Is AT&T sustainable? Compared to their competitors Verizon and T-Mobile, the data shows that they’ve made much more progress. AT&T has more substantial sustainability commitments and showcases drops in energy usage and lower emissions in recent years. But… They still use more carbon dioxide and energy than their competitors. In this blog, we’ll talk about AT&T sustainability commitments – what they’re doing right, and wrong! 

On Karma Wallet, we rate AT&T’s sustainability a 4 out of 16, evaluated on 9 UN SDGs. The sector average for similar companies is 3.33, so AT&T is doing slightly better, but not much.

The Good

AT&T Sustainability Commitments

AT&T has a ton of commitments outlined in their Climate Strategy & Transition plan. Here’s a few of the heavy hitters:

• Become carbon neutral across all operations by 2035
• Reduce 1 gigaton of GHG emissions between 2018 and 2035
• Invest $2 billion to help bridge the digital divide by the end of 2023
• Reduce the amount of U.S. waste sent to landfills 30% by the end of 2030
• Help 1 million people prepare for and recover from the impacts of disasters by the end of 203

And they’ve made pretty good progress on those goals. Check out their 2022 progress report here!

The Bad

Carbon Emissions

While they’ve set some strong commitments, AT&T still creates a huge amount of carbon emissions. They claim their Scope 2 emissions are down 39% over the last 5 years, but data shows that their energy use has only fallen 13% over that time.

This can be explained by their use of renewable energy certifications and signing of power purchase agreements. These initiatives don’t directly cut out real-world energy usage. 

Transparency 

While they are very proud of their sustainability commitments, they don’t release a ton of specific information about their paper usage, water conservation, social justice initiatives, etc.

We’d love to see more transparency from AT&T overall, so we can accurately judge the success and progress of their commitments.

AT&T Sustainability and Company Report Card on Karma Wallet

On Karma Wallet, we rate AT&T a 4 out of 16. They get evaluated on 9 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and earn points for these SDGs:

• Decent Work and Economic Growth (1)
• Reduced Inequalities (1)
• Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (1)
• Quality Education (.5)
• Climate Action (.5)

The sector average for telecommunications companies is a score of 3.33, so they’re doing slightly better than their competitors like Verizon, but not much. 

All in all, they still have a lot of work to do when it comes to reducing energy usage and carbon emissions, and prioritizing social justice initiatives across their business. 

Get the full scoop on AT&T sustainability initiatives on Karma Wallet!