Summary Bullets:

• Virgin Media O2 Business’ carbon calculator aims to provide trustworthy information to business customers on emissions related to their services, forming a basis for an annual carbon footprint report.

• The Virgin Media O2 Business Tech Donation Programme focuses on digital inclusion, enabling enterprises to offer free refurbished smartphones, mobile data, texts and calls to 11 to 16-year-olds and people over 65.

In common with almost all telecoms services providers, Virgin Media O2 Business is looking to enable and improve reporting on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for its SD-WAN and mobile business customers in the UK. Its carbon calculator aims to help customers realize their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies as they strive to meet the needs of customers, regulators, investors, and talent.

The Virgin Media O2 Business Tech Donation Programme is offered in partnership with Hubbub and Community Calling and enables larger enterprise customers (free for customers spending at least GBP200,000 on mobile and/or SD-WAN) to offer refurbished smartphones, mobile data, texts, and calls to the ‘digitally excluded’ – in this case 11 to 16-year-olds and the over 65s. Within the scheme, enterprise customers and large organizations can also choose the location and demographic to receive donated devices.

Virgin Media O2 Business research has found that sustainability progress has been hindered by financial constraints (50% of enterprise with 11 or more employees surveyed), staff capacity (38%), and lack of strategy (19%). This is likely to be skewed by the results from smaller businesses as larger enterprises tend to be further along the ESG journey. The research also found that 69% of businesses say they don’t receive enough information from suppliers to track the carbon footprint of their products. The good news is that 64% of leaders see technology as a key means of achieving their sustainability and social goals.

To date, service providers have tended to focus on Scope 1 (direct emissions) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions such as energy being used on their behalf). Everyone acknowledges that Scope 3 (emissions not directly associated with the company itself but for which it has indirect responsibility) is the toughest nut to crack, but technology companies lead in this area. As previously observed, even in the face of a degree of push-back from some governments and economic challenges, the sustainability journey will continue to lie at the core of technology companies – and technology at the core of delivering sustainability.