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November 01, 2002
Oekom Pans Telecoms' Social and Environmental Performance
by William Baue
A recent report from the German research firm concludes that only a handful of telecommunications
companies have above average social and environmental practices.
SocialFunds.com --
One indicator of an industry sector's favor with investors is its inclusion in benchmark indexes.
The telecommunications sector, for example, is well represented in global indexes such as the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World
Index, as well as domestic indexes, such as the Standard &
Poor's (S&P) 500. Telecom stocks also curry favor with social investors, and are well
represented in global and domestic socially responsible investment (SRI) indexes. Telecom stock
represents 11.93 percent of the Ethibel Sustainability Index (ESI)
Global. Leading global telecom companies such as Germany-based Deutsche Telekom (ticker: DT),
UK-based British Telecom (BTY)
and Switzerland-based Swisscom
(SCOM) are constituents in the Dow
Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and the FTSE4Good Global Index. Domestically, Verizon (VZ) is in the Domini 400
index, Nextel (NXTL) is in the
Calvin index, and BellSouth (BLS)
is in both.
 A recent report from Munich-based
environmental and social rating agency Oekom Research calls into question whether the telecom
sector will be able to sustain its favored status with social investors.
"The
telecommunications sector, one-time darling of the stock exchange and paragon of prosperity, is
currently taking a battering," said Oekom analyst Evelyn Bohle, who authored the report. "As this
trend continues, the question being asked is whether the sector will be able to overcome these
problems and at the same time meet its social and environmental responsibilities."
The
Oekom report applied 200 criteria of its proprietary Corporate Responsibility Ratings, which
consists of both social and environmental ratings. The report rated the world's 38 largest
telecommunications companies, and assessed the social and environmental performance of 24 telecom
companies. The remaining 14 companies, including Qwest Communications (QWEST) and Sprint (FON), were unable to
provide sufficient information on their social and environmental activities to warrant inclusion in
the report. Several leading companies scored very well, as Deutsche Telekom earned a B+ grade,
while BT and Swisscom both earned B grades. However, more companies earned below-average grades,
resulting in a sector grade average of C. Several companies fared dismally, as Verizon earned a D+
and Nextel earned a flat D.
The report applauded the sector's overall transparency
regarding environmental issues. All 24 of the companies assessed have implemented an environmental
policy, and 18 of the assessed companies publish detailed environmental reports.
"However,
there is as yet little evidence of the introduction of company-wide environmental management
systems," states the report.
Environmental concerns in the telecom sector included the
extremely high power consumption of networks as well as the emission of electromagnetic radiation
from transmission equipment. Transparency in these areas was markedly worse. For example, most
companies confirm that they are increasing energy efficiency in their networks, but they could not
verify the amount of energy being saved. Companies are conducting research on the possible effects
of electromagnetic radiation.
"[However], scarcely any company was able to document
precisely the company-wide standards that were being applied or observed in relation to
electromagnetic radiation from its transmission equipment," the report states.
Transparency was even more opaque on social issues.
"Only a limited number of
companies publish reports that comprehensively document social and cultural topics," the report
states.
However, the report did point out some positive social practices of telecom
companies. For example, most telecom employees belong to trade unions that are helping ensure
lay-offs happen in a socially acceptable manner.
According to Oekom, U.S. telecom
companies clearly must make more efforts to improve their social and environmental performance.
The highest rated domestic company was AT&T (T), which received a C-.
Certainly the U.S. companies can do better.
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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