Vodafone Group Plc ESG addendum
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Protecting our Planet
Empowering People
Building Trust
Other information
Waste and Water Waste Management
Environmental Accreditations We continue to implement international standards for energy and environmental management systems across the Group to improve the way we manage our energy use and environmental impacts. ISO 50001 is based on the management system model of continuous improvement also used for other standards such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. This makes it easier for organisations to integrate energy management into their overall efforts to improve quality and environmental management. It provides a framework of requirements for organisations to develop a policy for more efficient use of energy; fix targets and objectives to meet the policy; use data to better understand and make decisions about energy use; measure results; review how well the policy works; and continually improve energy management. ISO 14001 is a systematic framework to manage the immediate and long-term environmental impacts of an organisation ’ s products, services and processes to help organisations: minimise their environmental footprint; diminish the risk of pollution incidents; provide operational improvements; ensure compliance with relevant environmental legislation; and develop their business in a sustainable manner. We report on our environmental accreditations using ISO14001 and ISO50001, by operating company, using the accreditation scope defined by the relevant accreditation body in each country.
other disposal method in line with our waste management policy. Devices As part of an ongoing campaign in partnership with WWF, we monitor and report on the number of used mobile phones collected for refurbishment and re-use, recycling or donation for social causes. Where data on post-consumer electronic devices that we collect is only available by weight, we estimate the number of mobile phone handsets based on the average weight of a mobile phone handset. Water usage We report the total amount of water withdrawn globally from all water sources in cubic metres (M 3 ). We also report the total amount of water withdrawn in water- stressed countries, based on the World Resources Institute ( ‘ WRI ’ ) Aqueduct database of water-stressed areas. We report our water usage excluding bottled water and rainwater collected. Intensity Metrics We report our carbon, energy and water intensity metrics which enables us to measure our energy efficiency over time. These metrics are calculated using the revenue figure reporting in our consolidated financial statements.
We consider that network equipment e-waste includes used telecommunications equipment and other waste electrical and electronic equipment used to operate our network. Network equipment e-waste excludes waste from activities not directly related to the operation of our network, such as waste from passive network infrastructure. Hazardous waste (and any waste equipment requiring special secure disposal methods) such as reused batteries is excluded from our target and reported separately. Reuse is defined as the redeployment of used equipment from our network in one operating company to a network in a different operating company. It includes network equipment resold between markets where we operate, or to external third parties, for reuse for the same purpose. Recycling is defined as the process were authorised third parties are contracted to recover certain materials from network equipment e-waste for treatment or re-processing so they can be converted into new materials or objects. Whilst we send non-hazardous end-of-life equipment for recycling by our third-party waste management partners, this does not mean that all materials within our network equipment are recovered during the recycling process. Disposed network equipment e-waste refers to waste that cannot be reused or recycled or is not sent for recycling and is therefore sent directly for end-of-life treatment by incineration, landfill or
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