data centers all over the globe can make as sparing use as possible of the available energy. In Singapore, a "green data center" was inaugurated in 2008. The energy-efficient data center operates with cutting-edge technology on an area covering almost 2,800 square meters. Water-based cooling systems, for example, ensure that cooling only takes place where it is needed. What's more, cooling with water makes it possible to operate without the harmful gases used in conventional cooling systems

Deutsche Telekom has a systematic policy of informing its employees about climate protection to raise their awareness of the issues. Employees are informed about sustainable options at work via information stands at work meetings. Also the company  has initiated the E-Fit employee motivation campaign where employees are encouraged to visit colleagues at their desks, offering useful tips on ways to save energy at home and in the workplace.

Energy Consumption

Power consumption at the Deutsche Telekom Group also increased in 2009 overall and in many of the countries in which it operates – however, this increase was only slight compared to the industry. Network expansion and increasing transmission volumes are the major drivers behind this trend. Comprehensive measures aimed at saving energy and increasing efficiency prevented the increase from being greater. These measures even enabled a slight reduction in consumption in Germany. A major increase was noted in the consumption of heating energy. The major cause of this was the harsh winter of 2009, which resulted in increased heating requirements in many countries.

Carbon Emissions

CO2 emissions increased at the Deutsche Telekom Group overall and in nearly all categories, aside from Scope 2 emissions from the consumption of district heating. The reasons for this lie in increased power consumption and in the increase of certain factors used to calculate emissions by the IEA. As in the previous year, indirect emissions from power generation in Germany were reduced to zero. This was possible thanks to measures aimed at saving energy and improving energy efficiency, combined with the purchase of RECS (Renewable Energy Certificate System) certificates for more than 2,400 GWh. Considering the more than 19 percent share of renewable energy in the German power mix,  they again covered  their full power requirements in Germany either directly or indirectly from renewable energy resources in 2009.