Contents
Editorial

Dear
readers

In order to leave a world worth living in for the next generation, we must stride into the future with courage and curiosity.

Tim Höttges, Chairman of the Board of Management Deutsche Telekom AG

  • The year 2017 ended with a real highlight for Deutsche Telekom: in December, we received the German Sustainability Award for our holistic sustainability management. I am pleased that this award recognizes not only our many years of work, but also how we are using the opportunities offered by digitalization for a better future.

    This positive conclusion to the year was important for me. For looking back at the year, there was again great cause for concern in 2017: persistent armed conflicts forcing people to flee their homeland. Political rhetoric exacerbating conflicts rather than defusing them. Burgeoning nationalism focusing on division and not on cooperation. And fatal ignorance as regards the consequences of climate change, threatening to undo the hard-won progress of recent years.

    But anyone who just decides to sit back and do nothing is drawing the wrong conclusions. I feel very strongly that standing by our convictions has seldom been more important than today. This applies not only to us as individuals; it is particularly relevant to Deutsche Telekom as a company. The values for which Deutsche Telekom stands must be defended. We are a European undertaking, and believe in the European vision of shared prosperity and social security. It is not for nothing that our brand motto is ‘Life is for sharing’. We want to enable sharing through digitalization in Europe and beyond. We stand for optimism as well, for in order to leave a world worth living in for the next generation, we must stride into the future with courage and curiosity.

    The biggest driver for this is digitalization. It will enable progress in the fight against climate change, in medicine and education, creating more livable cities and inventing new products for a more sustainable everyday life. It is helping us to meet 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the UN’s Agenda 2030: these SDGs are arguably the most ambitious goals the international community has ever set itself - and we are all responsible for reaching them. So what is our role as Deutsche Telekom? We are “enablers”: in this way, we want to make our contribution so that digitalization can unleash its full potential for more sustainable development. You can read how we accomplish this in detail in our recent CR Report at www.cr-bericht.telekom.com.

    However, as optimistic as we are, we cannot ignore the fact that some people fear negative consequences of digitalization. For this reason, we’re exploring the question of what corporate responsibility means in the digital age. We want to give the social debate momentum. That’s why we have created our “Digital Responsibility” portal, where you can actively join in the discussion. I look forward to receiving your posts.

    Tim Höttges