Safaricom - 2021 Sustainable Business Report

50 SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2021 / STANDING TOGETHER: GOING BEYOND //// OUR MATERIAL TOPICS / OUR STAKEHOLDERS / KPI SUMMARY We are committed to becoming a net zero emitting company by 2050 (SDG7), managing our operations responsibly by decreasing our environmental impact (SDG 12) and working with our stakeholders to do the same (SDG17). ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP MANAGING AND MITIGATING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT We track greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; energy efficiency, consumption and cost; waste and e-waste; and emission reduction, constantly monitoring our progress. We also make use of environmental impact assessments and audits, together with international third-party standards such as the ISO 14001 environmental and ISO 50001 energy management systems in order to establish both negative and positive impacts and implement mitigation measures where required. MANAGING EMISSIONS The World Meteorological Organisation’s report on the State of the Global Climate 2020 highlighted accelerating climate change indicators and worsening impacts. The report shows that 2020 was another unprecedented year of extreme weather and climate disasters. As a responsible corporate citizen, we have long been concerned about climate change and its effect on our country and our stakeholders. We remain focused on our ambition to become a net zero emitting company by 2050. In 2019 we successfully registered our carbon reduction targets with the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi). During the period under review, our focus was on reducing Scope 1 emissions, particularly those related to fuel usage for energy generation in our operations as this forms the most substantial part of our emissions. The graph alongside summarises the absolute reductions we need to implement in order to achieve this. These reductions were calculated using a compound average growth rate (CAGR) interpolation between our 2016/17 baseline year and 2050 according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report of the (IPCC AR5) for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) region. Based on the existing technology we estimate that we will be able to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 74% by 2050. As the graph on the next page demonstrates, we did not achieve our Scope 1 and 2 emission reduction targets for FY21, with overall carbon emissions increasing by 10.5% year-on-year and Scope 1 emissions increasing by 10% over the same period. As described on the next page under ‘Energy efficiency in our network’ this was mainly due to the increased use of diesel in network generators because of the frequent power outages experienced during the year. We missed our overall target by 14% for the period. Our Scope 2 emissions from electricity increased by 15%. The main reason for this was the expansion of our network infrastructure which resulted in more sites being connected to the national grid. In addition, we improved our electricity consumption reporting by using estimates for electricity figures at sites which experience delayed billing and faulty electricity meters from the national grid. OUR HIGHLIGHTS • Attained ISO 50001:2018 energy standard certification. • ISO 14001:2015 environmental management standard recertification. • We started reporting our emissions and climate actions through the CDP for the first time joining over 8 400 companies and 920 cities using the platform. • Carbon offset tree growing initiative: 650 000 indigenous seedlings planted to date on 650 hectares with over 1 000 community members involved. • Signed up to Business for Nature’s Call to Action. OECD PATHWAY REDUCTION TARGETS 2020 2025 2030 2035 2050 48 843 39 974 32 715 26 774 14 676 SCOPE 1 & 2 EMISSIONS (tCO2e)  15%  30%  43%  53%  74%