To mark Earth Day (22 April), Virgin Media O2 has announced it has cut Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 56 per cent against its 2020 baseline.

The company is publishing the performance of its sustainability strategy, the Better Connections Plan to show it is on track to meet its near-term Science Based Target goal of reducing operational emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 90 per cent by 2030.

To encourage further action to reduce its carbon emissions, the company’s annual bonus scheme also includes a metric based on the company’s carbon reduction performance.

In addition, the company has: achieved 15 per cent savings in data centre cooling energy across 20 sites, rolled out more than 350 electric vehicles as part of its goal to transition to a fully electric fleet, eliminated plastic packaging from own-brand products delivered to customers and worked with suppliers to cut plastic packaging at source by 27 per cent against a 2022 baseline, used 100 per cent renewable energy across sites where it controls the bill and introduced a programme to reduce Scope 3 carbon emissions from its supply chain.

The company has also issued details of its circular plans, that since 2022 have helped people take 8.5 million ‘circular actions’ as part of its 10 million goal by the end of 2025. These include recycling tech such as smartphones, tablets, and consoles via O2 Recycle and, since 2009, has processed more than 4 million devices.

O2 Recycle has also been extended to accept consoles and MacBooks, alongside smartphones, tablets, wearables, and earbuds. Companies can also donate unused devices via O2 Recycle for Business.

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