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Connecting through nature

Connecting through Nature

Pledge by

TELUS

Leveraging technology, ecological knowledge and social engagement to protect and enhance ecosystem benefits.

Type
Conserving, Restoring & Growing, Enabling
This pledge will take place from
2023 to the future
Location
Canada

Company website

Pledge overview

We, at TELUS, are excited to be part of the global movement to conserve, restore, and grow 1 trillion trees by 2030. As a global leader in sustainability and social purpose, TELUS understands the importance of recognizing the true value of nature. We appreciate the significance of land degradation and the urgent need to restore the earth’s ecosystems to mitigate climate change, protect biodiversity, and support our diverse communities worldwide. We planted one million trees in the last decade and will continue investing in environmental partnerships.

Through its 1t.org pledge, TELUS will:

1. Manage and Scale Nature-based Solutions
- Through 'Shakti by TELUS', an environmentally driven reforestation company specializing in land reclamation, site preparation, seed collection, tree sourcing and tree planting, we are contributing to environmentally-driven forest restoration in Western Canada by striving to plant at least 5 million trees annually.
- We are enabling post-wildfire planting projects in fire-prone areas through investment in and commercial agreement with drone-powered reforestation company 'Flash Forest'.
- We have planted approximately 750,000 trees to date in Canada, as part of our Trees for Paper program, to compensate for the biomass used to produce TELUS' annual copy paper and packaging use, and will continue with this program.
- We will focus on supporting nature-based solutions to enhance the carbon sequestration and storage benefits of forests, and other critical land and marine ecosystems.
- We intend to develop infrastructure and technology to support biodiversity, monitor progress, and consolidate data for action.

2. Innovate and Partner to Maximize Impact
- We are partnering with restorative companies and organizations, such as 'veritree', to support scaling the market for nature and climate tech.
- We are collaborating with internal stakeholders to pilot new programs and technologies to accelerate the uptake of nature-based solutions.
- We acknowledge Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to self-governance and support processes and agreements that reflect this authority, including the role of Indigenous Peoples as stewards of their lands.

3. Connect Our Community through Nature-Based Practices
- We will bring climate solutions directly to our customers through nature-based products and service offerings.
- We will publicize a Biodiversity and No-Deforestation Commitment articulating our position and ambition related to nature and biodiversity. This includes how we will manage our impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities across our operations and value chain and take action to conserve and restore biodiversity.

In our forest-related activities, we commit to adopting best assessment and monitoring practices and standards in reforestation and restoration, in alignment with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Resources Institute (WRI). By leveraging our expertise, technology resources, and partnerships, we will support restoring nature in a transparent and public-facing way, and report on progress and impact annually through the 1t.org platform and with our wider community.

For more information, please visit: https://www.telus.com/restoration.

Actions in this pledge

  • Conserving trees and forest landscapes

    Supporting actions
    Permanent conservation
    Secure a forest through acquisition or legal agreement to avoid planned or unplanned deforestation or degradation, and/or ensure permanent conservation of land
    Conservation support activities
    Support the operating costs and activities of existing conservation areas, including advocacy for conservation policy

    Conserving

  • Restoring and growing trees and forest landscapes

    Supporting actions
    Reforestation
    Re-establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding on land classified as forest, that has been degraded or where trees are unlikely to regenerate naturally
    Mangrove restoration
    Establishment or enhancement of mangroves along coastal areas and in estuaries

    Restoring & Growing

    Trees
    5,000,000 annually

  • Enabling activities for trees and forest landscapes

    Supporting actions
    Nursery and seedling development
    Establish tree nurseries, including actions such as identification and collection of seeds and/or growing seedlings
    Education and capacity building
    Forest / tree species conservation and restoration education programmes, targeted educational and behaviour change campaigns, training and capacity building, including promotion of local and traditional knowledge and practices
    Community mobilisation
    Community mobilisation and engagement activities for conservation, restoration and reforestation, including enabling systems of community governance, etc.

    Enabling

Our ecologically and socially responsible approach

We plan to use the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions.

Our results tracking

We will have a new webpage launching very soon that will be linked to from telus.com/sustainability. It will publicly track and disclose our impacts.

Ecological metrics

Hectares Restored, Tree Planted, Carbon Sequestered

Social metrics

Local Jobs Created

Our locations

We are working at locations across Canada.