Our ESG strategy

Telkom started addressing key enablers in our maturing journey towards a more resilient and sustainable business. Key milestones this year included:

Concluded our first net zero pathway analysis, which informs a decarbonisation pathway incorporating Scopes 1, 2 and 3
Conducted our first double materiality assessment in line with the JSE's voluntary Sustainability Disclosure Guidance
Conducted a climate risk scenario analysis using two representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios. This gives a view of the vulnerability of our key assets to climate change over the medium and long term.

Telkom made measurable progress against its ESG goals, with notable achievements in gender diversity, emissions reduction and socio‑economic impact:

Increased women in leadership positions to 35%, a 3% increase from the FY2022 baseline, despite a challenging recruitment environment
Reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 32% from our FY2022 baseline
Exceeded annual targets for driving economic and digital inclusion, particularly through SMME spend and digital literacy initiatives

Telkom remains on track to achieve our long‑range climate commitments, including carbon neutrality by 2035 and net zero by 2040.

2030 sustainability ambition

Since the Group has reached almost all its 2025 goals — barring long-range decarbonisation goals — we have developed a new ambition for 2030.

KPIs that we achieved ahead of FY2025 will either be recalibrated to more ambitious targets for 2030 or retired where appropriate. New metrics will be included to reflect our expanded focus areas.

Ambition for 2030

Enable digital infrastructure to foster growth for key economic sectors.

The new ambition is framed across four interconnected sustainability themes:

Prosperity: Creating economic value for stakeholders through expanded and new forms of connectivity.

Planet: Committing to environmentally conscious practices and adopting principles of circularity.

Practice: Embracing sustainable and innovative ways of working that foster customer trust.

People: Connecting and empowering our stakeholders to thrive in a digital world.

This ambition and supporting themes will be detailed in our FY2026 report, as the final governance approvals will be obtained early in FY2026.

ESG strategy and performance

Digital
services

Deliver digital solutions that enable socio‑economic uplift

Empowered
communities

Broaden access to affordable and inclusive digital connectivity, enabling a better life for our customers

Digital
planet

Pioneer digital solutions that unlock sustainable energy, responsible water usage and circular economy practices

Business
stewardship

Instil accountable and ethical operating practices and encourage responsible technology/AI usage, data privacy and security

Investing
with purpose

Enable social impact through leading CSI programmes, localisation and growing SMMEs. Encourage diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity

Operational
efficiencies

Mitigate climate change impact and achieve cost optimisation and security of supply through responsible water/energy use and waste management

ESG strategy and performance

Environmental

	Goal statements		FY2022 baseline	FY2024 actual	FY2025 actual	% change from FY2022 (baseline)	Status
	OE
A	Carbon neutral by 2035 (tCO₂e)		852 782	639 041	576 395	-32%
A	50%	Reduction in fossil fuel consumption by 2030 (tCO₂e)	55 466	66 119	35 127	-37%
A	100%	Renewable energy sources by 2035 (GJ)	<1%	13 320	33 284	2.5x increase from FY2024
	Net zero by 2040
A	—	Determine Scope 3 emissions	1 764 216	1 724 460	1 713 336	-2%
	75%	Reduction in waste to landfill by 2030 (tonnes)	743	644	610	-18%
A	50%	Reduction in potable water consumption by 2030 (kL)	997 617	777 722	774 991	-22%
	25%	Migration from R22 refrigerant gases in 2025 and 100% by 2035 (tonnes) from a 2016 baseline	38	34	31	-18%
					Refer to Natural capital
	DP
	70 000	IoT devices deployed by 2025	15 220	73 679	95 170	sixfold increase
					Refer to Revenue

*	Lives impacted by job creation = the number of people employed at an SMME, which can either be actual or x4.1 average if the number of employed is unknown (Small Business Institute SA). To calculate lives impacted, apply an economic multiplier of x 3.3, representing the average number of people per household (Statistics South Africa).
**	Digital literacy is the ability to use technology to connect with the world around us, to access opportunities and to use digital content to learn new skills/knowledge to contribute in a digitally connected society (UNESCO, UNICEF, EU).

Legend
	Achieved
	Making progress but long-term target not yet achieved
	Not achieved, progress needs to be improved
	No specific target set as part of the initial ESG strategy

Social

	Goal statements		FY2022 baseline	FY2024 actual	FY2025 actual	% change from FY2022 (baseline)	Status
	IWP
	200 000	Lives positively impacted through SMME spend by 2025^*	91 357	221 308	251 203	2.8x increase
	70 000	Lives impacted through digital literacy by 2025^**	14 420	58 417	72 278	5x increase
	2023	Become a leading employer in South Africa	Achieved	Achieved	Achieved	Achieved
A	35%	Women in leadership positions by 2025	32%	34%	35%	3 ppts
				Refer to Social and relationship capital
	DS
	4.3 million	Customers with access to Telkom's diversified digital platforms by 2025	2 039 684	8 800 000	11 277 361	5.5x increase
	500 000	Businesses with access to digital platform solutions by 2025	443 467	447 647	451 346	2%
					Refer to Telkom consumer
	EC
	1.5 million	Customers connected to broadband and fixed wireless broadband by 2025	11 700 000	15 957 972	19 590 697	67%
	1.5 million	SA homes and businesses passed with our FTTx footprint by 2025	839 691	1 217 110	1 378 930	64%
	Under-served areas	Fibre rollout in townships (homes passed)	119 579	139 476	231 330	94%
	Under-served areas	Fibre rollout in townships (homes connected)	47 619	70 024	120 852	2.5x increase
		Refer to Openserve

A	External moderate assurance on selected sustainability indicators. Please refer to the FY2025 Independent Assurance Report, available online.

Governance

Goal statements	FY2022 baseline	FY2024 performance	FY2025 performance	% change from FY2022 (baseline)	Status
BS
Culture of responsible technology and information use
Reduction in number of data breaches	0	0	0	0
Promote fair and ethical practices towards our customers and within the Group
Reduction in escalated customer complaints^***	7 416	3 661	4 953	-33%
Decrease in whistle-blowing incidents reported from FY2023	152	121	71	-41%
			Refer to Share dealing policy

***	Excludes complaints managed at the call centre, as these are too complex for reporting purposes.

Legend
	Achieved
	Making progress but long-term target not yet achieved
	Not achieved, progress needs to be improved
	No specific target set as part of the initial ESG strategy

Future focus

Looking ahead, Telkom will focus on:

Finalising and implementing the 2030 sustainability ambition
Further embedding sustainability considerations into our practices and processes. This includes cascading ESG KPIs into our operations, as they are included in Group and business unit short- and long-term incentive scorecards
Improving mechanisms for execution. This includes automating data collection and working towards a real-time view of our sustainability performance to enhance decision-making

We will build efficiencies and cost savings through our net zero pathway, improve sustainable procurement practices, and enhance reporting in line with local and global best practices.