Virgin Media has signed up to The Climate Group’s RE100 initiative – joining a group of leading businesses committed to increasing the generation and consumption of renewable electricity across the UK and around the world.

Virgin Media’s 2018 Sustainability Report shares that in 2018 the company sourced 100 per cent of its contracted electricity used across its UK and Ireland operations, from renewable sources.

By joining RE100, Virgin Media is making a long term commitment to supporting the UK’s drive to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This commitment further supports Virgin Media’s goal to grow the business without increasing its carbon footprint.

Image from Virgin Media

The company has recently expanded its gigabit-capable network to connect millions more homes and businesses through Project Lightning, while also reducing its carbon footprint by 22 per cent (and by 80 per cent per terabyte of data) since 2014. Virgin Media have achieved this through a range of interventions such as investing in newer, more efficient equipment and smart energy management – enabling them to improve the environmental impact of the network, while launching new products, increasing speeds and meeting the exponential customer demand for data.

Jeanie York, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Virgin Media, said: “We’re delighted to be signing up to the RE100 initiative and playing our part in supporting the UK’s goal to increase the availability of renewable electricity and to help drive down carbon emissions. “It’s vital that businesses make long term commitments to reducing consumption and using renewable energy – we’re actively using our business, brand and people to create a positive impact for our customers, people and the communities we serve.”

Sam Kimmins, head of RE100 at The Climate Group, added, “It’s fantastic to welcome Virgin Media to the RE100 initiative, committed to using 100 per cent renewable electricity across their operations. This is a great example of a UK-based company stepping up to deliver the practical steps towards a net zero carbon economy.”

Virgin Media’s 2018 Sustainability Report provides performance updates for the penultimate year of its five-year sustainability strategy and goals.

Key highlights from the report include:

  • Supporting more than 121,000 disabled people with information, skills and advice to gain the skills and confidence to get into and stay in work following the launch of the Support to Work service with its charity partner Scope
  • Creating opportunities for 112,947 small business to grow since 2015
  • Releasing product scorecard results for the Virgin TV V6 box – now used by 60 per cent of TV subscribers - which reveals it uses less than half the power of the previous TiVo box and uses 21 per cent fewer materials by weight, like plastics, metals and electronics
  • Training more than 8,000 employees in disability and vulnerability awareness
  • Reducing energy consumption year-on-year by two per cent, contributing to a 22 per cent reduction in Virgin Media’s carbon footprint since 2014
  • Reducing single-use plastic by over 60 tonnes
  • Reducing paper from direct marketing by 70 per cent since 2014