Menu

Annual Report 2019
Annual Report 2019
Open report

Downloads

Leave

Sustainability Report 2019

In­tro­duc­tion

2019 in review

57,436

people

trained in the re­spon­si­ble use of digital media.

Largest Swisscom solar installation

put into operation

The new solar system on the roof of the headquarters in Worblaufen can cover the electricity needs of around 200 households.

The workplaces of

300,000

people

were audited by Swisscom and checked for compliance with human rights law, em­ploy­ment law and the protection of oc­cu­pa­tional health.

4,935

schools connected to the Internet

Since 2002, Swisscom has provided all schools in Switzer­land with free Internet access and numerous services.

Learning robots

Thymio

introduced five primary school classes to computational thinking in a pilot project.

80%

more efficient cooling

of mobile phone antennas in the future – thanks to an energy-efficient in-house innovation.

529,665

tonnes of CO2

saved by Swisscom cus­tomers in 2019 through the use of Swisscom services.

Circular economy

in action

Swisscom Mobile Aid gives old phones a second life. In 2019, 86,000 devices financed 430,000 meals for children in need.

Stake­hold­ers’ letter

WSGE_DP_GR_Bilder_Stake­hold­ersBrief

Dear Readers

2019 will be remembered as a year of change. It started with young people demonstrating, but concerns about the climate and the en­vi­ron­ment are now being discussed by society as a whole and have therefore found their way onto the political agenda. As Switzer­land’s leading telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions and IT company, this is both a stimulus and a challenge for Swisscom. On the one hand, we see these de­vel­op­ments as confirming our efforts to act responsibly towards the en­vi­ron­ment, people and society, which is something we have been doing with persistence and meticulousness for over 20 years. On the other hand, however, this newly awakened en­vi­ron­mental awareness has also given rise to fears and scepticism about the tech­no­log­i­cal progress that is being made in mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Swisscom takes these concerns about health and well-being seriously. We see it as our duty to enter into dialogue with the relevant stake­hold­ers, to play an active part in research into new tech­nolo­gies, and to ensure transparency.

We are, however, convinced that tech­no­log­i­cal progress will help to overcome and solve many of today’s challenges. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies and IT, together with state-of-the-art networks and in­fra­struc­tures, are the key tech­nolo­gies of the future. Swisscom therefore invests around CHF 1.6 bil­lion in network upgrades each year in Switzer­land alone, which is fully in line with our vision of shaping the future in a networked world and making the op­por­tu­ni­ties this opens up available to everyone. It is, however, something we can only bring about if business and society agree on the path that should be taken and if the tech­nolo­gies employed are accepted. This is something we will need to work hard to achieve in the coming years.

What specifically have we achieved over the past calendar year?

  • Focus on energy efficiency: Swisscom is devoting all of its efforts to further improving the energy efficiency of its networks, buildings and vehicles. It uses electricity from 100% renewable energies and is constantly working on improving the energy efficiency of its networks, e.g. through the use of more efficient cooling systems. It also promotes climate-friendly ICT ap­pli­ca­tions for col­lab­o­ra­tion anywhere and at any time, for remote monitoring and optimisation of vehicles, machinery and buildings, and for more climate-friendly cities.
  • Empowering people: Swisscom aims to exploit the op­por­tu­ni­ties and potential of technical networking. For many years, it has been committed to ensuring that users have the necessary skills to get the most out of the Internet, e.g. by offering courses for around 43,000 pupils, parents and teachers and ICT courses for senior citizens, all the while emphasising the accepted wisdom that communicating face to face will always remain the best form of com­mu­ni­ca­tion.
  • In­fra­struc­ture is the key: In 2019, Swisscom con­tin­ued to push ahead with broad­band expansion in Switzer­land. Thanks to Swisscom, around 74% of all Swiss homes and offices are now connected to ultra-fast broad­band, with speeds of more than 80 Mbps. Around 67% of all homes and offices enjoy con­nec­tions with speeds of more than 100 Mbps. In the field of mobile tele­phony, the nationwide coverage of the 4G/LTE network extended to 99% of the Swiss population by the end of December. 97% of the population is able to surf the Internet at speeds of up to 300 Mbps, over 72% at speeds of up to 500 Mbps, and some 27% at speeds of 700 Mbps. In addition, Swisscom rolled out its 5G network and is one of the first providers worldwide to offer fully stan­dard­ised 5G networks. Furthermore, we also supplied more than 280 Alpine businesses with electricity and fast Internet, and provided 4,900 schools with fast and secure Internet free of charge.
  • Committed to dialogue: Swisscom is convinced that the new 5G mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tions standard will become the cornerstone of mobile digitisation. However, 5G tech­nol­ogy – in Switzer­land in particular – also serves as a surface upon which fears about health, the right to control the use of personal data, security and jobs are projected, despite the fact that 5G is only a further de­vel­op­ment of the tech­nol­ogy we are already familiar with. In specific terms, the fifth generation of mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tions uses familiar fre­quen­cies and signal characteristics but more powerful antennas and software. In addition, 5G tech­nol­ogy is several times more energy efficient per amount of data transported than previous generations and allows intelligent ap­pli­ca­tions to make our society more sustainable, which makes 5G essential.

Should we have paid more attention to public sensibilities when announcing 5G in the public domain? The answer is crystal clear: Yes. For example, we failed to take the op­por­tu­nity to inform the public of 5G’s unrivalled energy efficiency or its numerous ap­pli­ca­tions when it comes to managing complex systems – and therefore of the op­por­tu­ni­ties it brings for climate protection. We have an obligation in this regard.

Swisscom remains committed to ensuring that people in our country can take ad­van­tage of the op­por­tu­ni­ties and pro­spects offered by digitisation in a simple and effective way. This is the guiding principle on which the timetable for our sustainability work up to 2025 is based. We want to help people, the en­vi­ron­ment and Switzer­land as a whole progress con­ve­niently, securely and profitably.

Kind regards

WSGE_DP_GR_Bild1_Stake­hold­ersBrief

Stefan Nünlist

Head of Group Com­mu­ni­ca­tions & Responsibility

WSGE_DP_GR_Bild2_Stake­hold­ersBrief

Res Witschi

Head of Sus­tain­abil­ity

Sus­tain­able en­vi­ron­ment

Swisscom attaches a great deal of im­por­tance to sustainability. Swisscom uses resources efficiently, thinks ahead and makes provisions for future changes. As a market, tech­nol­ogy and innovation leader as well as a national in­fra­struc­ture provider, Swisscom has very strong ties to Switzer­land. These ties and the ex­pec­ta­tions of stake­hold­ers such as cus­tomers, employees and federal au­thor­i­ties place high demands on Swisscom in terms of sustainability. Sus­tain­able management and long-term responsibility are core values to which Swisscom is committed. These values are expressed in our vision, promise, corporate business strategy and code of conduct and are addressed in detail in the sustainability strategy.

The framework conditions for Swisscom’s sustainability strategy are determined by stake­hold­ers’ ex­pec­ta­tions and Swiss legislation. A further im­por­tant basis is the UN’s 2030 Agenda, which is the first com­pre­hen­sive roadmap for sustainable de­vel­op­ment and serves as a guide to both the public and private sectors.

See www.eda.admin.ch/agenda2030/de/home.html

In the year under review, the Global e-Sus­tain­abil­ity Initiative (GeSI), with Swisscom as its co-sponsor, revised the “SMARTer 2030” study and published it in September 2019 under the title “Digital with Purpose”. The study examines and evaluates the contribution that digital tech­nolo­gies make to the 17 Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Goals (SDGs). The study:

  • confirms that there is an urgent need for action, as the goals of Agenda 2030 will otherwise clearly not be met.
  • identifies seven key digital tech­nolo­gies that have a positive and significant impact on the Agenda 2030 goals.
See www.climate-kic.org/insights/digital-with-purpose-delivering-a-smarter-2030/

Op­por­tu­ni­ties and challenges provided by digitisation for Swisscom

The digitisation of society has an enormous impact on Swisscom’s actions and strategies. As Switzer­land’s largest ICT provider, Swisscom plays a key role in influencing and accelerating the digitisation process. In discussions and surveys, interest groups have pointed out the risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties that digitisation brings. The following views serve as examples:

  • Digitisation creates new jobs but also makes current jobs redundant.
  • Artificial intelligence creates new pos­si­bil­i­ties but also raises concerns.
  • In­for­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies play an im­por­tant role in facilitating a sustainable way of life in metropolitan areas (SDG 11 “Sus­tain­able Cities and Communities”), but also lead to an increase in the con­sump­tion of resources and energy.
  • ICT tech­nolo­gies (networks, data centres, end devices) consume a lot of energy, but at the same time replace other energy-intensive and CO2-intensive ap­pli­ca­tions.
  • 5G offers op­por­tu­ni­ties but is the cause of some uncertainty among sections of the public.

Swisscom is exploiting the op­por­tu­ni­ties offered by digitisation but remains aware of the risks. In order to devise solutions to frequently conflicting views, it set up a specialist unit for ethical issues as early as 2014. In the year under review, this body was replaced by a Data Ethics Board (DEB) with a broader composition. The new DEB has the task of dealing with and evaluating ethical issues relating to the processing of data in a uniform manner. It bases its actions and decisions on the following six maxims: no discrimination, respect for the rights of the individual, the right to control the use of personal data, transparency, responsibility and accountability, added value and benefits.

Can the sustainability and “smartness” of a city be measured?

To measure cities’ sustainability and “smartness”, the In­ter­na­tional Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion Union (ITU) has joined forces with other UN organisations to found the U4SSC (United for Smart and Sus­tain­able Cities) initiative. U4SSC has the task of defining measurement methods to promote sustainable and intelligent cities.

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with Swisscom, Pully (Canton of Vaud) decided to embark on the path to becoming a Smart City as defined by the U4SSC initiative. The city’s various municipal ad­min­is­tra­tive departments collected data on around 100 indicators from business, the en­vi­ron­ment and society in order to assess the current situation. The indicators measured such things as the public transport provision, the unem­ploy­ment rate, air quality, and the number of intelligent remote meters for water and power con­sump­tion. It became apparent from the indicator data collected and the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion by U4SSC that threshold or target values first need to be defined in order to classify the measured values in an effective manner. This called for laws, ordinances and regulations that could provide target values for each of the indicators evaluated. Following the determination of these target values, a report (U4SSC Verification Report of the City of Pully) was published in December 2019.

See https://smart.pully.ch/media/1052/pully-à-la-loupe-indicateurs-u4ssc.pdf