MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications are tightening environmental, social and governance standards across their supplier network, pushing sustainability deeper into procurement as the country’s largest integrated telecommunications group raises expectations on human rights, workplace safety, cybersecurity and environmental responsibility.
The move means suppliers are increasingly being assessed on more than traditional factors such as cost, quality and delivery.
PLDT and Smart are now embedding ESG considerations throughout supplier onboarding, due diligence, qualification, performance monitoring and continuing engagement, according to the companies.
The strategy extends PLDT’s sustainability program beyond its own offices, towers, networks and employees into the companies that provide equipment, construction, technology and other services across its massive telecom ecosystem.
SUPPLIERS REPRESENTING 79% OF PROCUREMENT SPENDING HAVE BEEN ENGAGED
Since expanding its supplier sustainability engagements in 2024, the PLDT Group said it has reached business partners representing 79% of its total 2025 procurement spending.
That figure is significant because telecommunications companies rely on extensive supply chains involving:
Network equipment manufacturers
Tower and construction contractors
IT and cloud-service providers
Power and energy suppliers
Logistics companies
Device suppliers
Engineering and maintenance contractors
Marketing and general-services providers
PLDT’s procurement system historically covers three major areas: network procurement, IT procurement, and marketing and general-services procurement. The group has long described procurement as an important part of its sustainability strategy rather than simply a cost-management function.
100% OF SUPPLIERS WERE SCREENED ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CRITERIA
PLDT and Smart said they screened 100% of suppliers on environmental and social criteria in 2025.
The group also communicated its anti-corruption policies to 92% of active and newly qualified suppliers.
Its Supplier Code of Conduct sets expectations in areas including:
Compliance with environmental laws
Human rights
Workplace health and safety
Labor standards
Responsible business conduct
Cybersecurity
Business continuity
Anti-bribery and anti-corruption
PLDT’s 2025 SEC filing confirms that the group continued enforcing a Supplier Code of Conduct, sustainability guidelines and environment, health and safety manuals requiring suppliers to actively manage environmental impacts and comply with applicable regulations.
ESG NOW INCLUDES CYBERSECURITY — NOT JUST CLIMATE
One of the more important changes is how broadly PLDT defines sustainability.
Smart commercial logistics head Warren Ermac said sustainability is no longer limited to environmental concerns.
The company now links it with resilience, governance, cybersecurity and responsible partnerships.
That matters particularly in telecommunications.
A supplier handling network systems, cloud infrastructure or customer information can create operational and reputational risks even if its environmental record is strong.
Cybersecurity has already emerged as one of PLDT’s highest-priority sustainability issues.
In a 2026 filing with U.S. regulators, the company said its latest materiality assessment identified cybersecurity and data privacy, customer experience and customer welfare among the issues considered most important by stakeholders.
That helps explain why supplier governance is expanding beyond carbon emissions and waste reduction.
PLDT REPORTED ZERO CHILD OR FORCED LABOR CASES IN ITS SUPPLY CHAIN
For 2025, PLDT and Smart reported:
Zero identified cases of child labor
Zero identified cases of forced labor
Zero complaints involving unsafe working conditions
and
No supplier contracts terminated because of corruption incidents.
Those figures are based on the company’s reporting and screening systems.
They do not mean supply-chain risk has disappeared.
Rather, the figures show the kinds of social and governance indicators PLDT is now formally monitoring as part of its supplier-management framework.
SUPPLIERS ARE EXPECTED TO PASS STANDARDS DOWN THE CHAIN
PLDT’s earlier sustainability policies also make clear that expectations do not necessarily stop with direct suppliers.
The group has previously required suppliers to extend certain standards to their own subcontractors, particularly in areas involving environmental compliance, labor standards, data protection and security.
That approach is increasingly common in major corporations because some of the highest ESG risks may sit deeper in the supply chain rather than inside the contracting company itself.
For a telecommunications group, that could include:
construction crews working on network sites,
electronics manufacturing,
equipment transport,
waste handling,
and subcontracted technical services.
PLDT HAD ALREADY BEEN PUSHING BIODIVERSITY RULES INTO NETWORK PROCUREMENT
The latest supplier initiative builds on earlier efforts.
In 2025, PLDT and Smart conducted a biodiversity workshop with tier-one suppliers representing more than 85% of the group’s 2024 network spending, as well as 10 independent tower companies.
Those suppliers were involved in areas including:
Network equipment
Engineering and construction
Operations
Power systems
Permitting
The initiative focused on incorporating biodiversity considerations into network rollout.
That is increasingly relevant as telecommunications infrastructure expands into rural, coastal and environmentally sensitive areas.
PROCUREMENT IS BECOMING PART OF PLDT’S ESG SCORE
The stricter approach to suppliers is also beginning to show up in external sustainability assessments.
PLDT retained its place in the FTSE4Good Index Series in 2026, marking its eighth consecutive year in the benchmark.
The company said improvement in its ESG score was driven in part by stronger sustainability performance across its supply chain.
PLDT has also secured consecutive inclusion in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook.
Its 2025 Corporate Sustainability Assessment score rose to 77 out of 100, placing it within the top 15% of telecommunications companies evaluated for the 2026 Yearbook.
The company has attributed some of that progress to improvements involving supplier engagement, human rights, business ethics and environmental management.
PHILIPPINE COMPANIES FACE TIGHTER ESG REPORTING TOO
PLDT’s supplier push is unfolding as sustainability disclosure requirements in the Philippines become more sophisticated.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been moving toward standards aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board, or ISSB, aimed at making corporate climate and sustainability reporting more comparable for investors.
That means major listed companies increasingly need credible information not only about their own operations but also about risks elsewhere in their value chains.
For large companies, suppliers can influence everything from greenhouse-gas emissions to labor conditions, cybersecurity incidents and operational disruptions.
That makes procurement data increasingly important to ESG reporting.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY IS NOW PART OF THE SUPPLIER CONVERSATION
The Philippines’ exposure to typhoons, floods, earthquakes and other natural hazards makes supplier resilience particularly important for telecom companies.
If a network contractor, equipment supplier or logistics provider fails during a disaster, restoration work can slow even if PLDT’s own infrastructure remains operational.
That is why the group is including business continuity and resilience in its supplier engagement efforts.
Telecommunications networks are considered essential infrastructure during disasters because government agencies, emergency responders, businesses and families all depend on connectivity.
Supplier resilience therefore becomes part of network resilience.
PLDT IS ALSO PUSHING CIRCULARITY
The group’s sustainability agenda extends into the way materials are used and discarded.
In September, PLDT and Smart joined more than 200 executives, sustainability specialists and policymakers at a UN Global Compact Asia-Pacific forum focused on circularity, climate action, water resilience and responsible supply chains.
Circularity focuses on keeping materials in use longer through repair, reuse and recycling rather than following a traditional buy-use-discard model.
That is particularly relevant for telecom companies, which handle large amounts of:
Network equipment
Batteries
Electronics
Cables
Customer devices
and
Packaging materials
Stricter supplier requirements can make it easier for a company to demand more recyclable materials, longer equipment life cycles or clearer waste-management practices.
ESG CAN ALSO BECOME A COMMERCIAL REQUIREMENT
For smaller suppliers, the shift has practical consequences.
A company may offer the cheapest bid but still face difficulty qualifying for a large corporate contract if it cannot document compliance with labor, safety, environmental or cybersecurity standards.
Over time, ESG performance could increasingly become part of the basic requirements for doing business with large listed corporations.
That can create additional compliance costs for suppliers.
But it can also push companies to improve internal systems that make them more competitive when bidding for multinational or government contracts where sustainability requirements are becoming more common.
THE REAL STORY: ESG IS MOVING FROM REPORTS INTO PURCHASE ORDERS
Corporate sustainability is often associated with annual reports, carbon targets and public pledges.
PLDT’s latest supplier program illustrates a more consequential stage.
The company is trying to make ESG part of the actual decision-making process that determines which suppliers enter its network, keep their contracts and grow their business relationship with the group.
That matters because large corporations can influence thousands of other businesses through purchasing power.
PLDT and Smart have already engaged suppliers representing nearly four-fifths of their 2025 procurement spending.
If environmental, social, cybersecurity and governance standards become permanent parts of those procurement decisions, the effects could spread far beyond the telecom companies themselves.
For suppliers, the message is becoming increasingly clear:
winning a major corporate contract may no longer depend only on offering the right price.
They may also need to prove that they can operate responsibly, securely and sustainably enough to remain part of the supply chain.
