CDP Climate Change: Telefónica Responses 

The document CDP: Telefónica’s Responses in 2025 compiles the questionnaire submitted by Telefónica to CDP. In the latest edition (2025), we were recognized as a global leader both for corporate transparency and for the significance of our initiatives against climate change. This is evidenced by Telefónica being included for the twelfth consecutive year on CDP’s A List.

CDP has acknowledged Telefónica’s commitment to environmental sustainability, illustrated by significant reductions in its CO₂ emissions. Among Telefónica’s objectives, the most notable is achieving net-zero emissions before the end of 2040, a crucial milestone for remaining within the select (A List) group.   

For the twelfth consecutive year, Telefónica maintains its leadership in the fight against climate change and remains on CDP’s A List.

To ensure it meets its emissions-reduction goals, Telefónica has embedded them into its governance structure through the Climate Action Plan. This plan assesses the status of its current assets, operations, and business model against the most rigorous scientific recommendations on climate. In fact, Telefónica is already ahead of the 2050 net-zero objective proposed by the United Nations and the Paris Agreement.

Likewise, CDP highlights that the companies on the A List are leading this transition through decisive initiatives to reduce emissions and negative environmental impacts within their value chains

Although A List Companies show maximum transparency in disclosing the existence of problems such as climate change, there is still a long way to go. For this reason, Telefónica is determined to meet its decarbonisation commitments and continue to move forward day by day on the right trajectory.

Leadership in the supply chain

As part of its commitment, Telefónica has developed a specific policy for its supply chain that promotes sustainability in general and climate action in particular—among its suppliers. Telefónica’s Supply Chain Sustainability Policy sets, among other aspects, minimum environmental criteria for all its suppliers.

To ensure compliance, Telefónica categorizes suppliers by their contribution to the carbon footprint and invites approximately 180 key suppliers (representing 90% of its supply-chain emissions) to provide climate data through CDP Supply Chain and to receive training through the Supplier Engagement Programme, depending on the supplier’s maturity level. In addition, the company collaborates with other telecommunications operators in the Carbon Reduction Programme to identify carbon-intensive products and establish emission-reduction action plans for those products.

In this vein, the company has achieved a 52% reduction in its CO₂ emissions, including its value chain, since 2015.

Thanks to these achievements, we have been recognized for the sixth consecutive year by CDP’s Supplier Engagement Assessment (SEA), highlighting the Company’s responsible management of its supply chain and its commitment to sustainability through its more than 8,400 suppliers.     

This recognition highlights the importance of Telefónica’s joint work with other operators in the sector and its suppliers, promoting climate maturity through the Supplier Engagement Programme and reducing emissions at product level with Carbon Reduction, thus integrating sustainability throughout its supply chain.

CDP and the challenge 

The non-profit organization CDP manages a global disclosure platform that enables different stakeholders to respond to the environmental impacts of their activities. Recognized as the world’s most important entity in this field, CDP has a very extensive database of business and urban initiatives. Its goal is to drive the implementation of a sustainable economy for the benefit of people and the planet, helping stakeholders assess and manage the magnitude of the impacts mentioned. 

CDP has the largest environmental database in the world, which this year has allowed it to analyze the performance of more than 22,000 companies in relation to climate change.

How does CDP evaluate companies?

CDP assigns the companies it analyzes a score on a scale from A to D- and helps them progress from mere disclosure to leadership, passing through awareness and responsible management. The system analyzes the depth of the data reported, recognition of and response to environmental risks, and the presence of best practices in this field, such as setting substantial and ambitious targets.

The assessments and data published by CDP are crucial in helping companies improve their efforts in this area.

To reach its leadership position, Telefónica had to submit to CDP a climate change questionnaire in which it answered a series of questions that we attach in the following document: