Holistic sustainability still an operational priority for telcos despite political and economic headwinds
3 min read- Sustainability is becoming embedded in day-to-day telco operations even if it is not always reflected in high-level strategy.
- Telcos improved their performance across seven of eight sustainability criteria in STL Partners’ latest scorecard.
- Operators are building a more sustainable value chain, with greater focus on scope 3 emissions and supplier collaboration.
LONDON – 5 December 2025 – Sustainability remains firmly on the operational agenda for telcos despite political and financial headwinds. STL Partners’ third annual Telecom Sustainability Scorecard finds that most operators have strengthened their performance across key metrics, showing that sustainability efforts continue to mature across the sector.
The latest edition benchmarks 47 operators against eight criteria, covering holistic reporting, commitments and incentives, emissions transparency, green finance, diversity and inclusion progress, biodiversity actions, enablement, and collaboration. This year’s scorecard was designed to assess whether sustainability is still progressing under tougher conditions. The results show that operators are continuing to embed sustainability into their operations in meaningful ways.
Overview of top three scoring telcos
Source: STL Partners
The analysis highlights growing focus on emissions management. Scope 3 emissions remain the largest part of the footprint, and operators’ understanding is improving. The average number of scope 3 greenhouse gas categories reported rose from 10 to 12. Despite absolute emissions increasing by 10% on average, the emissions per unit of revenue fell by roughly 54 percent, dropping from 424 to 196 tCO₂e per USD million. This indicates that operators are generating far more economic value for each tonne of carbon emitted.
The graph below indicates that the world’s leading operators are not only working to improve operational energy efficiency but are also accelerating their transition toward cleaner power sources.
Leading operators are aiming for efficiency and clean energy usage
Source: STL Partners
The scorecard shows clear progress in several other areas. Seven out of eight sustainability criteria saw improvements, signalling that sustainability practices are becoming more firmly embedded in day-to-day operations. Employee incentives are also gaining momentum. The share of companies achieving the top score of 5 has increased from 13 percent to 21 percent. However, some US operators have scaled back diversity, equity and inclusion linked incentive schemes in response to an unfavourable political climate.
“The industry has reached a point where sustainability is no longer just a buzzword but an operational reality. Telcos that invest in better data, deeper supplier engagement and stronger cross-industry collaboration will be best placed to meet rising investor and customer expectations, particularly in Europe and Asia, and to manage future regulatory and operational risks,” said Krsna Singh, research analyst at STL Partners.
The Sustainability Scorecard provides independent benchmarking to help operators identify areas of strength, uncover gaps and prioritise actions that will embed sustainability more effectively across their organisations.
Find out more insights from the report by downloading a summary here. For media enquiries, click here to get in touch with our team.
STL Partners is a leading research and consulting company that focuses on the telecom industry and adjacent markets by helping telcos and their partners innovate, grow and stay ahead of the competition.
