Why does TELUS produce a CSR Report?

TELUS is continually striving to be a leading corporate citizen, balancing our company’s economic health with the social and environmental well-being of the communities where our team members live, work and serve. A key characteristic of a leading corporate citizen is promoting transparency on performance through the highest level of disclosure.

How does TELUS decide what to include in its CSR Report?

TELUS uses a variety of mechanisms to determine what is included in our report. The Global Reporting Initiative is one of our major reporting guidance tools, along with the London Benchmarking Group for our community investments. In 2012, TELUS acted upon our belief that it is increasingly important to review the scope of our CSR report, to ensure it is relevant to stakeholders and enables us to identify and integrate emerging issues into strategy development. As disclosed in our 2011 report, we held a CSR materiality workshop facilitated by the Sustainability and Climate Change practice of Deloitte LLP. The purpose of this session was to gain consensus amongst participants on TELUS’ key stakeholders and material issues by applying a structured, evidential process for assessing materiality to guide future years’ report content and strategy.

How was TELUS’ CSR performance in 2012?

TELUS met or exceeded 30 of our 40 key performance indicators. Additionally, we received several awards for our CSR reporting and disclosure.

What is TELUS’ approach to governance?

At TELUS, we believe strong corporate governance is necessary to provide a solid foundation for CSR leadership. This foundation includes considerations such as:

Ethical conduct, ethical standards and expectation-setting by leaders
Having an independent and effective Board that oversees management
Accountability to investors and other stakeholders
Effective internal controls and transparent disclosure of strategic objectives and results that
facilitate accountability
External and internal assurance
Executive compensation that rewards performance and responsible risk taking.

Who oversees TELUS’ CSR programs?

Overall responsibility for our CSR performance resides with the Executive Leadership Team. In 2006, a CSR leadership team representing all TELUS business units was established and this team of 20 senior leaders continues to foster a culture of sustainability. The team meets at least every quarter to review progress against CSR objectives and assess new or ongoing CSR initiatives. The team’s focus is on further entrenching CSR practices, measures and objectives throughout our company. We
provide progress reviews each quarter to the Corporate Governance Committee of TELUS’ Board of Directors . In addition, we provide periodic updates to the Audit Committee on CSR reporting progress, typically in the first quarter of each year.

TELUS' Executive Leadership Team and business unit vice-presidents are responsible for the approval of the overall strategic direction of our CSR programs. Our annual CSR report discloses our performance and commitments for the future. Furthermore, it is a catalyst for soliciting stakeholder feedback on our programs and performance.

What is TELUS’ approach to stakeholder engagement?

In 2012, we engaged many of our stakeholders to help us determine the material issues for this report. Throughout this CSR report, you will find specific examples of their engagement and influence in our operations. The following groups have been identified as TELUS stakeholders:

Customers
Shareholders
Debt holders
Federal, provincial and municipal governments
Internal stakeholders – team members, business unit leaders and executive leaders
TELUS alumni/retirees
TELUS Community Board members
Community partners
Suppliers and strategic partners
Aboriginal Peoples and their communities
TELUS Community Ambassadors®
Non-governmental organizations
Academic organizations
Investment companies with socially responsible mandates
Credit rating agencies and sustainability indices
Peer organizations
TELUS enterprise risk assessment participants.

In 2013, we plan to host additional stakeholder engagement sessions to better understand the issues
that are important to them and TELUS.

What does Customers First mean?

TELUS is committed to delivering on our brand promise – the Future is Friendly® – and putting our customers first is an integral part of honouring this commitment. In fact, Customers First is our number one corporate priority and this dedicated focus will help us on our journey to become the most recommended company in the markets we serve.

In 2012, we evolved our communications to share our focus on how we are listening to our customers at every touchpoint to make their TELUS experience even better.

How much does TELUS invest in community activities and how does it make those decisions?

Our community investment program is an important part of the promise we’ve been making for the last 12 years – the Future is Friendly®. To keep this promise, we assist the communities where we live, work and serve to be healthy, vibrant and ready for the future. This is exemplified in our philosophy to give where we live, and demonstrated through our community investment strategy to educate and empower youth, improve their quality of life and help them reach their full potential. We are creating a legacy of giving based on innovation, supporting youth through technology and through our programs that engage the TELUS team, retirees and the broader communities in which we operate. This is demonstrated by:

Using our expertise in technology to help build stronger and healthier communities
Creating long-term partnerships with organizations at the local and national level
Providing grants to grassroots organizations in Canada and internationally
Investing in our cause marketing programs – a platform that is mutually beneficial to the charities we support and to our business
Our team members and retirees who directly support charities and community based organizations that have a direct impact on their local communities
Financially supporting charities in a way that has impact to the community and sustains our business.

TELUS has operations in Canada, and overseas. How do you integrate CSR practices into overseas operations?

The United Nations has developed a global agreement, or compact, to help businesses align their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. TELUS supports the compact and we report in line with its principles. We became a signatory of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) in 2010 and continued our support throughout 2012.

In 2012, TELUS was invited to become a core member of an advisory group developing a local UNGC Canada Chapter. In early 2013, we made a financial contribution to support the establishment of this chapter.

How does TELUS manage its environmental footprint?

TELUS has had a formal environmental management system (EMS) since the mid-1990s. Our current goal, set in 2009, is to align our EMS programs with ISO 14001:2004 by 2014.

Why does TELUS have a climate change strategy?

While TELUS is not considered a large greenhouse gas emitter, we use a large amount of electricity through our network infrastructure to bring telecommunication services to millions of Canadians. We also have a large fleet of vehicles relying on gasoline and diesel, to service our customers, which also contributes to greenhouse gas emission. Our strategy focuses on mitigating our footprint, adapting our business to physical and regulatory changes due to climate change and investing in innovative technologies to improve our efficiency and lower our absolute greenhouse gas footprint.

What does TELUS do with all the mobile devices that people return to its stores?

TELUS remains committed to ensuring the internal electronic waste (e-waste) generated from our operations as well as the electronic products sold to our customers are responsibly recycled, refurbished or repurposed. In 2012 we:

Recycled, refurbished and repurposed 430,329 kilograms of e-waste
Recycled 545,872 wireless devices, compared to 236,391 in 2011 (exceeding our 2012 goal of 250,000 wireless devices) through internal programs and Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association’s Recycle My Cell. The significant increase in devices recycled was the result of our TELUS Trade-in Program launched in 2012, which increased awareness and provided an incentive for customers to recycle or trade in devices that had been accumulating in their homes.
Donated 689 computers and printers to the Computers for Schools program.

TELUS also offers Certified Pre-Owned phones providing affordable device options that help reduce environmental impacts. Our goal for 2013 is to recycle 400,000 wireless devices.

How does TELUS ensure it procures from responsible suppliers?

Our business relies on thousands of suppliers of varying sizes from across Canada and around the world. Stakeholders expect that leading corporate citizens address supply chain sustainability. In early 2012, we implemented our Supplier Code of Conduct and Supplier Diversity programs to advance our commitment to adhere to environmental and social responsibility standards.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct is based upon generally accepted standards of ethical business conduct and draws upon internationally recognized standards. This code strengthens our adherence to the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact which TELUS signed in 2010.

Our Supplier Diversity program aims to improve customer experience by taking proactive steps to provide equal access to a supply base that reflects the diversity of the communities in which we live, work and serve. We commit to providing thought leadership in the policy development and growth of supplier diversity in Canada through Board representation with the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council and WEConnect.

Our internal procurement and supply chain management operations are guided by several guidelines, procedures and policies that govern the purchase of all external goods and services. Included are TELUS’ procurement policy, our signing authority policy and TELUS’ Ethics Policy.