10-08-2026 5 min read
After one year at Deutsche Telekom, Robert Metzke is taking on the role of Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). In his new position, he will report directly to CEO Tim Höttges and help integrate sustainability even more closely into corporate strategy and the core business.
The message behind this step is clear to me: Sustainability belongs where we shape the future of our company, in the way we steer the business and in the core business itself. My new role makes that visible organizationally as well.
We are not starting from scratch. Deutsche Telekom has been addressing environmental and social responsibility for more than 30 years. We have set clear targets, built the necessary structures, and made measurable progress. At the end of 2025, we achieved our climate target for our own operations and reduced our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by more than 94 percent compared with 2017. We offset the remaining emissions through high-quality CO₂ sequestration projects.
That gives us a strong foundation. At the same time, the environment in which we make business decisions is changing fundamentally. The impacts of climate change, geopolitical tensions, volatile supply chains, and increasingly scarce resources are converging with rapid technological development and social change. Digitalization and artificial intelligence are opening up enormous opportunities. New questions are emerging around resilience, resources, sovereignty, and trust.
All of these factors affect our long-term ability to succeed as a company. That is why sustainability must be built into the decisions that shape our business.
From Sustainability Program to Business Discipline
I see our task as embedding sustainability more firmly into the way Deutsche Telekom is managed. In the end, what matters to me is whether sustainability helps us make better decisions. That applies to investments just as much as it does to technology, products, procurement, and risk management.
Good management requires both: reliable information about what has already happened and a forward-looking view of what lies ahead. That is exactly the perspective we want to strengthen.
What changes are emerging? What do they mean for our business? Where are the risks, and where are the opportunities? How do we translate societal expectations, technological developments, and environmental limits into concrete business decisions?
Answering these questions is a core responsibility of the sustainability function. Its value becomes visible when a business unit makes a better decision, when we identify risks earlier, or when new solutions emerge that create both business value and benefits for society.
“Connecting Your World” Is Our Compass
Our contribution to society is closely tied to our business model. We connect people, businesses, and organizations and, in doing so, create the conditions for digital inclusion. When networks are available, secure, and accessible, people can learn, work, communicate, and participate in society. Businesses can develop new business models. Critical services remain available even under difficult conditions.
To me, that is at the heart of sustainable business: societal benefit and business success can come from the same core capability. A high-performing network enables participation and, at the same time, supports customer satisfaction, growth, and long-term competitiveness. Trust in our technologies and in the way we handle responsibility strengthens both public acceptance and customer relationships.
That is why we should think about sustainability wherever our business has an impact. Our ambition should be to use the capabilities of our core business to create both societal value and long-term economic value.
Sovereignty and Resilience Are Becoming More Important
To me, sustainability is also about safeguarding Deutsche Telekom’s long-term ability to act.
In this context, sovereignty means preserving options and managing dependencies consciously. That gives us the freedom to shape partnerships from a position of strength. Resilience means remaining capable and effective even under difficult conditions. This applies to our infrastructure just as much as it does to supply chains, energy supply, raw materials, and technological capabilities.
The circular economy is also gaining strategic importance. It combines resource efficiency with greater raw material security, more resilient supply chains, and long-term value creation.
Responsible Digitalization Is Becoming a Key Test
This connection is especially clear when it comes to artificial intelligence.
AI offers enormous opportunities. We should scale it wherever it creates tangible value. But as adoption grows, robust safeguards become even more important: security, transparency, human oversight, and energy and resource efficiency. Long-term business value depends on people, customers, and society being able to trust how technology is developed and used.
Responsible digitalization is therefore a prerequisite for innovation at scale. At Deutsche Telekom, we should develop a clear vision of our own for how technology can be used safely, responsibly, and in an environmentally sustainable way.
Our Contribution to Society Is Part of Our Core Business
The same applies to Deutsche Telekom’s contribution to society. Our greatest leverage lies in our core business: digital inclusion, protecting our customers, and building trust in digital technologies.
Going forward, we should be even clearer about which business decisions influence this impact and who is accountable for them. That way, social impact becomes a systematic part of product, technology, and business decisions.
Now It Comes Down to Execution
In my new role, I want above all to strengthen the connections between sustainability and strategy, technology and responsibility, procurement and supply chains, and products and societal impact. We do not need additional parallel structures to do that. We want to integrate sustainability more deeply into Deutsche Telekom’s existing processes, including planning, investment decisions, product development, procurement, and risk management.
One point is especially important to me: Ultimate accountability for results lies with the business. The sustainability function provides direction, contributes expertise, makes interdependencies visible, and helps improve decision-making.
The coming months and 2027 will therefore be about setting the direction and embedding sustainability more firmly into day-to-day business. We want to build a shared understanding, clarify responsibilities, and connect our strategic priorities more closely with Deutsche Telekom’s decision-making processes. After that, the focus will be on integration and scale. What works should have an impact across the organization. Our goal is for relevant sustainability considerations to become a natural part of good business decisions.
That is my personal ambition as Chief Sustainability Officer: to establish sustainability as a strategic management discipline that supports long-term competitiveness, resilience, and responsible digitalization. Our benchmark is better decisions, better products, more resilient systems, and the ability to create value over the long term.
Because that is where sustainability has real impact.
About Robert Metzke: Robert Metzke is Chief Sustainability Officer at Deutsche Telekom. He aims to connect sustainability even more closely with the core business and corporate management. His approach brings together societal benefit, resilience, and long-term economic value creation. He is convinced that sustainability is not a program alongside the business, but part of sound corporate management. His credo: Sustainability must have an impact.
