Last week Telefónica UK unveiled an ambitious new three year sustainability plan which promises to stimulate social and environmental advancement by delivering up to 4 million tonnes of carbon savings and equipping one million young people with vital skills.
So what’s the plan all about?
The plan sets out, through three key goals and 40 individual commitments, how Telefónica UK will harness their unique understanding of technology and digital connectivity to build a more sustainable future for their customers, employees, suppliers and the communities they live in.
The Think Big Blueprint is built around three core objectives:
• Think Big for planet – a commitment aiming to deliver carbon reductions for customers that are ten times greater than the impact of Telefónica UK’s network. The pledge is underpinned by 23 individual commitments, including: a promise to halve the emissions of our network*; a commitment to tackle the environmental impact of phone charging by no longer providing chargers as standard with new phones and a promise to ensure all major suppliers take measures to reduce their impact on the environment and increase their community contribution.
• Think Big for customers – an undertaking to help ten million people live in easier and more sustainable ways through Telefónica UK’s products and services. The pledge is underpinned by 12 individual commitments, including: a promise to save the NHS over 1m hours of health-care staff time equivalent to £50m of savings; a commitment to save 350,000 UK households over 300,000 tonnes of carbon; and flexible working solutions which will save hundreds of UK businesses 160,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
• Think Big for people – a pledge to help one million young people to develop skills for life and lead community projects across the UK. The pledge is underpinned by 5 individual commitments, including: a promise to help over 600,000 young people develop skills through local community initiatives, funding to support 5,000 young people to lead community projects and the creation of 4,000 high quality work experience opportunities.
What does Telefónica UK’s Chief Executive, Ronan Dunne, say about the plan
“A truly sustainable future, in an environmental, social and economic sense, requires businesses like ours, to take bold steps to tackle our shared social and environmental challenges.
As a leading provider of digital services with in excess of 22 million customers, we are uniquely positioned to use the scale of our business and our understanding of technology, to make sustainable living a reality.
This blueprint is not simply a ‘nice to have’. In an era of heightened economic and social concern, it’s an essential part of our long term business strategy that will enable us to unlock sustainable growth and encourage positive environmental change.
A plan in line with key programs of the EU Social Agenda
Last but not least, the Think Big Blueprint is in line with some key programs of the EU Social Agenda. For example, the EU Youth Strategy (2010-18), whose objectives are to provide more and equal opportunities for young people in education and in the labour market, and to encourage young people to be active citizens and participate in society. Another example is the Programme of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2012, Europe at Work, whose third priority, A Green Europe, aims, among other objectives, to secure the adoption of initiatives for promoting energy efficiency.
