2022SDG影响报告（英）

Six years ago, the mobile industry became the first industry to commit to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the targets for 2030 rapidly approaching, this annual report provides an update on how our industry is progressing against the SDGs and identifies the areas that warrant additional focus to deliver impact.

The past year has been a challenging one, with geo-political upheaval, rising inflation and the effects of the climate crisis affecting billions around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed our progress toward the SDGs and, while global circumstances are challenging, it is crucial that we keep working towards the 2030 targets and building a better future for us all.

As connectivity lies at the heart of these efforts, this year our report has a strong focus on digital inclusion and looks at how we can accelerate the rate at which people are included in the digital economy.

Today, 96% of the world’s population is covered by mobile broadband networks
and more than half of the world is using mobile internet. However, the usage gap remains: 3.2 billion people live in areas covered by mobile broadband networks but do not use mobile internet. The pandemic really highlighted this divide, with millions
of people left behind when they were unable to switch their business or education online.

Addressing the usage gap is now the biggest challenge in our shared efforts to close the digital divide. Closing this gap is not just a moral imperative; it also presents an important business opportunity to tap into a currently unreachable segment of customers as they come online.

As we work towards a better, more sustainable future, we also need to stay focused on the environment and our climate-related commitments. Across the world, mobile operators are playing a key role in lowering emissions. At the end of 2021, 66% of operators by connections and 82% of operators by revenue disclosed their climate impacts, while 34% of operators by connections and 44% by revenue had set carbon reduction requirements to be net zero by 2050. To accelerate this progress, supportive regulatory and policy environments to de-risk and attract investments in renewable energy are paramount.

Despite the multiple challenges, this year’s report shows that the mobile industry increased its impact on all SDGs in 2021, with the biggest improvements recorded in our contribution to SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 2: Zero Hunger and SDG 4: Quality Education. While growth remains below pre-pandemic levels, we are starting to regain our momentum and, in the coming year, I hope that we will see an acceleration in our impact on the SDGs.

If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that change and challenges are inevitable. Equally, we have seen the incredible resilience of the human spirit and the power of working together to overcome challenges. As the world adapts to and emerges from the many challenges we face, keeping the promise of the SDGs has never been more important. The road ahead is not an easy one but, as an industry, we remain committed to accelerating our progress towards achieving the SDGs and building a better, more sustainable future for us all.