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Letter from the CEOAny future vision ofsustainable developmentmust be linked to technologytransformation.”be misused. We are working to ensuregreater privacy and security in our networks,and are active in multi-stakeholderdialogue to address concerns.Hans VestbergPresident and CEOWelcome to our 2014 report.Never in human history have we beenmore connected. In a few years, 90% ofthe world’s population will have access tomobile communications. That’s a staggeringdevelopment, changing every aspectof our lives.In the Networked Society, everyone andeverything will be connected in real time.As a leading ICT company, our role is todrive this transformation, opening up newways to innovate, to collaborate and toempower people, business and society. Wewant to ensure that connectivity paves theway for environmentally sustainable andequitable social and economic development.Driving positive changeOur ambition at Ericsson is to be a responsibleand relevant driver of positive changein the Networked Society. From climatechange and poverty reduction to urbanization,the major challenges confrontingour world require transformative, not inc remental,solutions. Small steps forwardwon’t deliver the necessary scale to findeffective solutions to pressing global issues.The global community is charged with carryingon the work of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals beyond 2015. Any futurevision of sustainable development must belinked to technology transformation.As chair of the Working Group for SustainableDevelopment and the Post-2015Development Agenda of the BroadbandCommission for Digital Development,during 2014 I led the work on a new report“Means of Transformation.” Our aim is tospur the international community to actswiftly to capture the unrealized potentialof ICT and broadband to enable the post-2015 development agenda and help builda more inclusive, sustainable society. Mycontribution to the Leadership Council ofthe UN Sustainable Development SolutionsNetwork is to help ensure that viable solutionsare part of this framework.A transformative technologyMobility, broadband and the cloud aretransforming industries. Utilities aredeploying smart metering to save electricitycosts and reduce carbon emissionswhile connected cars enhance safety andenable electric vehicle charging. Smartgrids and more efficient public transportease the challenges of urbanization.Technology is also transforming howwe meet basic needs. In Connect to Learn,now in 21 countries, we partner in a publicprivateinitiative using cloud-based ICTsolutions to deliver high-quality secondaryeducation worldwide while highlightingthe need to improve access to educationfor girls. With 2.5 billion unbanked peopleglobally, our mobile money platform isaddressing the challenge of financial inclusion.Community health workers equippedwith mobile phones in the devastatingEbola fight are better able to save lives.These are the kind of impacts that illustratethe power of Technology for Good, andin 2015 our initiatives aim to impact morethan 5 million people.Sustainability at the coreAt Ericsson, sustainability and corporateresponsibility are integrated in our corporatestrategy. Our aim is to continuouslyimprove our sustainability performance –in areas such as good governance,responsible sourcing, and health andsafety – to minimize risks to our, and ourcustomers’, brands and earn the trust ofour stakeholders.Ericsson continues to support the tenprinciples of the United Nations GlobalCompact and the UN Guiding Principlesfor Business and Human Rights (UNGP),and we were first in our sector to use thenew UNGP Reporting Framework. Wethink this is important because whilehuman rights such as freedom of expressionand the right to privacy are enabled byICT, there is also a risk the technology canSteady progressAs described throughout this report, in2014 Ericsson made considerable progresswith sustainability and CR, althoughthere is much left to do. Our targets aredesigned to indicate our priorities, both interms of reducing risks, and increasingpositive impacts, and we continue todeliver real performance. As Ericsson’smost significant environmental impact isthe energy used by our products in operation,we put heavy emphasis on helpingcustomers optimize their networks. Ournew Ericsson Radio System provides a50% improvement in energy efficiency.We also seek to reduce the carbonfootprint of our own performance. We areon track towards our objective to maintainabsolute CO 2e emissions from businesstravel, product transport and facilities at2011 levels up to 2017. This equates to areduction of 30% CO 2e per employee, andthis year, we reduced emissions by 10%CO 2e per employee.To accelerate action towards a low-carboneconomy, we also set a new goal thisyear to help other sectors of the economyreduce societal carbon emissions by a factorof 2 relative to Ericsson’s own carbonemissions in 2014. We will do this by implementingICT-enabled solutions such assmart meters and smart transport solutions.Scaling positive impactThis is only the very start. ICT-enabledsolutions can and should be a powerfultool for sustainable development. Byenabling every area of society to usemobility, broadband and the cloud toaddress global challenges, we can ensureour sector’s legacy is a positive one.Hans VestbergPresident and CEO2 Ericsson | Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report 2014