Our approach to
corporate social responsibility

We believe that connectivity and digitalization can have a key role to play as an enabler, unlocking economic opportunity and growth and facilitating access to work, education, healthcare and other public services. This belief motivates our support for policies that encourage broadband rollout and adoption and the digital transformation of society and industry. At Nokia, we collaborate with governments, regulators, international organizations, trade associations, industry peers and academia to inform effective policy making and support the development of the best policy framework for sustainable and inclusive digitalization.

Nokia engages with policymakers and regulators transparently and constructively. We offer our expertise on trusted and reliable international connectivity, on the security of digital infrastructures, on a regulatory regime that facilitates network rollout and other digital policy endeavors, on best policy frameworks unlocking innovation, on improving the resilience of economies and their critical infrastructure (e.g. energy grids) and on the most effective regulations for sustainability (e.g. forced labor regulation or due diligence in supply chains). Nokia’s experts explain roadmaps toward 6G in several parts of the world. We advise on spectrum for broadband, including through our participation in the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 in Dubai.

Our guidelines for dealing with government officials always apply, regardless of the employee’s role and the purpose or frequency of interaction. They also apply to interactions with employees of state-owned companies and other governmental customers. The basic guidance for interaction with a government official is laid down in our Code of Conduct. We do not participate in the political or electoral process through direct donations to political groups.

Our Corporate Social Responsibility activities are divided into corporate, key regional, and local programs. Our corporate level programs are centrally managed and in 2024, focused on four key themes:

• Increasing digital inclusion,
• Climate and environment, 
• Inclusion, equality and diversity,
• Disaster relief.

Key regional programs cover programs in India and China, and local community programs are initiated and run by Nokia offices around the world.

During 2024 Nokia reached 112 453 reported direct beneficiaries. This is 14% less compared to 2023, and driven partly by fewer direct beneficiaries reported from programs in India, which is the most prominent country in terms of number of reported direct beneficiaries overall. Additionally, the ongoing corporate programs were focused on smaller groups of beneficiaries thus affecting global beneficiary numbers. Women, students and minority groups were the largest beneficiary groups.

In 2024, Nokia invested about EUR 6.5 million in communities around the world. In March 2024, Nokia and UNICEF finalized their 2.5-year program in Morocco. The objective of this social innovation and entrepreneurship program was to empower less advantaged young people (15–24 years), particularly girls, to become resilient and increasingly productive through self-employment and active engagement with their own communities. During the year, Nokia also closed its pilot program with UNICEF in Senegal. This program began in 2023 aiming to introduce digital education for students and teachers in public schools in selected parts of the country. Through hands-on coding activities, students were able to develop essential skills in digital literacy, coding and problem-solving. The trained educators can serve as digital champions, integrating digital skills and coding into their teaching, supporting colleagues and fostering a school-wide digital learning culture.

In 2024 Nokia also expanded its collaboration with UN Women, empowering women through technology and skills in five regions. In addition, Nokia University Donations program collaborated with selected universities and academia to fund research into open, long-term, high-impact and disruptive discoveries solving environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges with 6G, AI, sensing and quantum technologies.

Nokia continues to collaborate with Non–Governmental Organizations such as UNICEF Finland, UN Women and community-based local organizations to implement and run social impact initiatives, as well as industry bodies (e.g. Responsible Business Alliance) and customers who have direct relationships and engagement with the communities.