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Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) provides a widely recognized framework for corporate  reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities, structured around four areas: Governance, Strategy, Risk  Management, and Metrics and Targets. Based on the scenario analysis we finalized in 2023, and updated in 2025, this  index references AT&T’s reporting against the TCFD voluntary guidelines for universal disclosures and cross-industry,  climate-related metrics. This is our fifth report aligned to the TCFD framework and, unless otherwise noted, relates to  the financial year ending December 31, 2025.

Governance

Board Oversight

The Governance & Policy Committee (GPC) of the AT&T Board of Directors oversees climate-related strategies, policies, programs, and reporting. This includes public targets such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fleet management. Our Head of Corporate Responsibility presents at the GPC meetings and provides educational materials through a Board portal.

Management’s Role

AT&T’s Head of Corporate Responsibility oversees the internal management of climate-related risks, opportunities, and strategy-setting processes. They receive regular updates on climate-related activities and are deeply involved in major strategy decisions, including renewable energy investments. Progress toward climate-related goals is tied to leadership compensation, including annual performance objectives for the Head of Corporate Responsibility and other senior leaders.

As a direct report to the Head of Corporate Responsibility, the Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Global Environmental Sustainability oversees internal management of AT&T’s climate-related strategy and leads our Environment Committee, which comprises senior business leaders from across the company. In addition, AT&T’s Global Environmental Sustainability team, also led by our AVP of Global Environmental Sustainability, monitors internal and external developments and communicates the most relevant issues to the VP, Corporate Responsibility. The team also works with business unit experts throughout the company to implement and enhance programs and policies addressing environmental risks and opportunities.

Strategy

Methodology

AT&T uses scenario analyses aligned with TCFD recommendations to assess climate-related risks and opportunities over the short, medium, and long term. Risks include physical impacts from acute and chronic climatic changes (e.g., extreme weather, drought, and temperature changes) and transition-related risks (e.g., market, technology, policy, legal, and reputational factors). Opportunities include enhancing climate resilience and supporting customers’ sustainability efforts.

In 2019, we first leveraged high-resolution, regionally downscaled climate projections for North America, developed by Argonne National Laboratory using CMIP5 data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, to evaluate both business-as-usual (RCP 8.5) and lower-emissions (RCP 4.5) scenarios.

Building on this foundation, AT&T conducted additional scenario analyses in 2023, using two IPCC Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP2-4.5 and SSP1-2.6) and two International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook (WEO) scenarios – the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) and the Announced Pledges Scenario (APS), including a 2°C or lower pathway. Our assessment measures three key factors: exposure (how much AT&T’s facilities and operations could be affected by climate risks), sensitivity (how significantly those operations would be impacted if exposed), and adaptive capacity (how well AT&T can respond or adjust to minimize negative effects). Climate data from the IPCC informed exposure modeling, while sensitivity and adaptive capacity were rated through internal stakeholder surveys from areas across our business, including compliance, finance, legal, public policy, and others. These insights help us prioritize the most significant risks and opportunities for financial, strategic, and environmental impact.

In 2025, we conducted a follow-up survey with these key stakeholder groups to refine our approach and make sure it is current. This effort focused on:

  • Benchmarking top climate-related risks and opportunities specific to AT&T.
  • Aligning AT&T’s climate risk impact assessment with our broader financial materiality thresholds.
  • Measuring progress toward our public climate goals and evaluating the effectiveness of our risk mitigation strategies.
  • Enhancing understanding of AT&T’s sensitivity to climate-related risks and opportunities, as well as our adaptive capacity to mitigate or capitalize on them.

Comparing these inputs and historical company metrics to the above customized climate scenario, we were able to appropriately prioritize any climate-related risks and opportunities for our company.

These climate risks and opportunities were then further analyzed along three time horizons identified by AT&T: short (present-2028); medium (2028-2035); long (2035-2050).

Climate-Related Risks and Opportunities

Transition Risks
Climate Drivers Risk Description Main Time Horizon Likelihood Impact Risk Management/Mitigation Strategies
Market Physical climate risks and macroeconomics limit the availability of raw materials (copper, semiconductors, etc.), increasing costs Medium- More likely than not Low

By improving supply chain visibility and collaborating closely with suppliers, we proactively manage risks through several key strategies:

  • Mapping our exposure to geopolitical risks such as evolving trade policies and tariffs and monitoring real-time supplier disruption alerts to quickly assess and address identified issues, and developing mitigation plans.
  • Leveraging industry and supplier data to holistically understand potential supplier risk to AT&T. We use data to increase our visibility into supplier financial health, assess mission-critical suppliers and gauge the impacts of key inputs, such as raw materials and commodities, to our supply chain.
  • Using best in class AI and agentic automation across procurement and supply chain to improve decision making, increase operational efficiency and strengthen resilience.

Additionally, AT&T continues to diversify our supply chain to mitigate risks and help promote supply chain resilience.

 
Technology Uncertainty about wide-spread EV infrastructure feasibility and availability of regulatory incentives while AT&T receives pressure to transform their fleet, especially with heavy duty vehicles Short, Medium-term Very Likely Low We aim to reduce fleet emissions by at least 76% by 2035 by optimizing our vehicle inventory and driving more efficient vehicles. We also reduce fleet emissions through our network transformation, requiring less maintenance and fewer dispatches, therefore reducing the size of our fleet. Through membership in the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, we are identifying opportunities to add electric vehicles (EVs) to our fleet while addressing wider challenges to adoption.
Reputation Large scale renewable energy becomes more difficult to procure, posing a challenge to meet AT&T’s carbon neutral goal Medium-term More likely than not Low

In 2025, we implemented over 510,000 energy efficiency and emissions reduction projects, bringing the total to more than 2.1 million since 2015. Taken together, these efforts will have driven 709 kWh of annual energy savings (more than 10.1 million MWh since 2015) and gross annualized energy cost savings of over $75 million (more than $943 million since 2015). We currently also have 16 active proof-of-concept energy trials to test scalable energy savings programs.

 

For more information, visit our Efficiency & Emissions and Energy Management issue briefs

 
Physical Risks
Climate Drivers Risk Description Main Time Horizon Impact Risk Management/Mitigation Strategies
Acute Extreme Weather: Including extreme precipitation, wind speeds and wildfires causing asset damage, business interruptions that can impact employees and customers Short, medium-term Low

AT&T collaborates with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory to use best-in-class climate data, which helps us understand how extreme weather events could affect our network and operations— down to the neighborhood level—up to 30 years in the future.

  • Prioritizing investments for existing sites: We use our forward-looking wind, drought, wildfire and flood datasets to better understand which sites could be exposed to severe weather. Using these projections, we have developed a vulnerability index to identify which sites could benefit from enhanced hardening against escalating hazards.
  • Assessing impacts in network planning and site design: We incorporate severe weather risk scores into the site selection software used for new cell site planning. Equipped with forward-looking insights, our engineers can proactively select lower-risk sites, reducing disaster-related downtime and costs while enhancing long-term resilience. We also integrate relevant data into wireline planning and design systems, enabling engineers to identify areas at risk for future hazard exposure and proactively protect new equipment.
 
Acute Coastal flooding (including Sea Level Rise): Can lead to greater likelihood of coastal looding and business interruptions to wireline / mobility assets and networks Short, medium-term Low

AT&T takes additional steps to understand our network’s potential exposure to physical risk and how we can mitigate impacts, including those driven by coastal flooding. We have advanced our commitment to long-term resilience through our updated Flood Risk Management Policy to minimize potential future flood impacts. The policy incorporates storm surge intelligence with expanded building code guidelines to determine elevated platform heights at operating and proposed wireless cell sites, in addition to new generator installations. In 2025, we piloted three sites in Florida, with plans to expand in 2026.


AT&T has also upgraded our AT&T Storm Surge Tool with a comprehensive dashboard that identifies high-risk locations and guides proactive flood-mitigation efforts. This tool helps determine optimal platform heights and reduce downtime, water damage and recovery costs.

 
Chronic Drought: An increase in cumulative dry days can cause water shortages and higher water / cooling costs, and wildfire risks to wireline and mobility assets Medium, long-term Low

AT&T continually assesses our water footprint across our U.S. operations. Tracking and measurement establish a baseline and enable us to identify ways to improve.

 

Practices like replacing traditional water-intensive cooling systems with more efficient cooling towers and replacing components can help us reduce water consumption while delivering operational efficiencies.

 

Through our Enterprise Building Management System (EBMS), we are able to better monitor the chilled water needed for cooling towers. EBMS gathers and presents facility equipment data to help us understand equipment performance, enhance predictive maintenance and identify energy reduction opportunities.

 

Other practices include proactive maintenance, repairs and consolidating or reducing leased building space to cut resource requirements. Where applicable, to mitigate wider water impacts, we maintain a stormwater prevention program that guides us in actively managing stormwater runoff.  
Transition Opportunities

Our updated 2025 climate survey did not reflect major changes to previously identified climate-related transition opportunities:

Climate Drivers Risk Description Main Time Horizon Impact
Policy & Legal Reduced energy costs through the implementation of renewable energy and adoption of energy efficiency measures Medium-, Long-term Low
Reputation Ability to demonstrate proactive shift to sustainable business practices to meet investor and institutional stakeholder expectations Medium-, Long-term Low

Results

It is important to recognize that, under both low-carbon and high-carbon scenarios, the frequency and intensity of disruptive weather events are projected to rise. Accurately quantifying the potential impacts on AT&T’s business is complex, as outcomes depend on a range of external factors, including local land use, state-level regulations, and the localized nature of many extreme weather events, which can either lessen or heighten these impacts.

Our 2025 climate survey results provide further insight into these risks. While certain areas, such as extreme weather and physical climate risks tied to material sourcing, were initially assessed as having moderate sensitivity, the strength of our adaptive capacity in these areas reduces overall risk to low. This means that, even where potential vulnerabilities exist, AT&T’s robust preparedness and response strategies enable us to effectively manage and mitigate these challenges, resulting in a lower overall risk rating.

Additionally, the broad geographic distribution of our networks and operations helps buffer against the concentration of risk from any single climate event. Combined with our established risk management strategies, these findings confirm that our current adaptation approach remains effective, and that climate-related impacts do not pose a material risk to our business at this time. AT&T remains committed to regularly reassessing emerging climate issues and updating our scenario analysis with the latest data and evidence.

Impact on Business, Strategy, and Financial Planning

Transition risks – such as evolving regulations, technological developments, and changing stakeholder expectations around climate change and other sustainability issues – may influence financial planning and market positioning. New or stricter legal and regulatory requirements could require changes to business plans or increase operating costs, potentially affecting our business and reputation.

AT&T’s strategy incorporates these risks and opportunities into operational and financial decision-making. For more information, see the Risk Management section of this report.

The potential physical effects of extreme weather events and other potential effects of climate change, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods, fires, freezing conditions, sea-level rise and other climate-related events, could damage our networks and cause disruptions in our services, which could adversely affect our operations, infrastructure and financial results. Operational impacts resulting from the potential physical effects of climate change, such as damage to our network infrastructure, could result in increased costs and loss of revenue. While we currently do not believe the potential losses or costs associated with the physical effects of climate change will be material, it is difficult to accurately and precisely calculate the future impacts of the physical effects of climate change given the dynamic nature of its impacts on the environment.

Risk Management

Processes for Identifying and Assessing Risks

In the Strategy section above, we outline our TCFD-aligned scenario analysis approach. As potential risks are identified or considered, we share the results and regularly discuss those risks with business units such as compliance, finance, legal, public policy, and others.

With oversight from the Audit Committee of the Board, the Chief Compliance Office (CCO) conducts formal risk assessments annually. They focus on significant compliance areas that could present a significant risk to the company from a reputational, operational, or financial perspective. Leadership teams review and communicate the results and action plans to responsible business units.

Processes for Managing Risks

We leverage various tools to proactively manage physical risks that could impact our company infrastructure and operations:

  • AT&T Weather Operations Center: AT&T meteorologists monitor potential weather-related threats so we can implement mitigation measures such as disaster response equipment and standby personnel. They also issue updates to network operations teams to help them prepare and protect critical infrastructure from weather impacts.
  • Network Disaster Recovery (NDR): We have invested more than $1 billion over the past three decades in our NDR Program, which rapidly restores connectivity to disaster-affected areas. Following a disaster, we activate our internal Emergency Operations Center to coordinate all business areas around timely recovery efforts.
  • Disaster Response Procedures: Following disasters or other emergencies, we implement procedures to quickly restore network functionality, provide critical resources to impacted employees, field customer inquiries and return or establish service in impacted communities.

Through our collaboration with the Argonne National Laboratory, we have leveraged cutting-edge data sets to drive network resilience by prioritizing investments in existing infrastructure and incorporating risk factors into the site selection process for planned builds.

We also actively manage transition risks associated with the shift to a low-carbon economy:

  • Supply Chain Resilience: In recent years, global supply chains have faced unprecedented disruptions and a continuously evolving geopolitical landscape, highlighting the criticality of supply chain resilience. We are proactively addressing and working to mitigate risks by improving our supply chain visibility and risk mitigation practices in collaboration with suppliers.
  • Prioritizing Renewable Energy: Recognizing that Scope 2 emissions (from purchased electricity) account for most of our operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2), we strive to meet more of our energy needs with renewable sources. We continue to explore beneficial large-scale renewables opportunities and have begun exploring battery energy storage systems (BESS) agreements. Through Virtual Power Purchase Agreements and BESS, AT&T believes we can help spur additional renewable energy, reduce energy costs, stabilize the grid and reduce our carbon footprint.
  • Operational Efficiency: AT&T is transitioning our network from copper to fiber, dramatically reducing energy consumption while boosting download speeds by up to 166 times. We expect our copper-to-fiber transition to reduce our energy consumption from 2024 through the end of 2028 by 1.06 million MWh and emissions over the same period by approximately 740,000 metric tons of CO2e. Read our Circularity issue brief to learn more about our copper reclamation and fiber transition approach. We also decommission and remove obsolete network capacity and hardware and leverages patented machine learning (ML) algorithms and automation to optimize and enable select cell site capacity to “sleep” under low loads. By “sleeping,” cells conserve energy without impairing customer experience.

For more specific examples of AT&T’s processes for managing physical and transition climate-related risks, see the Strategy section of this report.

Integration into Overall Risk Management

Periodically, we assess climate-related related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities for our company. We conduct this assessment by utilizing insights and information gathered from stakeholders, scanning media coverage, benchmarking peer companies, aligning with global sustainability frameworks, and analyzing our policies, commitments and programs. These efforts provide insight into how we focus our resources, reporting and communications. We share the results and regularly discuss the identified topic areas with AT&T’s Compliance team and other internal stakeholders. This helps to inform ongoing risk management considerations across our operations.

The Board is informed of significant risks and management plans, and material risks are disclosed in periodic reports. Learn more about our Enterprise Risk Management process in our Ethics & Integrity issue brief.

Metrics and Targets

Metrics Used

AT&T tracks and reports Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions annually, providing a rolling 4-year view to highlight trends. Scope 1 emissions include direct emissions (e.g., fleet), Scope 2 emissions are calculated using the market-based method. Scope 3 emissions are calculated using a hybrid approach that combines the EPA-developed, spend-based Environmentally Extended Input-Output (EEIO) methodology with supplier-specific emission factors

GHG Emissions

Scope 1 Emissions - Mobile

Scope 1 Emissions - Desktop

AT&T reports Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions annually. For detailed information, refer to the Efficiency & Emissions issue brief and Corporate Responsibility KPI table.

Targets and Performance

AT&T is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions across global operations, followed by an interim target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We’re also advancing sustainability across our supply chain by engaging suppliers to set science-based emissions reduction targets and improve environmental performance and investing in fleet modernization. Progress toward these goals is tied to leadership performance objectives, ensuring accountability. For a comprehensive summary of environmental metrics, see our Sustainability Summary and Corporate Responsibility KPIs page.

Topic Goal Progress
GHG Emissions Reduce our absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 63% (2015 base year) — aligning with a 1.5°C pathway by the end of 2030.1 Reduction of 54% from our 2015 base year (8.8 million metric tons of CO2e) an 85% attainment toward our Scope 1 and 2 science-based target.
Carbon Neutrality Achieve carbon neutrality (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) by the end of 2035. Reduction of more than 4.7 million metric tons CO2e from our 2015 base year, a 54% attainment toward our carbon-neutrality target.
Customer Emissions Reduction Enablement Deliver connectivity solutions that enable business customers to reduce a gigaton (1 billion metric tons) of GHG emissions from 2018 through the end of 2035. Enabled 327.9 million metric tons of customer emissions savings, 33% of our Gigaton Goal.
Topic Goal Progress
Sustainable Sourcing Standards Annually engage suppliers representing at least 80% of our spend on their sustainability performance by the end of 2025.2 Reached 83% of spend, exceeding our goal for the fifth consecutive year.

  1. Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)-approved goal.

  2. This goal is focused on network, consumer equipment and corporate services spend.