Better Health for All

Ericsson's core telecommunications products and services deliver substantial health benefits by enabling critical healthcare functions such as telemedicine, remote patient monitoring, and telesurgery, demonstrating a strategic focus on health-positive impact.

The company's Project Charaka, launched in January 2025, provides free vital testing, virtual consultations, and advanced diagnostics through 25 telehealth kiosks in rural Jhajjar, Haryana, significantly improving access for vulnerable populations. Ericsson Response has been deployed in over 60 relief operations across 40 countries since 2000, providing life-saving communications during disasters and crises. The company also supported UNICEF's COVID-19 response in India with a USD 971,567 donation in 2021, providing medical supplies and equipment. Ericsson's solutions offer high security with end-to-end encryption for patient privacy and protection against cyberattacks in healthcare. However, the company's primary business does not involve health-related products or services requiring direct price accessibility considerations. While Ericsson has an Employee Resource Group for Mental Health Awareness, there is limited practical support beyond this. Similarly, the company's support for healthcare workforce capacity building is limited to specific initiatives like donating PPE and training health workers in Project Charaka. Preventative health measures are supported through enabling technologies like wearable devices and telehealth, but there is no evidence of significant direct investment or a strong focus on prevention beyond these applications. The Connect to Learn initiative provides digital learning, but its direct impact on health education is not specified.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Ericsson, a telecommunications company, enables mobile financial services for underserved populations through partnerships with telecom operators in over 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

These services aim to drive financial inclusion, particularly in regions like Africa where 57% of the population lacks a bank account. The mobile money accounts enabled by Ericsson's platform are designed to be simple, easy-to-use, and secure, featuring a simple registration process with less documentation and no fees or minimum balances. MTN Mobile Money Open APIs are supported, fostering a more open ecosystem. Ericsson actively supports financial literacy and digital skills development. Its "Connect to Learn" initiative has reached 567,000 students in 45 countries since 2010, with a goal to impact 1 million children and youth by 2025. Additionally, Ericsson and MTN Uganda provided free, three-week financial training to women entrepreneurs in Kampala, covering topics such as savings, cash flow, and credit scores, and teaching them to use mobile money for various transactions. Mobile money services, facilitated by Ericsson, have extensive agent networks, making them accessible in rural and underserved areas. The company is not a direct lender or financial institution, so KPIs related to direct lending practices, loan books, or debt burden ratios are not applicable. While mobile money can improve financial health and savings, specific quantified user wealth-building outcomes are not provided.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

The CEO of Ericsson is paid 550 times the average worker's compensation.

For Ericsson Nikola Tesla Group (ENT Group), the recorded work-related injury rate in 2024 was 0.33 injuries per 1,000,000 hours worked, which translates to a TRIR of 0.066. Ericsson reported an unadjusted average pay gap for women in relation to men of 18% in 2021. For Ericsson Limited in 2023-24, women's median hourly pay was 2.0% higher than men's, and women's mean hourly pay was 3.2% higher than men's, while women's median bonus pay was 14.8% lower than men's. The employee engagement index for ENT Group was 75 points in 2024. The turnover rate for ENT Group was 3.39% in 2024. Ericsson has faced multiple labor violation incidents, including a $1,184,535 penalty for a wage and hour violation in 2012, and workplace safety or health violations in 2019 ($19,155) and 2018 ($18,000). A class action lawsuit was filed in April 2024 against Ericsson in the US for alleged wage and overtime violations. In 2021, most major deviations concerned working hours and wages and benefits. ENT Group ensures employment stability with 96.7% permanently employed employees and 99.7% working full-time. All employees of Ericsson Nikola Tesla have health insurance at the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO), with additional social protection provided.

Honest & Fair Business

Ericsson incurred a $206,728,848 fine in March 2023 for non-criminal breaches of a 2019 Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations.

The company also published restated segment financials for 2020, 2021, and 2022 Q1 and Q2, reflecting a change in reporting structure. An independent compliance monitor, appointed in June 2020 to assess Ericsson's anti-corruption compliance program, certified the program's effectiveness on March 28, 2024, and the monitorship concluded on June 2, 2024. Ericsson has stated it significantly enhanced its compliance program and internal accounting controls through structural and leadership changes, including new leadership roles and a Business Risk Committee. The independent monitor's assessment and certification serve as third-party verification of the compliance program.

No War, No Weapons

Ericsson explicitly uses 5G, a dual-use standard technology, for defense purposes, indicating that R&D is split evenly between civilian and dual-use applications.

The company sought permission from ISIS to work in ISIS-controlled areas and paid to smuggle equipment into those areas, demonstrating occasional indirect exports to restricted markets. Ericsson funneled $50,000 through a charitable group for Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces, but internal investigators could not identify the ultimate beneficiaries, indicating unfocused peace/disarmament grants. Senior regional executives rejected recommendations to halt operations in Mosul and other ISIS-controlled areas in 2014, showing a loophole-ridden divestment policy. While Ericsson states it is committed to conducting business responsibly and applying ethical standards in humanitarian terms, it admitted to bribery and corrupt business practices in five countries from 2000 to 2016, and faced a $1 billion bribery settlement in 2019, indicating basic humanitarian procurement guidelines with occasional non-compliance. Ericsson supports the Sustainable Development Goals and encourages suppliers to use UN Global Compact Academy resources, but third-party audits note major gaps in UNGP alignment. The company publicly cites its “commitment to transparency” in recent disclosures, but provides limited details on surveillance contracts. An internal report alleges that at least 10 current and former employees violated Ericsson’s ethics code, suggesting that ethical red lines exist but are not fully adhered to. Ericsson endeavors to increase the percentage of conformant smelters or refiners in its supply chain, but does not provide a current percentage of conflict-free materials, indicating less than 10% verified conflict-free. Ericsson conducts supplier due diligence, including screening and auditing, but no results are published for annual reviews of war-linked partners. Human-rights due diligence is conducted every 2–3 years in high-risk zones, as suppliers are screened and audited against Ericsson's Code of Conduct for Business Partners.

Safe & Smart Tech

Ericsson adheres to ethical guidelines from the European Commission High-Level Expert Group and the EU AI Act, indicating a formal AI ethics policy.

The company uses Explainable AI (XAI) methods, including feature analysis (SHAP, LIME) and reward decomposition, for AI/algorithm audits and emphasizes algorithmic hygiene to identify and address bias. Ericsson highlights explainable AI (XAI) techniques to enhance transparency in AI-driven decisions. Its privacy notice, updated July 7, 2025, outlines user rights to access, rectify, erase, restrict data, and data portability. Privacy by Design and Privacy by Default are key principles in Ericsson's AI development, with privacy considerations integrated throughout the AI lifecycle. The company states it collects only necessary data and limits retention periods. Ericsson's privacy notice references compliance with GDPR, EEA, and UK data protection laws. The company discusses addressing bias in AI models, including considerations for diverse user groups and bias mitigation strategies.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Ericsson's end-of-life products historically average above 90% recyclability.

For its Remote Radio products, new packaging inserts made from wood fiber materials are 100% recyclable and consist of 99% fiber-based materials. This transition reduced plastic content in these packaging inserts from 20% to less than 1%, representing a reduction of over 95%. The company has implemented several waste reduction initiatives, including a sustainable packaging design project, the Ericsson Connected Recycling (ECR) platform for reverse supply chains, and collaborations with TOMRA, Boliden, and IVL to improve e-waste circularity. Ericsson has company-wide waste reduction targets, including net-zero and zero waste goals.