Responsible business

Training is a key aspect of ensuring our commitments to Human Rights are upheld. Training, tracking results, communication of Human Rights Due Diligence findings, and checkpoints are reviewed and, where needed, continually improved on.

Nokia communicates more on its commitment to transparency in our annual sustainability report, People and Planet. Anonymized Human Rights Due Diligence case outcomes are also published on page 66 in this report. Nokia was the first telco equipment vendor to publish such cases.

We are a Board member of the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and work with other key industry stakeholders in order to increase transparency and learning. The GNI is a unique multi-stakeholder group involving leading ICT companies, investors, academics and civil society groups. Companies participating in GNI are independently assessed every two to three years on their progress in implementing the GNI Principles.

Nokia was the first telecommunications equipment vendor to successfully complete a GNI assessment in 2019. We completed our second independent assessment in 2022 with Foley Hoag LLP as the assessor and are proud to report that the GNI board found we have made good faith efforts to implement the GNI Principles on freedom of expression and privacy with improvement over time.

Every year, we host the Nokia Supplier Climate webinar where we share our expectations, 2030 targets and good practices coming from different stakeholders within Nokia such as R&D, Logistics, Travel and Fleet and Real Estate. This is a great example of how our environmental experts from different business units are engaging, summarizing and sharing their insights and learning. The aim is to cultivate good practice across our supplier networks and find innovative new approaches for our suppliers to work on each year.

We send out an annual climate assessment questionnaire via CDP to nearly 600 suppliers, supported by practical guidance and sessions on how to measure CO2 and how to fill out the required information. CDP (formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project), is a global not-for-profit organization that helps cities and companies like ours disclose their environmental impact, with the aim of making environmental reporting and risk management a business norm for all. Following these assessment rounds, results are communicated with suppliers and tailored advice is shared as part of the suggested next steps, based on their performance. When it comes to our final assembly suppliers, data collection and monitoring take place on a much more stringent monthly basis. Performance and reduction projects track and benchmark impact within our own factories.

Sustainability is an integral part of our supplier performance evaluation and has a direct impact on that evaluation. The diagram shows the components of our Supplier Performance Evaluation model, and details further the input sources for sustainability evaluation.

Recognizing great practice is as important as penalizing the bad so Nokia has embedded sustainability/carbon reduction into our Nokia Procurement Diamond Awards which are hosted by our top leadership team. These awards celebrate excellence amongst our supplier ecosystem and pay particular attention to the strides being made across quality, innovation, and sustainability.

Modern slavery and forced labor of all kinds remain a challenge for all countries and supply chains. It is believed that the pandemic has also worsened the issue as the vulnerable became even more so and unemployment grew. Therefore in 2022 we also conducted an analysis of labor migration and its impacts on our supply chain. We have robust audit and assessment processes and procedures in place. We continue to raise awareness of modern slavery through workshops and training with suppliers on the topic of good labor practices and inclusion and diversity. Our work includes advocating for greater dialog on non-discrimination of ethnic and other minorities

Download our latest Modern Slavery statement

We aim to contribute to a long-term solution to the issue of minerals sourcing that ensures responsible and conflict-free sourcing via legitimate trade that brings sustainable improvements in those countries where the risks are greatest. We demand that our suppliers commit to sourcing these key materials from environmentally and socially responsible sources. Our due-diligence approach is aligned with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals. We are part of the RMI program under RBA and have released a Conflict Minerals Report every year since 2013.

Download our Responsible minerals policy 

We address supplier categories where water may be a key risk through a water assessment program. In 2022, 277 of our manufacturing suppliers completed the CDP Water Security assessment, representing 54% of our total supplier spend. Out of the participating suppliers, 74% had undertaken a water-related risk assessment for their direct operations and identified actual water-related risks in their operations such as flooding or increased water stress or scarcity, potentially resulting in the reduction or disruption in production capacity or increased operating costs. 66% of suppliers had structured targets related to water consumption, discharge or withdrawals. Targets were mostly related to internal efficiencies rather than being contextual.

In addition to auditing and assessing our supplier performance across ESG topics, we also put significant effort into our supplier capability building in collaboration with a range of partners (see partners section) as well as directly. Our sustainable supply chain team has hundreds of follow up sessions with suppliers around their performance improvement. We also conduct and deliver training webinars online and onsite including topics such as diversity and inclusion, modern slavery, responsible minerals sourcing, climate change, health and safety, and ethical business practices. In 2022, we held in total 11 different online workshops and webinars with our suppliers on subjects such as modern slavery, labor migration and ethical recruitment, inclusion and diversity, responsible minerals sourcing, climate change, circular practices and health and safety.

Sustainability is one category in our annual Supplier Diamond Awards alongside the Quality Award and the Innovation Award. The Supplier Diamond Awards are Nokia’s annual recognition program to reward supplier excellence across several categories including sustainability. Suppliers present their cases in front of expert juries and are recognized at our annual supplier event, in the presence of Nokia top leadership.

The winning supplier in the sustainability category in 2022 demonstrated commitment to CO2 emission reductions in line with Science Based Targets and had a clear roadmap in place for 2030 and a 2050 path to carbon neutrality. This involved looking at maximizing energy efficiency, such as upgrading their activities to high-efficiency manufacturing equipment, improvement of clean room heat exchange equipment as well as on-site generation of renewable energy and purchased renewable electricity.