Orange Business vows to stick to climate and diversity goals (2025)

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Matters relating to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have certainly generated more headlines than usual in recent weeks and months, largely owing to actions by President Donald Trump targeting such initiatives in the United States. When he took office in January, Trumpsigned an executive ordereliminating all federal DEI programs.

As Light Reading has already reported, this order has already affected the telecoms sector. To provide just two examples, Brendan Carr, Trump's selection to lead the Federal Communications Commission,signaled his intentionto block mergers and acquisition proposals from companies that promote "invidious" DEI policies, whileT-Mobile US then modified, changed and ended some of its DEI efforts to ease regulatory approval of its Lumos deal.

DEI is linked with the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs that have become an important part of the telco agenda. Some regard DEI as the "S" in ESG, for example, and there are growing concerns about how the rollback of DEI initiatives, as well as climate policy, could impact ESG risk ratings.

Trump's DEI stance is alsofiltering through to companiesin Europe, particularly those that provide services to parts of the US government. It therefore seems inevitable that European telcos will have to tackle more questions about any strategic changes they may be making in this area.

Related:FCC's Gomez lashes out at 'administration-wide campaign to censor and control'

Walking the talk

During Mobile Europe's recent Telco to Techco event, executives from Orange and Telefónica indicated they are very much sticking to their ESG agendas.

Eka Kamushadze, EVP major programs of transformation at Orange Business, said ESG is part of Orange's 'Lead the Future' strategy and remains an important focus for the operator.

Speaking primarily on behalf of Orange Business, Kamushadzen said the B2B unit has "very strong commitments to ESG, and it's also part of our performance goals. So every one of us carries a component on ESG commitments to reduce our carbon emissions."

She specifically pointed to Orange Business' target to reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels, and increase women in the workforce, with a 33% target by 2025.

"Our executive management board is a good manifestation of our commitment, [of which] more than 40% [are] women. So we walk the talk," she said.

Indeed, Orange Business is headed by Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, who is also a former semi-professional player for the Paris Saint-Germain football (soccer) club. In addition, Wassila Zitoune-Dumontet wasrecently appointedto the role of CEO of Orange Business France, and Mireille Helou took over her former position of chief operating officer at the B2B unit.

Related:T-Mobile announces DEI changes in pursuit of Lumos

Kamushadze emphasized that despite the trend in some areas to move away from ESG, Orange Business has not reduced its focus on these commitments and continues to prioritize sustainability and social responsibility.

Orange's position certainly reflects that of France's government.According to Reuters, the Trump administration recently sent a letter to a number of French companies claiming the measures against DEI apply "to all suppliers and service providers of the US government, regardless of their nationality and the country."

Aurore Bergé, France's Minister for Equality and Combating Discrimination, described the move as a form of interference as well as "an attempt to impose a diktat on our business."

Meanwhile, Edi Fernando Vieira Filho, head of network and system operations at Telefónica, was also keen to note that the Spain-based group retains a comprehensive approach to ESG and sustainability. He said the group's autonomous network program includes sustainability alongside technology, automation, processes, customer experience, and people.

Although Vieira Filho spoke less about diversity than Kamushadze, Telefónica has previously introduced a number of DEI objectives, including increasing the proportion of women in its workforce and reaching 37% of women in management positions by 2027. As things stand, just four of the Group's 17-strongexecutive teamare women.

Related:Carr says FCC is prepared to block deals over company DEI policies