Better Health for All
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AT&T's core telecommunications services are strategically applied to enhance health outcomes. The company is modernizing hospital wireless networks with 5G to support advanced medical applications like telemonitoring and real-time data access (February 2025).
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and deployed 5G capabilities at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System (February 2021).
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AT&T expanded remote patient monitoring solutions by integrating smartphones into kits (January 2022).
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and provided connectivity for 400 tablets for high-risk patients (August 2021).
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For healthcare workforce support, AT&T introduced AlertGPS, a wearable device for home healthcare worker safety (March 2024).
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and contributed over $1 million in grants to expand digital health education and training for health professionals and first responders in underserved areas (March 2023).
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The FirstNet Health and Wellness Coalition addresses mental health and wellness among first responders through leadership engagement, wellness education, and resource allocation (September 2023).
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Additionally, AT&T offers the Lifeline program to reduce communication service costs for low-income households (October 2023).
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There is no evidence of the company's products having significant negative health impacts.
Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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AT&T has made significant commitments to digital inclusion and economic opportunity. The company announced an additional $3 billion commitment, bringing its total investment to $5 billion by 2030, to provide affordable, high-speed internet access to 25 million Americans, particularly in lower-income and rural households.
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In 2022, AT&T contributed $1 million to provide 2,000 free laptops and digital literacy training in underserved communities.
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Furthermore, in 2020, AT&T committed $10 million to initiatives for economic opportunities for Black and underserved communities, including workforce readiness programs.
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The #BelieveAtlanta initiative also saw over $3.5 million contributed to support economic mobility, workforce development, educational opportunities, and financial literacy programs.
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However, the provided evidence does not contain specific quantitative data points related to AT&T's involvement in financial services, such as percentages of customers from underserved segments in financial products, average APRs, revenue from high-cost financial products, share of loan books for inclusion, or measured outcomes of financial literacy programs, which are required by the rubric's KPIs for scoring.
Fair Pay & Worker Respect
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No specific, quantitative data points were found in the provided articles that precisely match the defined thresholds and conditions for any of the KPIs under the 'Fair Pay & Worker Respect' ethical value. Information regarding living wage coverage, CEO-to-median pay ratio, safety incident rate, pay equity ratio, worker engagement score, turnover rate, labor violation incidents, insecure contract share, and health insurance coverage for AT&T was either not present, not company-wide, or not in a format that could be directly mapped to the rubric's exact quantitative tiers and conditions. For collective bargaining share, while a percentage of unionized employees was provided, the evidence did not fully match all specific conditions of any single rubric tier.
Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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AT&T directed 24.5% of its overall supplier purchases, totaling $12.8 billion in 2024, to certified diverse suppliers.
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This spend includes $6,957 million with Minority Business Enterprises, $5,571 million with Women Business Enterprises, $181 million with Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises, $97 million with Veteran Business Enterprises, $6 million with LGBTQ+ Business Enterprises, and $14 million with Disability Business Enterprises.
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Approximately $2.6 billion of this reported spend includes subcontracting activity.
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The company launched a dedicated supplier inclusivity program in 1968.
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For supplier audits, the Joint Alliance for CSR (JAC) conducts annual audits of suppliers' facilities.
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Factories with concerning results may be reaudited after one year, while others are eligible for reaudit every two years.
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Suppliers also verify alignment to Supplier Principles through self-attestation every 18–24 months.
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In 2024, 139 factory locations were audited, including 72 AT&T supplier facilities.
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Honest & Fair Business
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AT&T incurred $36 million in ethics-related regulatory fines within the past three years, including a $23 million fine in October 2022 for bribery to influence legislation in Illinois
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and a $13 million fine in September 2024 for a January 2023 data breach affecting 8.9 million customers.
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The company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement for the bribery case, requiring AT&T Illinois to implement a compliance and ethics program.
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AT&T has an Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption (ABAC) Policy that applies to all employees.
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, with risk-appropriate annual training completed by 99.9% of employees in 2024
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, and includes third-party due diligence procedures for engagements with government officials.
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The company also maintains a Non-retaliation and Whistleblower Protection Policy covering 100% of business operations.
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, offering online reporting mechanisms and a telephone hotline, including anonymous options and multiple regional numbers.
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An expanded Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) program was launched in 2023 and made significant progress in 2024
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, focusing on identifying, evaluating, and mitigating risks associated with third-party relationships.
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Kind to Animals
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No specific, quantitative evidence was found in the provided articles to assess AT&T against any of the 'Kind to Animals' KPIs. While one article mentions 'safeguarding animal welfare in our use of raw materials obtained from animals'
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and another refers to 'sustainable materials used in our products,'
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these statements lack the specific data points required to score KPIs such as cruelty-free certification, animal testing, humane certifications for animal operations, or ethical input substitution. General ESG assessments, environmental initiatives like carbon emission reductions, or a therapy dog program do not provide the direct, measurable evidence needed for these animal welfare metrics.
No War, No Weapons
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AT&T provides telecommunications services and technologies to various U.S. military and defense agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Defense Information Systems Agency, Army National Guard, Coast Guard, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Africa Command, European Command, Central Command, Indo-Pacific Command, and Hawaii regions.
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These services include network modernization, virtual private networking (VPN), secure cloud connectivity, session initiation protocol trunking, telephony, and mobile services.
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AT&T is involved in the Air Force's Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative
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and collaborates with Northrop Grumman to develop a digital battle network for the Department of Defense, integrating 5G capabilities.
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The company has demonstrated 5G technologies to enhance data transfer for military aircraft maintenance, reducing transfer time for UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters from 30 minutes to under 5 minutes.
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AT&T utilizes dual-use technologies such as AI tools, 5G networks, VPN, and cloud connectivity in these military applications. There is no evidence of specific ethical safeguards, civilian prioritization, or R&D investment split for these dual-use technologies. AT&T states that it conducts business in non-embargoed countries.
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Planet-Friendly Business
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AT&T's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions were 13,278,565 metric tons of CO2e in 2024, and the company recorded 17 environmental compliance fines in the same year.
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It does not currently include offsets in its carbon footprint.
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AT&T is committed to achieving carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035, with its 2030 SBTi target validated to a 1.5°C pathway and interim targets approved by SBTi in 2021.
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In 2024, 23.4% of electricity used in operations was sourced from renewables.
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The company's water intensity was 78.36 m³ per $1 million revenue in 2024, and its total waste recycled/reused rate was 37.5%.
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AT&T has piloted a Climate Resilient Communities Initiative
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and engaged an external vendor to complete a TCFD-aligned scenario analysis, indicating partial alignment.
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Respect for Cultures & Communities
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AT&T has removed all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training from its employee curriculum.
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This action followed a 2021 report based on leaked documents, which stated that part of AT&T's DEI training called racism a "uniquely white trait" and told white employees they "are the problem."
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The company's response to this cultural incident was reactive, as it vowed to scrap diversity policies and ended its DEI programs. The NAACP expressed concern that discontinuing DEI programs sends the wrong message about whose voices and contributions are valued.
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Additionally, AT&T has 4 formal partnership agreements with indigenous or local community groups, including the Cherokee Nation, Kumeyaay Nation, Pinoleville Pomo Nation, and Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians.
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Safe & Smart Tech
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AT&T experienced multiple significant data breaches. In April 2024, a breach impacting 73 million customers exposed Social Security numbers and other personal data.
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Additionally, a January 2023 breach affected 8.9 million customers, exposing account details and billing information.
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The company faced regulatory penalties, including a $57 million FCC fine in 2024 for sharing customers' real-time location data without consent.
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Following an FCC investigation into the 2023 data breach, AT&T agreed to a $13 million settlement in 2024.
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These incidents have also led to multiple class-action lawsuits.
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Furthermore, AT&T provided law enforcement with access to vast phone records through the Hemisphere Project, raising privacy and legal concerns regarding surveillance without warrants.
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
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AT&T has achieved 100% recyclability for consumer device packaging
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and transitioned nearly 3,000 tons of paper used in packaging to 100% recycled content in 2024.
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Additionally, 89% of shipping cartons transitioned to recycled content by the end of 2024.
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The company operates extensive take-back programs, with all 2,000-plus company-owned retail stores accepting wireless phones for recycling
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, and nearly 12.5 million consumer devices recovered in 2024.
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Broadband internet devices can also be refurbished or recycled. AT&T reduced plastic utilization by 34% for its Accessible Pack design.
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In 2024, only 1% of hazardous waste was sent to landfill.
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The general solid waste diversion rate was 13% in 2024
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, while the Wireline Operations Asset Recovery team achieved a 98% landfill diversion rate for operational waste.
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AT&T aims to reduce U.S. waste to landfill by 30% from a 2019 baseline by the end of 2030.
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The company implements multiple waste reduction initiatives, including an AI smart trash-sorting system at its headquarters
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and the recycling of 6,000 retired plastic reels.
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AT&T has comprehensive waste program requirements for its suppliers, encouraging sustainable packaging, end-of-life recycling, and circular materials in product design.
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The company provides comprehensive disposal information and educational resources to customers, such as messaging on packaging recycling and encouraging online billing and device returns.
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AT&T is developing a roadmap to drive circular economies for mobility devices, broadband devices, and network equipment, and collaborates with suppliers on end-of-life considerations.
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