Safaricom - 2021 Sustainable Business Report

52 SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2021 / STANDING TOGETHER: GOING BEYOND //// OUR MATERIAL TOPICS / OUR STAKEHOLDERS / KPI SUMMARY connecting new and existing sites to the national grid as the primary source of energy, given that Kenya’s national grid is almost fully based on renewable sources. The challenge with this approach is power instability caused by outages in most parts of the country. Historically, we have used back-up generators to compensate for outages. To reduce reliance on stand-by generators, we continue to invest in hybrid energy solutions and deep cycle batteries which store power for use during outages. In the year under review, we made commendable progress by connecting an additional 351 sites to the national grid. However, this has not translated into reduced reliance on generators due to power outages which saw average generator hours per site increase from 2.4 hours in FY20 to 3.2 hours in FY21. GROWING RENEWABLE ENERGY IN OUR NETWORK We are committed to transitioning to renewable sources of powering our network as a strategy for achieving our net zero aspiration. Accelerating solar sites within our network was initially hampered because of space limitations and remote monitoring capabilities. The lack of remote monitoring devices resulted in reduced capacity of solar sites owing to sabotage. Accordingly, we developed robust solar designs which occupy minimum space, use lithium ion batteries and have built-in remote monitoring. There has been positive performance with the acceleration of functional and high capacity solar solutions in the network. In FY21, we deployed 34 solar sites with a capacity of 12kva each and remote monitoring capabilities resulting in the reduction of generator relative humidity (RH) by up to 85%. Consequently, fuel supplied to these sites has reduced by about 80%. CARBON OFFSET RE-AFFORESTATION PROJECT In 2019 we announced our ambition to grow five million trees in five years in partnership with the Kenya Forest Service in order to offset our scope 3 emissions while rehabilitating deforested sections of Kenya’s forests. Despite COVID-19 related restrictions, we closed the year at 650 000 seedlings planted in over 650 hectares in three key sites in Kieni, Marmanet and Nandi forests. Over 1 000 community members were involved in and benefitted from the project. BUSINESS ADVOCACY ON THE ENVIRONMENT We further demonstrated our commitment to protecting and restoring nature in September 2020 when we signed up to Business for Nature’s Call to Action. This involved joining more than 560 businesses from 54 countries calling on governments to act with courage and urgency by putting nature in front and centre of policy making. This is in line with recognition that without nature conservation we will not be able to meet the 1.5C climate target set out in the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 or prevent a catastrophic loss of biodiversity. NETWORK ENERGY BY SOURCE (TOTAL AT YEAR END) FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 KPLC & GENSET KPLC (NO GENERATOR) 24/7 DIESEL GENERATOR SOLAR/WIND HYBRID FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and genset 3 755 4 060 4 775 4 560 KPLC (no generator) 705 1 269 948 1 299 24/7 diesel generator 78 106 173 192 Solar/wind hybrid solution 155 196 221 255 “We demonstrated our commitment to protecting and restoring nature in September 2020 when we signed up to the Business for Nature’s Call to Action.”