Vodafone achieves a Platinum medal in EcoVadis sustainability assessment for the second year in a row

86/100 score places Vodafone in top 1% for all companies – above global industry average

Vodafone has achieved a Platinum medal from EcoVadis for the second year running. Scoring 86/100, this achievement places Vodafone above the average for telecommunication companies globally and in the top 1% of all assessed companies.

EcoVadis is recognised globally as a leading independent assessor for sustainability performance across environmental, social and governance (ESG). The assessment scores four areas: environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. It reviews an organisation’s policies, endorsements, certifications, and reporting in each area.

Vodafone has improved its overall EcoVadis year on year for three consecutive years, due to our performance and reporting as determined by the EcoVadis methodology.

Reducing the environmental impact of fleets

EcoVadis included a new question this year under environment asking companies to report on actions that promote environmental services and advocacy to customers. Vodafone’s efforts, from fleet-management solutions for heavy goods vehicles to Internet of Things (IoT) and enabling smart meters, contributed to a perfect 100/100 score in this area.

As an example, Vodafone works with Controlant, an Icelandic pharmaceutical logistics company, to connect Saga data logging devices with IoT. The technology monitors temperatures throughout shipment journeys for medicines so that preventative action can be taken if required. From experiencing up to 35% loss of perishable medicines, Controlant reported a 99.9% successful delivery rate with a total of 16,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide avoided for deliveries in 2022.

Streamlining clean energy

Another example, One Solar International, a full-service provider in renewable, clean solar energy, uses Vodafone’s IoT-enabled SIM cards to ensure clean energy gets where it needs to go with minimal waste.

By ensuring that 51 solar parks are connected via the Vodafone Business Managed IoT Connectivity, One Solar cuts down on technician visits by 8-10%, predicting faults before they happen and restarting the system remotely where necessary. This remote-monitoring capability allows One Solar International to respond to incidents faster, reducing its annual CO2 emissions by between 0.9 to 1.1 tons annually. One of Solar International’s plants saved around 46.9 million kilograms of CO2 in 2022 alone.

It also provides other electricity companies with the visibility they need to monitor the wider power grid. Keeping the grid connected ensures that the clean energy transition can be seamless, monitored and efficient.

The organisation’s ongoing work to support the green energy transition promotes the importance of new sources of clean energy, contributing to a better future for us all.

Labour and human rights

Through our Human Rights programme we aim to ensure we are not directly or indirectly, in any way complicit in human rights abuses. Vodafone is a long-standing member of the United Nations Global Compact, and our approach to human rights is guided by the United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

This year we joined the BSR Working Group on Human Rights, solidifying our commitment to peer learning and cross-industry collaboration with experts.

We also continue with our membership of the GSMA Mobile Alliance to combat Digital Child Sexual Exploitation, participate in the multi-stakeholder UN B-Tech Community to address common challenges and solutions with our peers and work in the Joint Alliance for CSR (JAC) to improve ethical, labour and environmental standards in our supply chain.

Finally, following setting ambitious plans in 2020, Vodafone is working towards reaching net zero operations in Europe by 2028, in Africa by 2035, and across the full value chain by 2040.

With Vodafone Germany already having met its target of achieving net zero carbon emissions, Vodafone remains committed to continual improvements in sustainability.