Safaricom - 2020 Sustainable Business Report

23 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR STAKEHOLDERS CONCLUDING REMARKS Quality Education “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Key targets: 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. 4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education. 4.A Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all. Our contribution: Expanding access to education through innovative solutions, our network and through partnerships. Projects: • Our unstructured service supplementary data (USSD) and SMS service that enables students and teachers to take quizzes, search subjects to study and access Wikipedia summaries without an internet connection, Shupavu 291, has 939 772 active subscribers and has been used by over 5 million learners since its launch in 2016. • The M-PESA Foundation Academy provides 669 economically disadvantaged students access to a high-quality education through world class learning facilities, focused on building leadership and entrepreneurship skills. • Over 106 208 learners have benefitted from projects funded by Safaricom Foundation through its Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP), which focuses on constructing and equipping educational facilities with books and assistive devices. Affordable and Clean Energy “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” Key targets: 7.1 By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services. 7.2 By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. Our contribution: Transitioning to use of clean energy at our sites and leveraging technology to provide clean energy solutions, including payment solutions for local and renewable energy solutions. Projects: • We have introduced science-based carbon reduction targets to help us plan our progress towards becoming a Net-Zero carbon emitting company by the year 2050. In FY20, we registered our targets with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI). • We have transitioned 221 (4%) of our sites to renewable and hybrid energy sources – an increase from 196 (3.7%) in FY19, while 948 (15.4%) have been connected to the national grid to date. • We have planted over 144 000 trees so far as part of our commitment to grow five million trees in five years to serve as carbon sinks for our scope 3 emissions. • In partnership with M-Kopa Solar, we have provided access to affordable solar energy to over 660 000 households, improving the quality of life for 2.5 million Kenyans and avoiding 1.5 tonnes (tco2) in emissions. • Partnered with M-Gas to provide access to clean energy for low- income households in Kenya.