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Like AT&T, Verizon also recently released their 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Ma Bell's report was called “Meet the Possibility Economy.” Verizon's is called “Tackling the World’s To-Do List.” It sounds a bit ambitious to me, but if that’s what they intend to do, they can start with mine.
I described the AT&T report earlier this week. Let’s see how the two companies compare in their respective sustainability and CSR efforts.
Verizon’s 2010 revenue was $105.5 billion compared to AT&T’s $124 billion.
They handed out $66.8 million in community giving (0.06% of revenue) as compared to AT&T, which gave out $148.2 million (0.12% of revenue).
Verizon’s greenhouse gas emissions, which were 6.06 million metric tons (down 2.18% from 2009) beats AT&T (8.97 million) in absolute terms, per dollar of revenue and per terabyte of throughput. Their electrical energy consumption was 10.24 billion kWh. That’s a carbon-intensity efficiency of 130.27. AT&T’s was 415, more than three times as high. I don’t have enough information to explain the difference here, but it looks like AT&T has some catching up to do in this area. They also did not provide data on actual energy usage, only their rate per terabyte.
On the other hand, AT&T has a significant and growing solar energy program which Verizon does not have. I’ll say more about that later.
Both companies are developing applications for their mobile devices that improve quality of life, health, safety, and efficiency across many walks of life.
Verizon’s 2010 CSR report opens with a strong statement of corporate identity.
“We have work because our customers value our high-quality communications services. We focus outward on the customer, not inward. We make it easy for customers to do business with us, by listening, anticipating and responding to their needs. Everything we do is built on the strong foundation of our corporate values.”
Outgoing CEO Ivan Seidenberg said, “The actions in this report reflect Verizon’s steady, concerted efforts to use technology to address some of our society’s most urgent issues. More broadly, they are the latest steps in our continuing journey to expand the area of intersection between Verizon’s business interests and those of society as a whole.”
The company announced three major organizational initiatives this year:
Recycling of telecommunications equipment and cell phones was down from the year before by 29.6% and 11.0% respectively. I would expect to see this go up in 2011 because of the number of people switching to smartphones. Paper and cardboard recycling, however, was up by 11.0%
The company has implemented vehicle fleet modifications that have resulted in the avoidance of 9.7 millions gallons of gas since 2008. In 2010, they purchased 1642 alternative fuel vehicles, including hybrids, CNG and biodiesel, bringing their alternative fleet up to a total of 1902.
These are all positive steps, but considering the fact the 89.5% of Verizon’s energy consumption came from electricity, presumably from the large server farms they operate, it would have been nice to hear more about efforts to reduce energy there, such as the virtualization services that they are offering their customers. Perhaps this is an area where they would be wise to eat their own cooking, as we used to say.
The report also includes a number of awards and mentions the company has received including:
Large Cap Value Fund, and NASDAQ Global Sustainability Index.
Both companies appear to be in the early stages of the sustainability journey, which runs from “do less harm,” to creating true sustainable value for and with stakeholders. Verizon is slightly ahead at this point, primarily, in this writer’s opinion because of their significantly higher energy efficiency. AT&T seems to be slightly farther along when it comes to tracking their water usage and in working with their supply chain. But if we step back for a minute and think about the possibilities for a wireless company, as AT&T has done, there are an ever-increasing number of ways that these providers can contribute real sustainable value. A big obstacle in the near term is the large amount of electricity that wireless network servers require to operate. Both companies would be wise to pay close attention to efficiency improvements in this technology. But it also seems to me that a server farm for a wireless network would be an ideal candidate to be located near a source of abundant renewable energy, such as solar or wind. This is an area where AT&T has taken a significant lead and Verizon would do well to follow.
RP Siegel is a regular contributor at Triple Pundit and co-author of the eco-thriller Vapor Trails, the first in a series covering the human side of various sustainability issues including energy, food, and water. Like airplanes, we all leave behind a vapor trail. And though we can easily see others’, we rarely see our own.
Follow RP Siegel on Twitter.
RP Siegel (1952-2021), was an author and inventor who shined a powerful light on numerous environmental and technological topics. His work appeared in TriplePundit, GreenBiz, Justmeans, CSRWire, Sustainable Brands, Grist, Strategy+Business, Mechanical Engineering, Design News, PolicyInnovations, Social Earth, Environmental Science, 3BL Media, ThomasNet, Huffington Post, Eniday, and engineering.com among others . He was the co-author, with Roger Saillant, of Vapor Trails, an adventure novel that shows climate change from a human perspective. RP was a professional engineer - a prolific inventor with 53 patents and President of Rain Mountain LLC a an independent product development group. RP was the winner of the 2015 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week blogging competition. RP passed away on September 30, 2021. We here at TriplePundit will always be grateful for his insight, wit and hard work.