Orange Business drives measurable steps toward a sustainable future

Despite recent reports that sustainability is no longer at the top of boardroom agendas, we are reinforcing our sustainability commitments. Like many other enterprises we stay the course. To us, sustainability is not a nice-to-have nor a regulatory obligation, it is an imperative at the strategic core of our business. Sustainability strengthens business resilience and ensures the future of our business. 

And we are not the only ones to see it that way. A recent study reveals that 82% of global organizations questioned intend to increase their investment in sustainability over the next twelve to eighteen months.1 Despite continuing global uncertainties, this trend highlights a strong commitment to sustainability as a core strategy for competitiveness and future-proofing.  

Sustainability is part of our DNA at Orange Business. We are continually working to measure and reduce the ecological footprint of our activities, while helping our customers towards a responsible digital future through smart, responsible innovation.  

Three key takeaways: 

• Orange Business is committed to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040, advancing circular economy practices, reducing both its and its customers’ ecological footprints, and embedding sustainability across its operations. 
• We have a three-pillar sustainability strategy: acting for the environment, promoting access to responsible digital solutions, and nurturing a culture of inclusion, diversity and equal opportunities. 
• Orange Business implements transformative actions by mobilizing its ecosystem. We partner with major technology firms through decarbonization agreements, engage with corporate customers via a Customer Sustainability Council, embed sustainability into all our main functional entities by attributing them with a financial and carbon budget, and mobilize all employees with sustainability-focused training. 

Our three-pillar sustainability strategy

Our sustainability strategy is built around three pillars that guide our corporate commitment and actions. Firstly, we aim to reduce the ecological footprint of our operations by cutting carbon emissions and optimizing energy efficiency, promoting circular economy practices, and reusing/recycling equipment. For example, we have implemented advanced energy management systems in our data centers. In partnership with La Poste, we have given a second life to network equipment used during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. By doing so, we look to protect natural resources and operate responsibly through our entire value chain.   
 

We have been tracking the recovery rate of customer equipment, for example. We reached 70% this year and aim to get to 80% by the end of 2025. This equipment is recycled, reused or refurbished as part of our commitment to eliminating waste   
In partnership with La Poste, we have given a second life to network equipment used during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, for example. We have also implemented advanced energy management systems in our data centers. By doing so, we look to protect natural resources and operate responsibly through our entire value chain.   

Secondly, we help our customers accelerate their sustainable transformation through innovative digital solutions that reduce emissions, enhance resource utilization, and achieve their own environmental goals. We have developed the Carbon Estimator, a tool that estimates carbon emissions for all standard offerings in our portfolio. With just a few clicks on a web portal, our salespeople can provide customers with an estimate of the carbon footprint of their potential or existing purchases for all our standard products and services, providing greater transparency and empowering them to make informed decisions. 
 
Our smart building technology utilizes sensors, meters, and connected devices to track energy usage. A first-of-its-kind GenAI carbon calculator methodology, for example, allows users to preview and track the carbon emissions associated with different AI models. This built-in interface feature encourages users to select models with the lowest carbon intensity for their specific task. 
Our eco-design approach is fundamental to our sustainability strategy, which considers a product’s environmental footprint from concept to manufacturing, use, and disposal. We aim to have 24 offerings in our portfolio by the end of this year that will benefit from an eco-design approach.   

This approach, which we are tracking closely, is designed to lower energy consumption, reduce waste, and support our broader corporate goals of reducing our carbon footprint and achieving net-zero emissions. 
Finally, we foster a culture of inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunity, enabling all our employees to contribute to the company’s meaningful progress and growth. Women Up for example, is Orange Business flagship program designed to unlock the potential of women in tech. It's about creating opportunities and environments where talent can flourish and increase female representation in the IT industry.  

Impactful sustainability demands collaboration

We know that we can’t make these transformations happen in a vacuum. This is why we are actively engaging our ecosystem. With our largest technology partners, we are instigating decarbonization agreements, where we pool our resources and knowledge to find innovative ways to reduce our joint carbon footprints. Cisco, for example, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with us to share data focused on the circular economy and reduce GHG emissions in shared products and services. 

We have also established a Customer Sustainability Council to listen to and learn from our most advanced customers. At the same time, our people are actively engaged in our sustainability initiatives. Together, we can transition to a carbon-neutral economy and promote new, inclusive opportunities. 
To make sure our sustainability plans are heading in the right direction, we have developed the Environmental Cockpit, which captures 13 KPIs which we have made public on our website. They measure our progress in different dimensions for all to see. 
 
We are immensely proud of our achievements so far. Ecovadis ranked Orange in the top 1% of socially responsible companies, scoring eighty-four out of one hundred. Additionally, the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has endorsed our carbon trajectory, validating our corporate climate targets. Regarding our carbon trajectory, we have already reduced our emissions (Scope 1,2 & 3) by 7% in 2024, compared to 2020, and we are targeting a 10% reduction for this year.   
One area we are looking closely at is our operations and how to make them more sustainable. We are tracking the recovery rate of customer equipment. We reached 70% this year and aim to reach 80% by the end of 2025. We reuse, recycle and refurbish this equipment as part of our commitment to the circular economy. 

Driving continuous improvement

At Orange Business, we recognize that achieving our sustainability goals requires not only policies, initiatives, and technology, but also the proper governance.  
We are implementing this sustainability governance by attributing a carbon budget, alongside a financial budget, to all our main functional entities. This allows us to track, quarter after quarter, our progress in terms of carbon reduction at functional level, empowering functional leaders to manage their emissions. And this ensures that, for all major investment or business decisions, we ask ourselves the question as to whether they are compatible with our decarbonization targets / trajectory. 

Building a more sustainable and inclusive digital future

By rethinking how we design, power, and operate our networks and services, we can calculate and minimize the environmental impact of our products, services, and operations. At the same time, we actively support our customers in their efforts to achieve sustainable transformation. Currently, Orange Innovation, in collaboration with Orange, is developing the AI Carbon Value Navigator, an innovative tool that measures the carbon impact of each AI use case and compares it to its financial value.  
 

Our sustainability ambitions, however, reach well beyond carbon reduction. We recognize that true sustainability encompasses not only environmental benefits but also positive changes in society. We are thus committed to promoting diversity and inclusion, supporting programs that advance digital access for all. For example, we are at the forefront of ethical AI, aligning our innovations with the European Union’s AI Act and our own Data & AI Ethics Charter. 

Upskilling employees on CSR is embedded in every aspect of our business operations, enabling us to drive continuous performance improvements. To this end, we provide training programs, workshops, and online courses, customized to each job, that cover environmental impact reduction, ethical digital practices, and social responsibility. This way, everyone contributes to our ESG targets, fostering a culture of accountability and innovation throughout the company, and shaping a better future for us all.  

Orange Business is driving progress in its commitment to sustainability. Find out more here. 

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