Vodafone : recognised by CDP with ‘A’ score for climate change actions and transparency

Vodafone has been recognised for its actions and transparency on the planet by global environmental non-profit CDP, securing a place on its prestigious 'A List' for tackling climate change.

Vodafone was recognised for its actions to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and develop the low-carbon economy, based on data reported by Vodafone through CDP's 2020 climate change questionnaire.

Vodafone is one of a small number of high-performing companies out of 5,800+ that were scored. Through significant demonstrable action on climate change, Vodafone is leading on corporate environmental ambition, action and transparency worldwide.

Vodafone Group External Affairs Director Joakim Reiter said: 'Vodafone's inclusion in the CDP A List reflects the progress we have made on our strategy to address climate change, and since the latest disclosure we have got even further through our commitment to reduce carbon emissions across our entire operations to 'net zero' by 2040. This year alone we have brought forward to July 2021 our commitment to power our entire European network from 100% renewable electricity, enshrined new environmental criteria into our choice of suppliers, and set out ambitious new targets to help our business customers reduce their own emissions through our services.'

Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, said: 'Taking the lead on environmental transparency and action is one of the most important steps businesses can make, and is even more impressive in this challenging year marked by COVID-19. The scale of the risk to businesses from climate change, deforestation and water insecurity is enormous, and we know the opportunities of action far outweigh the risks of inaction. Leadership from the private sector will create an 'ambition loop' for greater government action and ensure that global ambitions for a net zero sustainable economy become a reality. Our A List celebrates those companies who are preparing themselves to excel in the economy of the future by taking action today.'

CDP's annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is widely recognised as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency. In 2020, over 515 investors with over US$106 trillion in assets and 150+ major purchasers with US$4 trillion in procurement spend requested companies to disclose data on environmental impacts, risks and opportunities through CDP's platform. Over 9,600 responded - the highest ever.

Detailed and independent methodology is used by CDP to assess these companies, allocating a score of A to D- based on the comprehensiveness of disclosure, awareness and management of environmental risks and demonstration of best practices associated with environmental leadership, such as setting ambitious and meaningful targets. Those that don't disclose or provided insufficient information are marked with an F.

The announcement of Vodafone's inclusion in the CDP 'A List' underlines Vodafone's aim of building a digital society that enhances socio-economic progress, embraces everyone and does not come at the cost of the planet.

In November 2020, Vodafone committed to reducing the company's total global carbon emissions to 'net zero' by 2040 and confirmed that its 2030 carbon reduction targets were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as in line with reductions required to keep warming to 1.5°C, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement.

By 2030, Vodafone will eliminate all carbon emissions from its own activities and from energy it purchases and uses (Scope 1 and 2). Vodafone also pledged that by 2030 it will halve carbon emissions from Scope 3 sources, including joint ventures, all supply chain purchases, the use of products it has sold and business travel. By 2040, Vodafone will have eliminated Scope 3 emissions completely - bringing forward by ten years Vodafone's original 2050 ambition to reach 'net zero' across its full carbon footprint.

In 2019, Vodafone committed to purchasing all electricity from renewable sources, halving its environmental footprint by 2025 and reusing, reselling or recycling 100% of its network waste, supporting the move towards a more circular economy.

By no later than July 2021, Vodafone's European network will be powered by 100% renewable electricity - creating a Green Gigabit Net for customers across 11 markets that will grow sustainably using only power from wind, solar or hydro sources.

In July 2020, Vodafone also announced an ambitious new target to help business customers who use its services reduce their own carbon emissions by a cumulative total of 350 million tonnes globally over 10 years between 2020 and 2030.

In September 2020, Vodafone became one of the first global companies to announce it would assess supplier commitments to the environment, diversity and inclusion when they tender for new work, with a supplier's 'purpose' accounting for 20% of the evaluation criteria for a 'Request For Quotation' (RFQ). Vodafone's updated RFQ process now examines whether suppliers have environmental policies to address carbon reduction, renewable energy, plastic reduction, circular economy and product lifecycle.

In May 2019, Vodafone issued its first €750 million green bond to finance or refinance projects to help meet the company's environmental objectives, subsequently reporting which projects were eligible under the use of proceeds and how they were selected.

The full list of companies that made this year's CDP A List is available here, along with other publicly available company scores: https://www.cdp.net/en/companies/companies-scores

Notes for Editors

The full methodology and criteria for the A List is available on CDP's website at: https://www.cdp.net/en/companies/companies-scores

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About Vodafone

Vodafone is a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. Our purpose is to 'connect for a better future' and our expertise and scale gives us a unique opportunity to drive positive change for society. Our networks keep family, friends, businesses and governments connected and - as COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated - we play a vital role in keeping economies running and the functioning of critical sectors like education and healthcare.

Vodafone is the largest mobile and fixed network operator in Europe and a leading global IoT connectivity provider. Our M-Pesa technology platform in Africa enables over 45m people to benefit from access to mobile payments and financial services. We operate mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries and partner with mobile networks in 48 more. As of 30 September 2020, we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 27m fixed broadband customers, over 22m TV customers and we connected more than 112m IoT devices.

We support diversity and inclusion through our maternity and parental leave policies, empowering women through connectivity and improving access to education and digital skills for women, girls, and society at large. We are respectful of all individuals, irrespective of race, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, belief, culture or religion.

Vodafone is also taking significant steps to reduce our impact on our planet by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025 and becoming net zero by 2040, purchasing 100% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and reusing, reselling or recycling 100% of our redundant network equipment.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.

About CDP

CDP is a global non-profit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Voted number one climate research provider by investors and working with institutional investors with assets of US$106 trillion, we leverage investor and buyer power to motivate companies to disclose and manage their environmental impacts. Over 9,600 companies with over 50% of global market capitalization disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2020. This is in addition to the hundreds of cities, states and regions who have disclosed, making CDP's platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change. CDP is a founding member of the We Mean Business Coalition. Visit https://cdp.net/en or follow us @CDP to find out more.