Mobilizing for a Thriving Planet on Earth Day, and Every Day | News Direct

Mobilizing for a Thriving Planet on Earth Day, and Every Day By Brigitta Witt, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability

News release by T-Mobile

facebook icon linkedin icon twitter icon pinterest icon email icon Northampton, MA | April 19, 2022 01:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time

This Friday, April 22, marks the 52nd annual Earth Day. This day is not just a celebration of this amazing planet. It’s also a great opportunity to be reminded of the role we all play in taking care of our world and a time to renew our commitments to do more to reduce the impact we have on our environment.

This doesn’t start and stop with just me and you. Companies have a role to play here, too. Now more than ever, there is a pressing urgency to truly understand the very real effects of climate change, engage in current dialogues, and take steps to slow it.

As a business, T-Mobile has long understood that environmental sustainability is not simply a tagline or a list of “nice to do” things. It is intentional part of our business strategy. Environmental sustainability has increasingly become embedded in everything our company does and is a cornerstone of our goals to operate responsibly. As the Un-carrier we solve real problems with real solutions, and this is no different. We have taken real, measurable actions to do our part and have mobilized our employees and customers to do the same!

Earlier this year we announced T-Mobile was the first company in wireless to source 100% of its total electricity usage with renewable energy as of the end of 2021 — an achievement we’re proud to have met following a historic merger that significantly expanded our electricity needs. Our RE100 commitment represents a cross-enterprise effort and plays an important role in minimizing our carbon footprint, particularly in reducing our operational emissions.

T-Mobile was also the first U.S. wireless provider to set science-based targets (SBTs). These aggressive, independently verified targets aim to keep the global temperature increase limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Our targets — reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions by 95% and reduce scope 3 emissions by 15% per customer by 2025 — are among the most ambitious in the U.S. telecom industry.

I am thrilled to share that we not only achieved but BEAT these targets four years ahead of schedule! By the end of 2021, we reduced our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 97% and reduced scope 3 emissions intensity by 16% per customer!

These efforts have helped T-Mobile earn an A- for our 2021 CDP Climate Change Disclosures, and JUST Capital once again named us the #1 company in U.S. telecom for environmental action. We’ve also led Green America’s Wireless Scorecard three years in a row and won the EPA’s Sustainable Material Management Electronics Challenge for the last two.

As we evaluate the next steps of this journey, we embrace our responsibility to not only move forward but also to truly get it right. We’ll share more about our principled approach later this year and when we publish our 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report.

All of our efforts start with our T-Mobile employees who are HUGE force multipliers in our approach to operating a sustainable organization. Whether it’s working to identify energy efficiency upgrades to create ‘smart’ buildings or managing complex wind and solar farm installations or just spending personal time on sustainability projects they are passionate about, I am continually inspired by our employees dedication to advance our company’s programs, lead key initiatives and bring new ideas to the table. They push us to be better each day.

Over the years we’ve given our T-Mobile customers ways to mobilize alongside us. This year, we are offsetting the equivalent of 24 hours’ worth of energy used by their phones, tablets, wearables, hotspots and IoT devices on Earth Day, April 22nd. We’re purchasing carbon credits — a total equivalent to taking more than 100,000 cars off the road! — through The Nature Conservancy’s Working Woodlands program. In addition, customers can take advantage of the earth-friendly offers we featured throughout the week on the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, like a free reusable lunch bag. And they can enter to win an eco-friendly Tesla Model Y.

We also work to establish meaningful partnerships that help the communities we serve with conservation efforts. One of those partnerships is with The Nature Conservancy. Since 2018, we have invested $1.6M with this amazing organization to help establish environmentally conscious practices that prevent habitat loss and promote biodiversity on a global scale.

This year we’re doing it again by supporting the Family Forest Carbon Program, which is partnering with the American Forest Foundation to help small landowners across the U.S. fight climate change. On April 19, customers using the T-Mobile Tuesdays app can click to trigger a $1 donation on behalf of T-Mobile, up to $300,000 in funding. This contribution will support the program’s expansion to the Midwest and Pacific Northwest and aid in the removal of potentially tens of millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere over the next 20 years.

I’m so proud of all of our accomplishments and everything we’re doing, alongside our employees, customers and communities, to support a thriving planet. But this is just the beginning. As we embark on a new era of Un-carrier, we are committed to driving change for good and empowering others to do the same this Earth Day, and every day. We know there is power in numbers and together we can make a bigger difference. The time to act is now.

T-Mobile matches its own annual electrical usage with renewable energy from a portfolio of sources including: virtual power purchase agreements, a green direct tariff, renewable retail agreements, and unbundled REC purchases. Carbon offset calculated based on approximate daily electricity consumption for total prepaid and postpaid customer phones, tablets, laptops, wearables, portable hotspots, IoT devices, and IHBB gateways assuming year-end FY2021 subscriber figures, an eGRID 2020 U.S. average emission factor and AR5 GWP values.

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