With Vodafone UK having recently collected various awards for its sustainability achievements, we explore the numbers behind the work – and how it all adds up to a more promising environmental future.
3
2024 saw Vodafone UK pick up three separate awards in recognition of its sustainability efforts. The ongoing everyone.connected campaign was responsible for two of these, earning an edie award for Social Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year, as well as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative of the Year at the Mobile Industry Awards. Separately, the company’s net zero achievements earned a Better Society award for Carbon Reduction Programme of the Year.
93%
Vodafone UK’s latest Carbon Reduction Plan outlined its net zero progress, headlined by a 93% reduction in operational emissions since the financial year ending 31 March 2020. This relates to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, totalling a huge 86,685.58 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), which roughly equates to the annual energy use of 11,305 homes.*
550,000 kWh
Part of this is due to the generation of 550,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable electricity being produced each year by 650-kilowatt peak of rooftop solar panels. Installed on three separate mobile telephone exchanges, this roughly equates to 12% of the sites’ annual energy requirement.
How Kid-A is making the case for a more sustainable smartphone accessories market
Vodafone’s accessories partner, Kid-A, isn’t your standard phone case manufacturer. In fact, they’re not a phone case manufacturer at all. Although, that hasn’t stopped them from trying to make the “most circular phone case in the world”.
£174 million
Sustainability encompasses people as well as the planet. Vodafone’s everyone.connected campaign, which aims to help four million people and businesses cross the digital divide by 2025, has delivered more than £174 million in social value throughout the UK. This is the result of: donating connectivity and tech to those who need it most; providing affordable services such as social tariffs; and helping to digitally upskill local communities.
83
Beyond awards, Vodafone has recently achieved an overall score of 83/100 in EcoVadis’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) assessment, beating its 2023 rating by three points. This score sees Vodafone place in the top 1% of companies assessed by EcoVadis, a leading independent assessor of corporate sustainability performance.
23,000
Meanwhile, the global environmental non-profit CDP has recognised Vodafone for actions taken to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks, and develop the low-carbon economy. In turn, placing the company on its prestigious annual ‘A List’. In total, 23,000 organisations use the CDP’s platform to respond to investment disclosure requests relating to environmental issues.
2.8%
However, there is still more work to be done. As of 2021, it was estimated that the entire information communication technology (ICT) sector was responsible for up to 2.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Today, e-waste plays an increasing role in this equation, with an estimated 8kg produced per person in 2023, totalling 61.3 million tonnes globally – a figure that Vodafone is helping to reduce through initiatives such as the Great British Tech Appeal.
Stay up to date with the latest news from Vodafone by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter/X, as well as signing up for News Centre website notifications.
* Calculated using: https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
![Falling Dripping Water Drop[Adobe Stock]](https://www.vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/app/uploads/2024/04/Falling-Dripping-Water-DropAdobe-Stock-550x367.jpg.webp "Falling Dripping Water Drop[Adobe Stock]")
