Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Not disclosed

Environmental Achievements

• Not disclosed

Social Achievements

• Not disclosed

Governance Achievements

• Not disclosed

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Intensifying market competition, uncertain regulatory environment and rapid development of new technology

Mitigation Strategies

• Persevere with the deepening of strategic transformation, accelerate the scale development of fundamental services, expedite the nurture of emerging services, closely monitor and proactively respond to advancement of new technology and changes in regulatory policies, adhere to the Internet’s spirit of “openness, cooperation and innovation”, promote the services development through differentiation, motivate the innovative vitality of our employees through market-driven mechanism and promote scale development and profitability through “dual-leadership in innovation and service”, leveraging unswerving promotion of “Three New Roles” strategy

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Not disclosed

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Not disclosed

Transition Risks

• Not disclosed

Opportunities

• Not disclosed

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Null

Certifications: Null

Third-party Assurance: KPMG

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

• Overall Best Managed Company in Asia (Euromoney), Best Managed Company in Asia’s Telecommunications Sector (Euromoney), No. 1 Best Managed Company in Asia (FinanceAsia), Best CEO in China (FinanceAsia), Best CFO in China (FinanceAsia), Asia’s Most Honored Companies (Institutional Investor), Asia’s Best CEO in Telecommunications Sector (Institutional Investor), Asia’s Best CFO in Telecommunications Sector (Institutional Investor), Asia’s Best Investor Relations Company in Telecommunications Sector (Institutional Investor), Platinum Award for All-Round Excellence (The Asset Corporate Awards), The Best of Asia (Corporate Governance Asia), Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards (Corporate Governance Asia), Grand Prix for Best Overall Investor Relations for Large-cap Companies (IR Magazine Awards – Greater China), No. 1 Best Investor Relations Website in Asia & Pacific (IR Global Rankings), No. 1 Best Online Annual Report in Asia and Pacific (IR Global Rankings)

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Energy conservation and emissions reduction
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Corporate Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Continued to improve energy-saving technologies, further strengthened energy conservation and emissions reduction in order to promote green operations
• Reduced energy consumption for targeted professional units by 7.1%

Social Achievements

• Actively responded to the initiatives of “the Belt and Road” by cooperating with partners in enhancing the standard of information infrastructure for the regions and countries along the path
• Received high recognition and appreciation from society by accomplishing telecommunications assurance tasks for the nation’s significant events and disaster reliefs
• Maintained industry-leading customer satisfaction ratings in both wireline and mobile internet access services

Governance Achievements

• Maintained a high level of corporate governance, attaching great importance to risk management and control
• Enhanced corporate transparency and value to ensure healthy and orderly growth
• Received numerous awards and recognitions for corporate governance

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• National macroeconomic growth slowing down
• Fundamental telecommunications market becoming saturated amid intensified market competition
• Regulatory environment embedded with uncertainties
• Impact of various regulatory policies such as VAT reform, “Speed Upgrade and Tariff Reduction”, and “handset data traffic carried forward”

Mitigation Strategies

• Proactively grasped opportunities and achieved excellent execution of its established strategy through innovation
• Responded to regulatory challenges while maintaining stable and healthy development
• Tilted more investment towards key business areas to speed up core network upgrade
• Accelerated the integrated and scale development of 4G and fibre broadband services
• Deepened data traffic operation to boost differentiated development of emerging services
• Promoted comprehensive in-depth reform, persisted in innovation, reinforced open cooperation and Internet-oriented transformation

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Valued procurement, sunshine procurement, ecological procurement

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: International Financial Reporting Standards

Third-party Assurance: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Awards & Recognition

• “Most Honoured Company in Asia” by Institutional Investor for five consecutive years
• “Overall Best Managed Company in Asia” by FinanceAsia for five consecutive years
• “No. 1 Best Managed Company in Asia” by Euromoney for six years in a row
• “No.1 Best Managed Company in Asia” by Euromoney for 6 consecutive years
• “No.1 Best Managed Company in Telecommunications Sector in Asia” by Euromoney
• “Overall Best Managed Company in Asia”, “No. 1 Best Managed Company in China” and “No. 1 Best Investor Relations in China” for 5 consecutive years by FinanceAsia
• “Most Honored Company in Asia” and “Asia’s Best Investor Relations Company in Telecommunications Sector” by Institutional Investor for five consecutive years
• “Platinum Award for All-Round Excellence” in No.1 Best Managed Company in Asia by The Asset
• “The Best of Asia – Icon on Corporate Governance” by Corporate Governance Asia for 3 consecutive years

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Unit energy consumption per information flow was 4.91 kgce/TB, representing a decrease of 16.9% over last year.
• Total water consumption decreased by 1.22 million tons over last year, representing a decrease of 2.8% compared to last year while the water consumption per unit operating revenue decreased by 2.5% over last year.
• Recycled and disposed of various types of waste and used materials over 100,000 tons.

Social Achievements

• Mobile subscribers net addition was nearly 32.57 million, achieving a 53.2% share of total subscriber net addition in the industry, maintaining a leading position in the industry.
• Wireline broadband subscriber net addition reached 7.34 million, bringing the total number of broadband subscribers to 153 million.
• Revenues of Smart Family applications and services increased by 63.2% year-on-year.
• Overall customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction for mobile Internet access service continued to lead the industry.
• Implemented the “Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Professional Talents Project”, appointed 1 China Telecom Scientist, 8 Chief Experts and more than 800 Senior Experts.
• More than 26,000 innovation results or cases were recorded, and over 2,500 results were recognised and promoted.

Governance Achievements

• Established an all-rounded and seamless compliance system featuring internal control, audit supervision, anti-corruption and comprehensive risk management.
• Strengthened the exploration and landscape of patents in relation to 5G, artificial intelligence, Big Data, blockchain and other fields.
• Strengthened compliance management, perfected the Internal Control Manual and other rules and regulations and continuously assessed the implementation of rules and regulations, and timely rectified the problems once identified.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Increasing downward pressure on the economy
• Global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic
• Gradual impacts of regulatory policies’ adjustments in the industry
• Official commencement of the 5G era
• Apparent increase in the sources of global unrest and risks

Mitigation Strategies

• Actively respond to the change in environment, implement the requirements of regulatory policies, innovate 5G applications and business models, deepening reform and innovation, expand ecological cooperation, improve overseas compliance management system and pragmatically promote the high-quality development of the Company.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Value-added, transparent and green procurement

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Awards & Recognition

• Most Honoured Company in Asia
• Platinum Award – Excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance
• Highly Commended Initiative in Innovation
• The Best of Asia – Icon on Corporate Governance
• No. 1 Best Managed Company
• No. 1 Best Investor Relations
• No. 1 Best ESG

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Emissions
• Use of Resources
• The Environment and Natural Resources
• Climate Change
• Employment
• Health and Safety
• Development and Training
• Labour Standards
• Supply Chain Management
• Product Responsibility
• Anti-corruption
• Community Investment

Environmental Achievements

• Unit energy consumption per information flow was 4.61 kgce/TB, representing a decrease of 6.1% over last year.
• Total water consumption decreased by 5.66 million tons over last year, representing a decrease of 13.6% compared to last year while the water consumption per unit operating revenue decreased by 17.5% over last year.
• Recycled and disposed of various types of waste and used materials over 90,000 tons.
• Achieved continuous outdoor coverage of 343 cities in China and completed the world’s largest 5G co-building and sharing network.

Social Achievements

• The number of employees participating in labour union was 1.67%.
• Percentage of female employees at management level was 0.50%.
• The Company won the praise of “Top 100 Best Employers in 2020” by Zhaopin and “2020 Chinese College Students’ Favorite Employers” by 51Job.
• Successfully provided telecommunications assurance for important events including the 3rd China International Import Expo, the 128th China Import and Export Fair (Online Canton Fair), World Internet Conference and 5G+ Industrial Internet Conference.
• All 6 targeted counties for poverty alleviation and 1400+ assisted villages were lifted out of poverty.

Governance Achievements

• Established a sound, long-term and effective communication mechanism in order to regulate the disclosure of corporate information, and is open to government supervision and public scrutiny.
• No major violations occurred during the year.
• The Company was voted as the “Most Honoured Company in Asia” in the 2020 All-Asia-Executive-Team poll organised by Institutional Investor for ten consecutive years.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic significantly impacted business development, customer service, and network construction and operation.
• The American Depositary Shares (ADSs) of the Company may be subject to the risk of being delisted.

Mitigation Strategies

• The Company immediately initiated Epidemic prevention and control response mechanism, mobilised the manpower, allocated Epidemic prevention supplies and focused on assisting emergency support work for severely-affected regions.
• The Company filed with the NYSE a written request for a review of the Determination by a Committee of the Board of Directors of the NYSE.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: 100%

Responsible Procurement

• The Company strictly follows the Bidding Law of the People’s Republic of China and procurement-related laws and regulations

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Awards & Recognition

• ESG Leading Enterprise Award from Bloomberg Businessweek
• Most Honoured Company in Asia for the 10th consecutive year by Institutional Investor
• Platinum Award – Excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance for the 12th consecutive year by The Asset
• The Best of Asia – Icon on Corporate Governance for the 13th time by Corporate Governance Asia
• No.1 Best Telecommunications Company in Asia by FinanceAsia

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Green and low-carbon development
• Network and information security
• Social responsibility (poverty alleviation, rural revitalisation, community services)

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced carbon dioxide emissions by more than six million tons in a year through network co-building and co-sharing

Social Achievements

• Launched products and applications such as Community Security and Protection, Community Management and Resident Services to advance the construction of smart communities
• Launched products and applications such as Village Governance, Agricultural Production and Rural Life to promote the construction of digital villages
• Established more than 6,000 “Caring Stations” to provide warm public welfare services
• Supported sci-tech-based anti-epidemic measures as well as the normalised Epidemic prevention and control

Governance Achievements

• Successfully completed the A Share Offering and listing on the SSE
• Continued to strengthen internal control system, enhance the level of governance, standardise corporate operation

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Economic and policy environment adaptation risks
• Business operation risks (competition, meeting customer needs)
• Network and information security risks
• International operation risks

Mitigation Strategies

• Strengthening research and development and transformation of sci-tech innovations
• Improving 5G business model and industry chain
• Expanding ecological cooperation
• Improving market competitiveness of product supply
• Consolidating the security foundation of new information communications infrastructure
• Improving independence and controlling capability of core network technologies
• Improving supply chain security management system and emergency response and sourcing capability
• Deepening data security and user personal information protection

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Established a green supply chain to support low-carbon production and green life
• Increased procurement proportion of domestic systems, software and network equipment

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI, Appendix 27 of the Listing Rules (ESG Reporting Guide)

Third-party Assurance: Independent third party

Awards & Recognition

• "Most Honoured Companies in Asia"
• "Best Overall ESG"
• "Best IR Program"
• "Gold Award – Excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance"
• "The Best of Asia – Icon on Corporate Governance"
• "Most Outstanding Company in Hong Kong – Telecommunication Service Sector"
• "ESG Leading Enterprise Award"

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Climate Goals & Targets

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: ESG Reporting Guide, Appendix 27 to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited

Third-party Assurance: PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Digital Empowerment
• Green Development
• Security Development
• Inclusive Development
• Modern Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 13 million tons
• Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of total volume of telecommunications services decreased by 19.6% year-on-year
• Consumption volume of green electricity exceeded 1.1 billion kWh, a nearly 3-fold year-on-year increase

Social Achievements

• Launched Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Held the first Campus Talent Development Forum
• Deepened the construction of high-quality “four small facilities”, focusing on improving the working conditions and living environment of grassroots employees in 11 provinces
• Launched the “Love in Telecom” activity
• Carried out 140,000 social welfare activities through Caring Stations, serving over 13 million person-times

Governance Achievements

• Optimised governance systems of subsidiaries
• Intensified efforts to comprehensively deepen the reform of key areas and key links
• Strengthened compliance management
• Strengthened the protection of intellectual property
• Issued Anti-monopoly Compliance Guidelines

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Policy and regulation risk related to carbon trading and renewable energy requirements
• Technology risks related to energy consumption of datacenters and base stations
• Acute risks from extreme weather events
• Chronic risks from rising temperatures affecting equipment

Mitigation Strategies

• Regularly track and analyze relevant policies and regulations
• Conduct renewable energy surveys
• Conduct annual financial impact assessment of energy consumption costs
• Strengthen independent R&D of energy-saving technologies
• Strengthen alert and risk prevention and control of extreme weather
• Regularly analyze and monitor energy consumption-related indicators

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Integrated ESG concept into the entire process of supply chain management
• Strengthened compliance management
• Improved supply chain resilience and safety
• Pushed forward the digital transformation of supply chains
• Commenced the construction of green and low-carbon supply chain

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Extreme weather such as flooding and typhoon

Transition Risks

• Policy and regulation changes related to carbon emissions

Opportunities

• Development of energy-efficient products

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GRI Standards, UN SDGs

Certifications: Null

Third-party Assurance: PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)
• Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure)
• Goal 13 (Climate Action)
• Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)
• Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities)
• Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals)

The report details how various initiatives contribute to these goals.

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• e Secure Energy, e Energy Saving, e Extreme Cooling, 5G Integrated Smart Power Supply Cabinet, green cloud drive, green cloud computer, zero-carbon datacentre, zero-carbon cloud, green consumption credits, and green public service

Awards & Recognition

• Excellent Case in Research Report on ESG of Listed Central SOEs
• Excellent Green and Low-carbon Practice Case
• Leading Technology Achievement Award of the 2023 Big Data Expo
• Recognised as a global leader in climate action by CDP