Biodiversity

We protect biodiversity and collaborate on projects to preserve the natural environment

We protect the environment to contain or eliminate, where feasible, negative impacts on biodiversity, including deforestation, that may be generated by our activities, promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems through more efficient use of resources and respect for land throughout the value chain.

These principles underpin our broader Environmental Policy and the Environmental Management Systems adopted by our Group functions and companies.

In the environmental policy we declare our commitments with reference to the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals and with respect to Goal 15 on biodiversity preservation and support for zero deforestation, which mainly concern:

• the consideration of environmental sustainability and biodiversity protection aspects in new infrastructure and service development projects;
• the assessment of environmental risks present in general at the various levels of the value chain and their mitigation including through partnerships at the national and international level to reduce the environmental impact of purchased products and services and processes.

These principles of biodiversity preservation also involves our stakeholders including suppliers to raise awareness and increase performance efficiency through engagement activities such as participation in materiality analysis, qualification on the Open-es platform, and involvement in capacity building act.

The biodiversity commitments summarized in the Environmental Policy, are defined by Executive Management and validated by the Sustainability Committee, which, among other tasks, oversees the TIM Group's environmental sustainability strategy and the implementation of ESG initiatives.

Finally, through the adoption of environmental management systems consistent with international standards, we ensure effective management of environmental aspects in terms of waste and emissions reduction, decrease in energy costs and conscious use of resources.

Projects to reduce deforestation and preserve the environment

In line with Sustainable Development Goal 15 enshrined by the United Nations, we focus attention on the need to halt biodiversity loss and combat deforestation through concrete actions that go, for example, in the direction of purchasing goods and products with ESG standards, as in the case of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper. We also support certified international projects to offset the impact of certain business activities, and, in addition, we support urban forestation and sustainable management projects in Italy to take care of the environment.

Protecting the Amazon rainforest

Once again, this year we chose to offset the emission impact related to our websites' activities by purchasing carbon credits, in support of the international environmental protection project Envira Amazonia REDD+ (Reduction of emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) in Brazil, certified according to the VCS-Verra standard, pe protect an area of 39,000 hectares of tropical rainforest in Acre State. The goal of this project is to preserve biodiversity by protecting endangered plant and animal species, but also to provide a wide range of ecosystem services by mitigating the release of about 1.2 million tons of CO₂ emissions per year over a 30-year period. The benefits are not only environmental but also social and economic, as the project includes a series of trainings for the development of sustainable agriculture, the creation of new job opportunities, and the development of social programs for the collection, transportation, and sale of açaí and medicinal plants.

Forest redevelopment in Italy

Since 2022, with Rete Clima⁽¹⁾ we have been adhering to the National Campaign "Foresta Italia"⁽²⁾ which aims to increase the naturalness of territories and improve the quality of life in urban green areas. In 2022, we contributed two voluntary forest rehabilitation projects to safeguard biodiversity on the national territory

Urban forestation in Milan's North Park: 150 new plants and shrubs typical of the Po Valley were planted to help increase green areas in the city. The planted trees will allow the absorption of about 50 tCO₂eq in their average life cycle of 30 years.

_{(1) Rete Clima, a nonprofit specialized in promoting sustainability in organizations.
(2) In collaboration with Coldiretti and PEFC Italy and under the moral sponsorship of the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, and the Ministry of Agriculture of Food Sovereignty and Forestry.}

Sustainable forest management In Città della Pieve-Piegaro - Umbria: we carried out the "Piante Elìte" project to preserve forest biodiversity, which made it possible to identify and map via GPS rare and valuable plants and then encourage their growth through specific management techniques.