CSR! How telecoms operators fared in 2023
The annual report of the Joint Alliance for CSR (JAC), an association of telecoms operators aiming to verify, assess and apply Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices along the supply chain, has revealed that 2023 has been a highly successful year for the group, with more than 100 audits carried out and nearly 900 action plans raised.
JAC, which is made up of 27 leading telecoms players, took large strides forward over the last 12 months, significantly increasing the number of supplier surveys and audits it ran to 150 suppliers across 22 countries.
The number of corrective action plans raised from these audits was 890, with 84 percent of them coming across Health & Safety (45 percent), Working Hours (18 percent), Environment (11 percent) and Wages and Compensation (10 percent).
Thanks to its successes in 2023, JAC members will now be able to deliver risk reduction, at scale, across global supply chains by coordinating the implementation and verification of corrective actions post-audit.
JAC members will also be able to accelerate progress along its supply chains by engaging suppliers around ways to improve.
Paras Shah, Chair of JAC, said:
‘We’re pleased with our progress in 2023, which we achieved by coming together as a sector to address these pressing CSR challenges.
‘We’ve witnessed a real shift in our supply networks, as more and more businesses align with us on sustainability and change the way they work.’
A 2023 JAC survey, cited in the report, ‘Achieving Net Zero in the Telecoms Industry’, showed that 93 percent of JAC members had committed to net-zero and science-based targets.
JAC members have also extended their commitments beyond directly controlled business emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions) to emissions produced across the value chain (Scope 3 emissions).
This reflects a recognition of the growing need to address Scope 3 emissions across telecoms. The majority of a telecoms company’s overall carbon emissions falls under Scope 3, making it the single largest area of potential impact for companies working to combat climate change.
Just 31 percent of the world’s largest 2,000 companies have set a Scope 3 emissions target, according to Net Zero Tracker. By contrast, 85 percent of JAC members have Scope 3 reduction targets in place.
Paras Shah, JAC Chair, said:
‘JAC continues to be a member-led organisation that collaborates on important topics common to the telecommunications supply chain. That can be seen in the achievements outlined in this report.
‘Through shared audits, the sharing of best practices and collaboration via workstreams, being a telco-led initiative gives JAC the ability to focus on issues relevant to our sector and supply base.
‘Collaboration is effective, and it is through working together that we are able to achieve what we have in driving better social, environmental and ethical standards across our supply chains. It is a key reason for JAC’s growth in membership and progress.’
