Our Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility strategy

Anchored in our strategy, sustainability and corporate responsibility (CR) are central to Ericsson’s core business. For us, sustainability is about the “triple bottom line”—long-term social equity, economic prosperity, and environmental performance. Corporate responsibility is about maintaining the necessary controls to minimize risks, while creating positive impacts for our stakeholders and our brand. A sustainable and responsible approach results in value creation for the company, our employees, our customers, our shareholders and society as a whole.

Our approach

At Ericsson, sustainability and CR is a strategic priority. The Sustainability and CR Strategy is fully integrated in the development of Ericsson’s business strategy, target setting and risk management (see illustration) and is actively implemented across the business. Continuous dialogue with external and internal stakeholders helps prioritize the issues most material for Ericsson. Execution of the Strategy is measured at relevant levels according to target fulfillment.

Our Sustainability Policy describes the activities in which Ericsson engages to contribute to sustainable development, and the Ericsson Code of Conduct policy includes our commitment to the UN Global Compact ten principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environment and anti- corruption. Ericsson’s Code of Business Ethics summarizes the Group’s basic policies and directives governing its relationships internally, with its stakeholders, and with others. It also sets out how the Group works to achieve and maintain its high ethical standards. We focus on the sustainability and corporate responsibility issues most material to Ericsson, our sector and our stakeholders, and we report on our performance annually. The Ericsson Sustainability and CR Steering Group is comprised of senior executives which aligns Sustainability and CR work within Ericsson and approves and follows ups the strategy, objectives and targets.

Our Sustainability and CR Strategy

1. Lead in energy and environmental performance for telecom networks and services
2. Advocate the role of broadband in sustainable urbanization and in shaping a low-carbon economy
3. Drive the socio-economic value proposition of broadband and its role in shaping society
4. Be the trusted partner among our stakeholders by managing corporate responsibility business risks
5. Improve Ericsson’s own environmental performance

Setting targets

We set annual targets and long-term objectives related to specific aspects of our performance within our most material issues. We report on progress towards these objectives annually, The 2012 Objectives and Achievements table is found here.