The operator canceled its contracts with six of its suppliers for these reasons
MADRID, 9 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -
Telefónica continues to take steps to apply its sustainability policies to the business and has now targeted 768 of its suppliers, which represent 9% of the total, due to deficiencies in its strategy in this field.
The operator has labeled these companies as "high risk", which implies a greater volume of auditing and monitoring of their actions by Telefónica, due in many cases to the importance of these for the company's business, as as company sources explain to Europa Press.
Suppliers labeled in this way must commit to taking measures to improve their application of this type of criteria, not only with regard to emissions of polluting gases, but also at the governance level and with criteria such as anti-corruption policies.
From Telefónica they have explained that many suppliers receive this label for reasons unrelated to their business, such as events that occur in a specific country or their exposure to conflict zones. In the event that there are no improvements in sustainability policies, the firm could cut ties with these companies.
In the past year, it did so with six companies, as detailed in its annual report, since all the companies that collaborate with Telefónica sign minimum standards required by the group.
Throughout 2022, Telefónica had a total of 8,526 suppliers from whom it made purchases worth 21,863 million euros.
The company has a goal of having its supply chain produce net zero carbon emissions by 2040, which is why it is taking steps to help companies from which it purchases products and services decarbonise.
To assess the situation of these, the firm has carried out a total of 18,578 administrative or 'in situ' audits during the year, after which 879 suppliers have drawn up improvement plans.
On occasions, the company joins forces with other companies in the sector, such as JAC, an association set up by the telecommunications industry to evaluate the commitments of its component and equipment suppliers, such as mobile phone manufacturers.
In this case, the operators have collected opinions from 20,634 employees in 15 supplier factories, through an anonymous survey on their own mobile phones. After the start of the process, work accidents and employee turnover in these complexes have been reduced.
In addition, it also has the 'Allies' program that monitors the conditions of its most labor-intensive contracts.
Likewise, Telefónica's suppliers must also pass the IntegrityNext evaluation platform filter or identify their ethics and corruption risks through Dow Jones Risk
