Liberty Global Publishes 2014 Corporate Responsibility Report
Liberty Global plc (“Liberty Global”) (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK, LILA and LILAK) today announced the publication of its 2014 Corporate Responsibility (“CR”) Report, which provides an overview of its economic, social and environmental impacts and performance. As the largest international cable company, Liberty Global remains committed to making a positive social contribution through its core cable TV and broadband business and by meeting its responsibilities to stakeholders.
Highlights of the 2014 CR Report include:
- Empowering young people to acquire and grow their digital skills through programs such as CoderDojo and YouRock. Liberty Global became a partner of both programs, which are part of its ‘promoting a digital society’ strategy and demonstrates its commitment to the European Commission's Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs
- Engaging with thousands of entrepreneurs across several markets in online competitions and initiatives to support innovation in digital society. Projects included Pitch to Rich in the U.K., Telenet’s Ideaslab in Belgium, Connected Health in the Netherlands and Think Big in Poland
- Continuing to make advances in conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions relative to our key measure - the amount of data traffic consumed by our customers. As compared to 2013, the company improved its energy efficiency by 34% and its carbon efficiency by 31%
- Refurbishing 4.4 million set-top boxes and modems, avoiding approximately 7,200 metric tons of waste that would otherwise have ended up in landfill sites. This also resulted in a financial saving of $320 million
- Continuing Liberty Global’s partnership with global supply chain assessment specialist EcoVadis to implement a robust approach for assessing social and environmental performance of Liberty Global’s suppliers
The report has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, the leading international framework for sustainability reporting. Liberty Global also undertook external assurance of GHG emissions using the assurance standards ISAE 3000 and ISAE 3410.
Liberty Global’s corporate responsibility performance has been recognized by leading sustainability indices, including the FTSE4Good Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indices. In 2015, Liberty Global was named the RobecoSAM Industry Mover, achieving the largest proportional performance improvement among industry peers. Additionally, the company substantially improved its position in the 2015 Newsweek Green Rankings, placing #157 (up from #295 in 2014), and became a constituent of the MSCI Global Sustainability Indexes.
Rick Westerman, Chairman of Liberty Global’s Corporate Responsibility Committee, comments: “The digital world presents countless opportunities for millions of people to make their lives better. That’s why promoting a digital society is at the heart of our corporate responsibility strategy and why we are proud to support projects that encourage innovation and help people acquire new skills for a digital world. We are delighted that our achievements continue to be recognized by the likes of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and we look forward to making even more progress in the coming years.”
Liberty Global’s 2014 Corporate Responsibility report is now available at: www.libertyglobal.com/cr
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the largest international cable company with operations in 14 countries. We connect people to the digital world and enable them to discover and experience its endless possibilities. Our market-leading products are provided through next-generation networks and innovative technology platforms that connected 27 million customers subscribing to 56 million television, broadband internet and telephony services at March 31, 2015. In addition, we served five million mobile subscribers and offered WiFi access across over five million access points.
The consumer brands of Liberty Global Group, which is primarily comprised of our European operations, include Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. Our operations also include Liberty Global Business Services and Liberty Global Ventures. The Liberty Latin America and Caribbean Group (“LiLAC Group”), which includes our operations in that region, operates under the VTR and Liberty consumer brands. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com or contact:
Oskar Nooij +1 303 220 4218
Christian Fangmann +49 221 8462 5151
John Rea +1 303 220 4238
Corporate Communications:
Marcus Smith +44 20 7190 6374
Bert Holtkamp +31 20 778 9800
Hanne Wolf +1 303 220 6678