Commitment to achieving Net Zero

Verizon UK Limited (Verizon UK) is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040.

Baseline emissions footprint

Baseline emissions are the reference point against which emissions reduction can be measured. We selected 2019 as our baseline reporting year as 2019 serves as the baseline year for the enterprise-wide SBTi-approved emissions reduction targets adopted by our parent, Verizon Communications Inc. (Verizon).

Reporting year: 2019
Emissions Total (tCO2e)
Scope 1 378
Scope 2

13,825 (location based)

13,825 (market based)
Scope 3
(Included sources)
Upstream transportation and distribution 84
Waste generated in operations 339
Business travel 3,250
Employee commuting 1,841
Downstream transportation and distribution 41
Total emissions 19,758 (location based)

19,758 (market based)

Current emissions reporting


Reporting year: 2022
Emissions Total (tCO2e)
Scope 1

285
Scope 2

7,523 (location based)
271 (market based)
Scope 3
(Included sources)
Upstream transportation and distribution 44
Waste generated in operations 172
Business travel 539
Employee commuting 1,608
Downstream transportation and distribution 22
Total emissions

10,193 (location based)
2,941 (market based)

Explanatory note:
The preparation of emission data includes estimates, assumptions and extrapolations as a result of inherent limitations, given the nature and availability of, and methods used for measuring, such data.

Emissions reduction targets

Verizon’s enterprise-wide climate-related targets

Verizon has expressed an ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2040 and adopted the following enterprise-wide climate-related targets:

  • By 2035, achieve net zero operational emissions. Supporting this goal are the following interim targets:
    • By 2025, source renewable energy equivalent to 50% of total annual electricity usage.
    • By 2030, source renewable energy equivalent to 100% of total annual electricity usage.
    • By 2030, achieve a 53% reduction in absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions over a 2019 baseline.*
  • By 2035, achieve a 40% reduction in absolute scope 3 emissions over a 2019 baseline.*

*SBTi-approved target.

Verizon UK’s emission reduction targets

Verizon UK has the following carbon reduction commitments:

  • Contribute to Verizon’s target to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2035.
  • Contribute to Verizon’s target to source renewable energy equivalent to 50% of total annual electricity usage by 2025 and 100% of total annual electricity usage by 2030.
  • Contribute to Verizon’s target to achieve a 53% reduction in absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions over the 2019 baseline by 2030.
  • Contribute to Verizon’s target to achieve a 40% reduction in absolute scope 3 emissions over the 2019 baseline by 2035.

We project that Verizon UK’s emissions (market based) will decrease to approximately 14,800 tCO2e by 2026. This is a reduction of 25% from the 2019 baseline.

Progress against these targets can be seen in the graph below:

Verizon UK’s actual annual emissions reductions since 2019, as shown in the chart above, significantly exceeded the projected annual reductions due primarily to the procurement of renewable energy and also to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business travel and transportation and real estate rationalization initiatives.

Carbon reduction projects

The following environmental management measures and projects have been implemented since the 2019 baseline. The reduction in carbon emissions (market based) achieved by these schemes during 2022 equates to approximately 16,800 tCO2e, resulting in an 85% reduction against the 2019 baseline across all scopes.

Environmental management system. Verizon’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) organisation maintains International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification for Verizon’s EHS management system. Certification shows that the company’s processes meet international best practices, drive continual improvement and create business value.

Verizon’s EHS management system provides a framework for identifying, controlling and reducing the risks associated with enterprise-wide operations and reinforcing environmental stewardship. Besides performing regular management-system assessments, Verizon conducts internal and third-party annual compliance audits and inspections at facilities worldwide. The goal of these assessments is to identify site-specific issues and to educate and empower employees to take corrective actions. Verizon’s EHS efforts are directed and sustained by experienced professionals who support the operations and facilities worldwide.

Improving energy efficiency. We require all new network infrastructure and office facilities projects to have energy efficiency as a driver. We are achieving direct savings in energy and associated carbon emissions by replacing old equipment with new more energy efficient equipment. For example, since 2019 we have upgraded the following internal systems at various technical sites:

  • Computer Room Air Conditioning units;
  • Existing non-LED lighting for LED Lighting;
  • DC Power Systems for critical network equipment; and
  • Chiller mechanical systems, designed to distribute chilled water.

We further reduced our energy usage by removing legacy network infrastructure.

We also introduced a range of operational efficiency measures with our network operations technical facilities partners that have reduced our energy use.

Rationalising our real estate footprint. As part of our initiative to consolidate and reduce the size of our real estate footprint we divested of a technical and administrative facility in 2020, and, in advance of a lease termination, vacated a facility in the second half of 2022.

Sourcing renewable energy. In October 2019 we entered into a new renewable energy purchase contract with a third-party energy supplier extending through September 2024. This contract covers the majority of our operations. The electricity is sourced from wind generation and hydro assets, and these technologies all receive Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates.

Transitioning to greener transport. We have reduced fleet fuel consumption by transitioning 85% of our network operations fleet to plug-in, hybrid vehicles.

Working with our suppliers to reduce emissions. We have been actively working with our suppliers to reduce their emissions and ours and implemented the following practices to drive progress:

  • Nearly every scope of work for a supplier for network and office facilities requires the supplier to deliver energy efficiency improvements.
  • We request key suppliers to report their emissions data on the CDP platform and encourage them to set their own emissions reduction targets.

In the future we hope to implement further measures such as:

  • New building management systems utilizing smart metering and big data analytics to improve the energy efficiency of office and technical facilities.
  • Further network rationalisation to retire and replace legacy networks with network facilities designed to reduce energy use.
  • Raising cooling setpoints and using free air cooling where possible.
  • Replacing existing air conditioning systems with more energy efficient ones.
  • Adding on-site renewable electricity generation and entering into additional long-term renewable energy purchase agreements.
  • Continuing our participation in Verizon’s hybrid work model, which significantly reduces employee commuting.
  • Leveraging virtual collaboration tools to minimise staff business travel.
  • Working with Verizon to expand the enterprise-wide supplier engagement program to drive more thorough emissions reporting and adoption of emissions reduction practices and targets within our supply chain.
 

Declaration and Sign Off

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standards for Carbon Reduction Plans.

Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard1 and we used the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting2.

Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements, and the required subset of Scope 3 emissions have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard3.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and approved on 30 May 2023 by the board of directors of Verizon UK Limited.

Signed on behalf of Verizon UK Limited


__________________________________________

Clare Aitkenhead

Director

Date: June 16, 2023



1 https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard
2 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting
3 https://ghgprotocol.org/standards/scope-3-standard