62 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2025
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
Climate-related risk continued
Vodafone has an internal global policy, owned by the Chief External and Corporate Affairs Officer, that establishes the minimum standards for environmental management. All Vodafone’s operating entities, including Vodacom, are required to adhere to this policy. It requires annual review of climate-related risks and opportunities in each market, with significant findings incorporated into the Group-level climate-related risk assessment. Additionally, the policy mandates the implementation of the CTP, assigning management the responsibility for taking climate action and building climate resilience, in line with our strategy across our global business. Click to read more about our Climate Transition Plan: vodafone.com/ctp Strategy Previously, we conducted several scenario analyses of physical climate risk across Europe and Africa as well as a qualitative assessment to determine priority climate-related risks across our global footprint. This year, we conducted a detailed quantitative scenario analysis of our seven-priority global climate-related physical and transition risks, which involved climate scenario analysis, empirical research, internal stakeholder interviews and economic modelling, to improve the way that we assess our risks. This analysis has enabled us to gain a deeper insight into the risks associated with climate change and to assess the potential financial value associated with each risk (across short-, medium- and long-term time horizons), to consider in our strategy and priorities for risk management. However, with rapidly changing policy and regulatory environments, complexities with assessing climate-related risks (notably transition risk), and the uncertainty of long-term planning, it is not possible to say with certainty whether these risks may materialise across these time horizons. Read more about our approach to climate-related risk assessment on page 63
Our priority climate-related risks and opportunities 1 Physical risks
Transition risks (3) Energy costs:
(6) Greenwashing risk: Risk of reputational damage, loss of revenue, and legal costs due to misleading claims. We may be exposed to litigation and penalties associated with unintentionally making misleading claims about the environmental impact of Vodafone (at a corporate reporting or brand communications level) or its products and services (at a product marketing level) or by failing to substantiate claims, which could lead to reputational damage. Time horizon: Short term Transition opportunity (7) Customer enablement: Opportunity for revenue growth from the sale of connectivity and new technology solutions (IoT and digital platforms) for business customers from digital connectivity, which is essential for the decarbonisation of industry across all sectors of the economy. For example, smart digital solutions will enable our enterprise customers to improve operational efficiency, minimise waste and manage resources. Time horizon: Inconclusive Note: 1. As described in the Risk Management section of this report, these climate-related risks and opportunities have been prioritised based on their potential severity, likelihood and time horizon relative to the full range of climate-related risks and opportunities identified through our risk analyses. Their prioritisation does not indicate the significance of the risk or opportunity relative to other risk categories, nor does it indicate the significance of any impact on Vodafone’s financial position. We therefore refer to these as our ‘priority’, rather than ‘material’ risks.
(1) Extreme weather (referred to as acute): Site damage and/or business interruption caused by extreme weather events, e.g. flooding and wildfire. Our network infrastructure assets are already being affected by extreme weather, although currently at a scale that can be managed to avoid major operational impact, asset impairment or cost. Longer term, in combination with geopolitical risks, extreme weather could disrupt supply chains, particularly those that depend on critical regions (such as China for electronic components) or locations (such as coastal ports). Time horizon: Long term (2) Rising average temperatures (referred to as chronic): Business interruption associated with rising temperatures. We recognise that rising average temperatures could damage network equipment and other above-ground infrastructure or cause operational failure (particularly if located in exposed outdoor locations, e.g. radio towers), as well as cause disruption in our supply chain. It could also lead to increasing consumption of energy for cooling infrastructure, data centres and offices, which could increase operating costs. A higher frequency of hot days could be more pronounced in our African and southern European markets (such as Greece and Portugal). Minimal impact over time horizon
Increased cost of energy, electricity, and carbon pricing. Increasingly volatile energy prices and overall higher energy costs, partially driven by carbon pricing and demand for renewable electricity certificates outstripping supply. This risk is particularly prevalent in markets with high dependency on fossil fuels (e.g. to operate diesel generators) and non-renewable energy. However, carbon pricing will also drive an increase in cost to procure carbon-intensive products and raw materials, as third parties upstream in the supply chain look to pass through higher costs. Time horizon: Medium term (4) Regulatory compliance costs: Increased cost of compliance due to additional resource requirements. As governments introduce policies to support the climate transition, our regulatory corporate sustainability reporting and disclosure compliance costs are increased during periods of required implementation as they are transposed into law across our markets. These could also impact our product portfolio (such as energy use of fixed line or mobile devices), and operations (such as data centres). Minimal impact over time horizon (5) Expectations of business customers: Risk of market share loss if lagging behind competitors in decarbonisation activities. We may be exposed to revenue loss if climate performance continues to be a differentiator during supplier selection by business customers, and Vodafone does not keep pace with the low-carbon products and services offered by competitors, or rising business customer expectations for adhering to climate-related requirements. Time horizon: Long term
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