Turk Telekom Releases Integrated Activity Report

Forex - Turkish Telecom, operating with a vision of transforming technology for good and benefit, has published its first Integrated Activity Report under the title "Value for a Sustainable Future."

The report, which includes information about the company's financial successes as well as its long-term value creation goals, shares the company's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance for 2023 and its advancements in sustainability. Kaan Aktan, Deputy General Manager of Finance at Turkish Telecom, stated, "As Turkish Telecom, while shaping the future with next-generation technologies, we aim to build a sustainable future. This year, by taking a step further, we present our Group's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance to all our stakeholders through an integrated reporting model. This integrated reporting expands our understanding of sustainability to include social benefit, digital equality, and contribution to the economy, not limited to environmental impacts."

With the understanding of "Making Everyone Feel Valuable," Turkish Telecom continues to lead Turkey's digital transformation by continuously developing efforts that reflect its technological expertise into all areas of life. Turkish Telecom published its first Integrated Activity Report incorporating its sustainability strategy, including environmental impact, social benefit, digital equality, and contributions to the economy. The 2023 integrated report, published under the theme "Value for a Sustainable Future," was prepared in accordance with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards.

In addition to presenting Turkish Telecom's financial and operational performance in detail, the report extensively addresses its progress in environmental, social, and governance areas, highlighting the company's contributions to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and other sustainability indices.

Kaan Aktan emphasizes, "We always prioritize our responsibility to lead our country’s digital transformation. With this responsibility, while shaping the future with next-generation technologies, we aim to build a sustainable future. This year, Turkish Telecom has taken a step further by presenting our Group's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance to all our stakeholders using an integrated reporting model. The structure of our Integrated Activity Report has been created within the framework of the key pillars of our sustainability strategy, including Focus on Trust – Responsible Business Practices, Focus on People, Focus on Community Contribution, Focus on Climate Change and Environment, and Focus on Customers. We highlighted our contributions towards creating a fairer world in social, economic, and environmental terms by aligning our activities with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This year, we can state that our Integrated Activity Report differs from our previous operational and sustainability reports with three significant features. First, we present the total benefit we create as Turkish Telecom Group to our stakeholders by creating a value map for the first time. Second, in the section on Environmental Investments and Contributions under the title Natural Capital, our environmental contribution includes energy and emissions management, responsible use and management of natural resources, circular economy and waste management activities, and concrete plans for the future. We focus our social contributions on the areas where we lead digitalization and digital inclusion with investments we make across Turkey in fiber and mobile technologies. We believe we are sharing holistic and transparent information with our stakeholders in these areas. Finally, for the first time, our comprehensive carbon inventory has been included in the Natural Capital section of our report, prepared on a Turkish Telecom Group basis. By including all our Group companies, we have expanded the scope of our carbon inventory compared to the previous reporting period and calculated our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for the last four years, using 2020 as the baseline. With the creation of the carbon inventory that includes all Group companies, we aim to determine targets that will also include Scope 3 emissions in addition to our previously defined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission targets, initiating the SBTi target validation process. This integrated reporting is our first Integrated Activity Report, where we incorporate our contributions, including environmental impact, social benefit, digital equality, and contributions to the economy, in line with our sustainability strategy,” he stated.

“We are determined to leave a greener and more digital world for the future of Turkey” Highlighting the significant gains achieved economically and environmentally through their energy efficiency projects while fulfilling their environmental responsibilities, Aktan stated, "As of 2023, we have saved 47 GWh of energy thanks to our energy efficiency projects. The IREC certificates we received and the energy savings obtained from these projects have prevented a significant portion of our total Scope 1 and 2 emissions, reducing our emissions by 22% as of 2023. We continue our renewable energy investments without slowing down. In 2023, by implementing solar energy systems at 100 base stations, we created a total energy production capacity of 0.3 MW, increasing the total capacity of our renewable energy systems to 4.3 MW. We aim to reach a capacity that will cover 65% of our electricity consumption in the coming periods. Our goal is to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 45% by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In this regard, prioritizing reducing our environmental impacts, enhancing our energy efficiency projects, and continuing our renewable energy investments is among our key objectives. By adopting the principle of sustainability in every field of digital transformation, we are determined to develop projects sensitive to society and the environment, leaving a greener and more digital world for the future of Turkey,” he concluded.