When Deeanne King came to the Pacific Northwest in 2020 — relocating from Kansas after Sprint merged with Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile — she fell in love with the region’s natural beauty. In her role as executive vice president and chief people officer, she also helps lead sustainability efforts for the telecom giant.

“The outdoors is my happy place,” King said. The region’s lakes, inland sea and trails, she added, are “a good reminder of what we’re all working to protect.”

T-Mobile has been ranked among the greenest companies in the U.S and globally. It’s making notable progress toward climate goals at a time when numerous corporations are scaling back or abandoning their carbon targets.

Keep reading to learn more about King’s sustainability journey. Her quotes have been edited for clarity and length.

What gives you the most hope for the planet?   

People. Hands down. I get to work with some incredibly smart, curious, and committed people, and one thing I’ve learned is that when you put a hard problem in front of people who care, they find a way. They challenge the status quo, they try something new, they learn, and they keep going. I’ve never seen our teams walk away from a problem because it was hard.  

I’m also encouraged by the growing recognition that sustainability and good business can, and should, go together. Building more efficiently, using resources more thoughtfully, and reducing waste can make a business more resilient while also being better for the planet. Those things don’t have to compete.  

And I see that mindset in our employees. People want their work to matter. They want to contribute to something bigger than themselves. When you combine that sense of purpose with ingenuity and a willingness to work together, I think there’s tremendous reason for hope.  

What’s one habit you’ve changed personally because of environmental concerns?  

I’ve gotten much more intentional about cutting down on single-use things, and my reusable water bottle is probably the simplest example. It goes everywhere with me now.   

It sounds small, but I think that’s actually the point. Once you make one change part of your routine, you start noticing other opportunities: what you throw away, what you reuse, what you buy, and what you probably didn’t need in the first place. Those small choices add up.  

Coffee with any sustainability leader, past or present — who do you pick?   

I’d choose Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst at Amazon. T-Mobile joined Amazon and hundreds of other companies in signing the Climate Pledge, committing to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. And there’s something Kara has said about that work that really resonates with me: “We cannot go at this alone.”  

I couldn’t agree more. The biggest challenges we face aren’t going to be solved by one company, one industry, or one really smart person. We have to find common ground, share what we’re learning, and be willing to work together toward something bigger than any one of us.  

I’d love to sit down with Kara and compare notes on what’s working, where we’re getting stuck, and where companies like ours can work together to move faster. And knowing me, we’d probably end up talking about people and leadership too, because ultimately, ambitious goals only become real when you have people who are willing to question how things have always been done and figure out how to get there.  

What’s an underrated solution that deserves more attention?   

Making sustainability practical. Sometimes we gravitate toward the giant, breakthrough idea, and we absolutely need those. But there is also enormous opportunity in doing the basics really, really well and using data to figure out where small changes can add up to a very big impact.  

Take buildings. They aren’t necessarily the first thing people think about when they think about climate innovation, but managing HVAC systems more intelligently produced nearly $5 million in estimated energy savings for T-Mobile in 2025. As of 2025, we have 132 community solar projects in our portfolio, providing an estimated lifetime total savings of $60 million in energy costs. You can reduce energy use, lower costs, and do something positive for the planet.  

What’s one metric you watch obsessively as a sustainability leader?   

I don’t know that I would use the word obsessively, but I absolutely believe in measuring whether the work is actually making a difference. One number I’m particularly proud of is that in 2025, T-Mobile’s total emissions were 50% lower than our 2020 baseline. That’s meaningful progress, especially because our business hasn’t been standing still.  

The scope of the climate challenge is daunting — how do you approach this work?   

You can’t let the size of the problem become the reason you don’t start. That’s true of climate change, but honestly, it’s true of almost every really hard problem I’ve encountered in my career. When something feels enormous, I focus first on what we can control. What’s the next decision? What’s the next action? What can we make better today? Then you keep going.  

I’m also a big believer in being willing to learn along the way. Take smart risks, look at the data, listen to people, adjust and keep moving.

What impact do you hope your work has in 20 years?  

As a mom, I think about the world we’re handing to the next generation. Of course I want my children, and someday, their children, to inherit a healthy planet. But I also want them to inherit the belief that when something matters, you don’t wait for somebody else to fix it. You figure out what you can do, you bring people together and you get to work.