Responsibility: Clear environmental and social targets

Along with other pillars of our business we want to grow in social responsibility, which has always been very high on our agenda. It is in the DNA of Orange Polska, embedded in our daily business logic. We believe only authentic engagement brings value to all stakeholders. Orange Polska has set ambitious ESG goals for itself and is ideally placed with its services both to help others reduce their own environmental footprint and to ensure that no one is left behind. We believe that the telecom sector has an essential role to play in the transition to carbon neutrality.

Our primary goal is to be climate-neutral and achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2040, ten years ahead of the EU climate goals. Net Zero covers the entire emissions of Orange Polska: Scopes 1 and 2 (own direct and indirect emissions) and Scope 3 (emission throughout the entire value chain – suppliers, employees, customers).

In the first period of action, by 2025, we will reduce our CO₂ emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 by as much as 65% compared to 2015. We want to achieve it primarily through increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix to at least 60% by 2025 from 0% in 2020. This means that we have to proactively search and support new projects in this area. We will also continue to optimise energy consumption: we have been reducing consumed energy volumes each of the past few years despite constant increase of data volumes on our networks. Deployment of new, much more efficient technologies, such as fibre and 5G, will also contribute here. Average electricity consumption per fibre customer is around 80% lower compared to copper.

To reach our 2040 goal, we will also accelerate efforts to reduce emissions in the entire supply chain, including suppliers and customers. This will include implementation of the principles of a circular economy. For example we will buy back older smartphones and accept used or broken ones for recycling in every Orange store.

Digital inclusion has a particularly important social dimension today. This means dissemination of high-speed Internet access on the one hand, and education and development of digital competencies on the other. We are active in both of these fields. We invest in optical fibre, and by using public funds strive to reach areas more distant from major cities. These areas often lack infrastructure and access to modern services. In addition, we have been supporting the digital education of Poles for more than 15 years through our Orange Foundation. The Orange Foundation is committed to this and implements digital education programmes in schools. Over 5,000 children take part in such programmes each year. Along with our social partners, we also train teachers as part of the project called Lesson:Enter, which is co-financed by the European Union. This is the largest initiative of its type in Poland. In total, 75,000 teachers will benefit from this programme.

Open culture and diversity are also very important for us: data prove that diverse teams are more effective and work better. This applies to all levels of an organisation, from the frontline to the management board. We want to pursue more opportunities and greater diversity focusing on increasing the share of women leaders (to 35%), and of female managers (to 40%).