virginmedia.com/sustainability Our customers Nearly subscribeHome Product to scorecard TV V6 overview TV V6 results Future focus 5.9 million cable customers Introducing our Product Scorecard Delivering improvements

Intro Project Lightning is the single biggest The Product Scorecard is a tool It was developed in partnership with our Useful links and downloads: parent company as well as the private investment in the UK and sustainability consultancy Think Step. Hub 3.0 results Ireland’s digital infrastructure in we have developed to measure Strategy more than a decade cable products We've committed to sharing the results from every Product scorecard methodology and improve the environmental customer product we put through the scorecard and how we're going to improve it's next version. and social performance of every Better products sustainability goal Transforming lives Ireland has three Here you can find the results for the Virgin TV V6, new customer product. our latest TV box. TV channels, , Boosting business Two and Three We're in the business of building Hub 3.0 TV V6 Product scorecard Better products connections that really matter and total revenue improving the digital fabric of the More inclusive UK and Ireland. Virgin Media offers

Lower impact four multi award-winning services; broadband, TV, mobile and employees Prev page home phone. Next page Our dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses. Now we’re expanding

Page 1 of 28 this through our Project Lightning programme, which could extend our PAGE 2 network to up to 17 million premises. 3.1 million Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Liberty Global connects 21 million mobile customers

customers through operations in 10 countries across Europe subscribing

to 45 million TV, broadband internet and telephone services. It also premises connected

serves 6 million mobile subscribers. Our network expansion programme is creating Our dedicated, ultrafast network thousands of new jobs delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses virginmedia.com/sustainability Data is calendar year 2018 and includes Virgin Media Ireland unless stated otherwise While ‘sustainability’ or ‘corporate responsibility’ Alongside our ‘5 in 5’ plan, we've mobilised might sound like corporate jargon to lots of people, our people in response to events across the Intro the idea that businesses should stand for making world, including the Indonesian tsunami and the more than a profit for their shareholders has never centenary of the First World War. We’re proud of been higher on the public agenda. our employees’ commitment to support both these Strategy international events and the local communities we In 2015 we moved from 27 yearly targets to five serve through an amazing variety of volunteering long-term goals. This report marks the penultimate and fundraising activities. year of our 2020 strategy – we call these targets Transforming lives our '5 in 5' goals. We’ve made this happen alongside a demanding business environment. Despite this, in 2018 our We’re well on the way to hitting our ‘5 in 5’ goals network expansion plan, Project Lightning, delivered Boosting business and our partnership with Scope is going from ultrafast connectivity to 481,000 additional homes strength-to-strength. In 2018, we launched Support and businesses. Alongside this growth, we reduced to Work, an innovative digital employment service our environmental impact, achieving a 22% Better products for disabled people, run by Scope to deliver on reduction in our carbon footprint in 2018 against our commitment to support one million disabled a 2014 baseline. This includes an 80% reduction people with the skills and confidence to get into per terabyte of data during the same period. We’re More inclusive and stay in work by the end of 2020. The service doing the hard work so our customers don’t have to. supports the people that need it the most, but also creates evidence for a more disruptive employment We made a bold and long term commitment to Technology has a big impact system that can be delivered digitally. Internally, renewable energy. In 2018, 100% of our contracted Lower impact we’ve progressed our three-year disability action electricity for our entire building and technical estate on the way we all live and at plan, delivering disability and vulnerability training across the UK and Ireland, came from renewable to more than 8,000 frontline employees. We also sources. This represents 99.5% of our total electricity Prev page Virgin Media we want to help revamped our priority fault service to make sure consumption, with the remaining 0.5% relating to that when it comes to building a more inclusive sites without an assigned energy supplier. Next page make sure this is a force for business, we want to step up and lead the way. With the support of our leadership team behind the good for our customers, our goals, we’re committed to using digital technology Page 2 of 28 At Virgin Media we talk about to make good things happen. We’ve made great people and the communities progress and achieved a lot but we’re not losing sustainability as the ambition to sight of that finish line in 2020. We have key we serve. priorities to deliver our ‘5 in 5’ plan. Soon we'll be grow our business in a way that’s looking to the future, engaging our people and our good for people and the environment. customers on what we should focus on from 2020.

That’s why we’re harnessing the Email us at [email protected]. power of digital technology to drive positive change.

virginmedia.com/sustainability The best of 2018 Became a

100% of our contracted electricity Intro came from renewable sources sponsor

of the British Paralympic Association Strategy Supported Transforming lives Reduced paper for Boosting business direct marketing by

disabled people Won ‘Partnership Better products with information, skills and advice following with a National the launch of the Support to Work Service Charity’ More inclusive since 2014 with Scope at the 2018 Better Society Awards Lower impact Reduced our carbon footprint by

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Page 3 of 28 against our 2014 baseline*

* location based Created the More than opportunities for more than

We’ve taken back over of our customer- facing people completed a new customer disability and vulnerability small businesses to grow training module pieces of kit since 2014, reusing over half of them through digital since 2015, hitting our target a year early virginmedia.com/sustainability The way we do things

Intro We’re a big business with big ambitions and we’re committed to doing this in a responsible and Strategy sustainable way. At the heart of Virgin Media

Transforming lives are our customers and our people. We want our customers to love what we do and our people Boosting business to be proud of how we do it.

Better products Our sustainability strategy is owned by the We can’t achieve our ambitions alone. We work Our approach goes beyond business inside out, top to bottom. Each of our with a range of experts and partners to understand More inclusive sustainability strategy goals is sponsored by a the latest trends and to make sure our activities compliance and ‘doing member of the Executive Committee and our remain relevant and deliver a positive impact business functions are accountable for making it across our industry and society. For example, we the right thing’ to actively happen day-to-day, with advice and support from connect with our peers through the Responsible Lower impact the Sustainability team. Virgin Media Ireland’s Media Forum, collaborate with the industry on using our business, brand sustainability strategy is managed locally, although child online safety through Internet Matters and very much aligned with the vision of using digital work closely with our strategic charity partner and people to create a Prev page technology and connectivity to make good things Scope, to deliver our commitment to transform happen for customers and communities. The the lives of disabled people. positive impact for our Next page sustainability team works closely with the team at Liberty Global, our parent company, on issues that To make sure our sustainability strategy remains customers, people and the require action across the Group, such as modern credible and relevant, we undertake a materiality Page 4 of 28 slavery and ethical supply chains. assessment every few years to identify and communities we’re part of. prioritise the issues that matter the most. All our people adhere to the Code of Business This involves talking to our people, customers, Conduct and our suppliers sign up to our the public and sustainability professionals to Supplier Code of Conduct, which outlines a set understand where we should be concentrating of sustainability principles including business our efforts. Our next assessment in 2019 will inform ethics, human rights, labour conditions and our sustainability strategy from 2020 onwards. environmental management. Transparency is also important to us and we publish an annual Modern In 2019 Virgin Media revealed its purpose of Slavery Statement and Gender Pay Gap Report. building connections that really matter. What we’re doing as a values-led, sustainable business really brings this to life. virginmedia.com/sustainability Our 5 in 5 goals (2015-2020) Transforming lives Intro Our Lower impact Transform the lives Strategy of disadvantaged Sustainability people through digital technology Grow our business Transforming lives without increasing Strategy our carbon footprint Boosting business

To grow our business in a way that’s Better products Better products good for people, communities and

More inclusive the environment, we’re harnessing Improve the the power of digital technology to sustainability performance More Lower impact make good things happen inside Boosting of every new inclusive business customer product our business and out. Prev page Create the Nurture an We’re focused on where we should and can Next page opportunities engaged workforce have most impact. In 2015, we made five big, for 100,000 small that represents bold commitments to achieve our ambitions, businesses to grow the diversity of and gave ourselves five years to achieve them. Page 5 of 28 through digital our customers and communities

Digital for good Sustainable growth Using our business, brand and people to create Making sure that as we grow as a business, including positive change for our customers and the our biggest ever network expansion, we’re going beyond communities we’re part of. compliance and doing it in a way that’s good for our customers, our people and the environment. virginmedia.com/sustainability Virgin Media Virgin Media Ireland focuses Intro Ireland its activities around six core programmes:

Strategy Virgin Media is Ireland’s leading Time to Read A literacy programme where volunteers read connected entertainment with children in their partnered primary school Transforming lives provider. Its sustainability Business Action on Employment strategy is built on the vision Targeting the marginalised in society or Boosting business supporting immigrants to prepare them of using digital technology and for work placements Safer Internet Talks Better products connectivity to make good Virgin Media Ireland employees are upskilled through training workshops to deliver Safer things happen for customers Internet Talks in local primary schools More inclusive and communities. Coder Dojo Club and Awards Coder Dojo volunteers attend workshops to Lower impact empower employees to volunteer to run Coder Dojo Clubs across the country and participate in the annual Coder Dojo Coolest Projects Awards

Prev page Lessons for Life Next page Annual employee fundraising event, In 2018, The Big Ride for Africa. Our people take part and fundraise to support the Lessons for Life's ambition of increasing access to quality Page 6 of 28 education for disadvantaged children in Africa

Nurture Africa of Virgin Media Ireland Supporting primary and secondary school children, teachers and local communities employees took part close to the capital of Uganda in volunteering as part of their '1,000 days doing digital for good' programme virginmedia.com/sustainability Here’s how we did in 2018 Achieved On track to achieve goal by 2020 Currently off track

Transforming Boosting Better More Lower lives business products inclusive impact

2020 targets 2020 targets Intro Support 1 million disabled people with Create the opportunities for 100,000 Improve the sustainability performance Increase percentage of women Reduction in carbon footprint the skills and confidence to get into and stay small businesses to grow through digital of every new customer product as in the workplace – working towards Strategy in work by the end of 2020 measured by the product scorecard 50:50 gender balance by 2025 Zero waste to landfill (office and logistics supply chain) Launch the #WorkWithMe pledge and Achieve Disability Confident sign up 100 organisations committing to Level 3 status Transforming lives build more inclusive businesses for disabled people by the end of 2020

Boosting business 2018 progress 2018 progress

121,525 disabled people supported Created the opportunities for Virgin TV V6 box uses less than 29.0% of Virgin Media employees 22% reduction in CO2e compared 112,947 small businesses to grow half the power of the TiVo box and are women to 2014 baseline Better products Launched #WorkWithMe pledge is made from 21% fewer materials 91% office waste diverted from landfill Disability Confident Level 1 100% of logistics supply chain waste More inclusive diverted from landfill What we've done What we've done

Lower impact • 121,525 people have accessed the • Supported 35,616 small businesses, • Published the product scorecard • Increased female representation • 2% reduction in energy consumption Virgin Media-Scope partnership reaching 112,947 since 2015, meaning results for the Virgin TV V6 box in future careers schemes year-on-year advice and resources we've hit our target a year early • Delivered training on inclusive job • Worked with wrap to launch a new • 100% of contracted electricity Prev page • 120,908 views of online employment adverts, unconscious bias and customer • Completed a VOOM bus tour of the UK, recycling centre search tool on from renewable sources content on Scope website disability and vulnerability Next page which took in 15 cities, offered over 1,400 our website • 617 disabled people enrolled onto the one-to-one consultancy sessions and • Launched a 'Women in Field' programme • Achieved an average of less than 100g

Support to Work tailored service gave away £50,000 in prize money to attract women into STEM roles and set CO2/km in the car fleet for the first time Page 7 of 28 up further women's networks including • Launched #WorkWithMe pledge • Hosted webinars for 3,527 small 'Women in Sales' • Rolled out Lightfoot driver software, and microsite businesses enabling a 9% year-on-year reduction • Relaunched our Gender Balance Network • Held two #WorkWithMe in fuel consumption and emissions roundtables, one with Secretary • Held a VOOM Pitch competition with • Launched Thrive, the wellbeing brand of State DWP in attendance more than 3,500 businesses in it to win for our people and signed the ‘Time to • Reduced single-use plastic a share of £1 million in prizes Change’ pledge consumption by 60 tonnes • Launched partnership with The Valuable 500 • Launched a disability network group, UltraViolet • Donated Virgin Media’s shirt sponsorship of Southampton Football • Supported #PurpleLightUp disability Club for a second time awareness campaign across key sites • Announced gold tier sponsorship of the British Paralympics Association virginmedia.com/sustainability Doing more good with digital Growing responsibly & sustainably 8

Doing more good with digital Intro

Strategy

Transforming lives

Boosting business

Better products

More inclusive

Lower impact

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Page 8 of 28

OUR 2020 GOAL:

Transform the lives of disadvantaged people through digital technology

virginmedia.com/sustainability Transforming lives

Transform the lives of disadvantaged people through digital technology Intro By 2020, we’ll have...

Strategy Why this is important to us How we’re making it happen In 2018 we… • Supported 1 million disabled people with

the skills and confidence they need to get Disabled people are some of the most disadvantaged We’ve evolved our partnership with Scope, • Grew #WorkWithMe with Scope, a business- into and stay in work by the end of 2020 in Britain – they’re roughly twice as likely to live in which started in 2015, from a traditional to-business community providing a platform Transforming lives poverty as non-disabled adults. The internet and national charity partnership to something for businesses committed to thinking and acting • Supported 250 UK and Irish businesses with digital technology can be truly liberating for the most more substantial and strategic that can differently about disability in their organisation the resources, advice and support they need disadvantaged people in the UK. But, 20% of disabled ultimately drive a bigger social impact. to share resources, best practice and learnings. to deliver on their Valuable 500 commitments Boosting business adults have never used the internet compared to With Scope we hosted two roundtables and 8.4% of non-disabled adults.1 To make sure we drive real progress towards our launched a new open access digital hub to • Delivered our internal disability action plan goal, we have a steering committee in place for host shared resources, latest news and and identified more opportunities to improve Of the 14 million disabled people in the UK, our partnership with Scope, with an independent helpful information Better products the experience of disabled customers and 7.5 million are of working age and 3.6 million chair, which meets twice a year. Brigitte Trafford, our people of them are of out of work.2 The disability our Chief Corporate Affairs Officer is the • Launched the #WorkWithMe pledge outlining employment gap has been stuck at 30% for executive sponsor for transforming lives. five practical steps businesses can take to become More inclusive • Used our platforms to support a shift in public 10 years.3 Disabled people face a number a more inclusive employer for disabled people attitudes towards disability as a result of the of barriers that prevent them from getting To drive progress on our goal, we have three 2020 Paralympic Games into and staying in work, including employers’ areas of focus: • Became a strategic partner of #valuable, now Lower impact attitudes, inflexible working hours and called The Valuable 500, a global call to action outdated HR policies. Supporting 1 million disabled people for 500 c-suite leaders to put disability on their with the skills and confidence to get board agenda in 2019 Prev page For the 14 million disabled people in the UK, into and stay in work by the end of 2020. Next page digital technology and access to the internet Together with Scope we’ve launched • Donated our logo sponsorship of Southampton can be transformational – providing a voice, a new digital employment service Football Club to Scope for the second time enabling people to live independently and delivered through Scope’s channels unlocking access to education and work. That’s • Used our platforms to amplify the activity of Page 9 of 28 why we want to use digital technology and Transforming the experience for our ParalympicsGB throughout the PyeongChang connectivity to help take away the barriers disabled customers and employees. 2018 Winter Paralympic Games campaign. This that prevent disabled people having the same We have a three-year disability action included a piece of commissioned research, opportunities as everyone else. plan in place and have made great internal communications engagement and a progress in 2018 social media campaign celebrating the fearless qualities of our Paralympic athletes, delivering Celebrating and normalising disability. our ambition to shift perceptions of disability We're proud to be gold-tier sponsors of and encourage the nation to be braver the British Paralympic Association and are using various brand activations to • Won ‘Best Partnership with a National Charity’ help shift attitudes towards disability in at the 2018 Better Society Awards for our work the run up to the Tokyo 2020 Games with Scope 1 Office of National Statistics, Internet users UK: 2018 Report 2 DWP Family Resources Survey, 2016/17 virginmedia.com/sustainability 3 Identified from Scope analysis of the Labour Force Survey 2017 Simone, 2018 Support to Work customer Support to Work: tackling the disability employment gap Intro Case study Strategy In 2018 we launched Support to Work with Transforming lives Scope, a new innovative digital employment service for disabled people Boosting business Press refresh: Simone's career 2.0 Better products We responded to feedback from disabled people “I felt uplifted. I was so Simone never had a problem looking for jobs with was my confidence. Because my confidence that there is inadequate support, information happy. I was smiling for days. before she became disabled. When she developed had taken such a huge knock, I didn’t feel like More inclusive and advice available to help them get into and repetitive strain injury, a condition affecting an employer should employ me. I didn’t think I stay in work. For a long time, I couldn’t see her arms and hands her employer did not make was worth it. But when Zaid made so many nice the adjustments she needed, things like speech comments about my CV and gave me so many The reality is that on average, disabled people a future but Support to Work recognition software and an adapted keyboard. ideas for what I could do, I started to believe in Lower impact face £583 1 extra costs related to their disability really turned my life around” She faced intolerable pain every day leading to myself again”. on a monthly basis. A regular wage alongside her decision to leave her job. the confidence and sense of community a job With Zaid’s support, Simone found the best Prev page brings is crucial for disabled people to have After 15 months of applying for new jobs with approach was to tell employers about her condition Next page the independence needed to thrive in and no response, Simone had lost hope. She was and what she’s able to do with some simple outside of work. desperate to work but could not find anyone adaptions. With this new-found confidence she who would employ her. applied for a role as an Operations Assistant and Support to Work offers disabled people a tailored work by the end of 2020. In 2018 our target got an interview straight away. The interview went Page 10 of 28 12-week programme and a suite of online self- was for 100,000 disabled people to access “It really knocked my self-worth and my self- well and Simone was offered the job. service resources delivered by Scope and fully- support to help them get into and stay in work. confidence. You start to feel like you’re not worthy of funded by Virgin Media. The two elements of We surpassed expectations, reaching 121,525 being employed despite having a great career history. “I felt uplifted. I was so happy. I was smiling for the service allow customers to receive the customers. 617 enrolled on the tailored service I felt like all my qualifications had been for nothing”. days. For a long time, I couldn’t see a future but appropriate level of advice and support based and 120,908 disabled people and their families Support to Work really turned my life around”. on their individual ambition, skill set, experience benefitted from our digital resources. Simone got in touch with Support to Work and was and confidence level with employment. paired with advisor Zaid. With the right support Stories like Simone’s show how Support to Work Simone was able to turn her life around. is providing the evidence that employment support Launching and growing the Support to Work can be delivered digitally rather than the more service delivers on our commitment to support “I felt a sigh of relief. It felt like someone finally traditional approaches of mandatory schemes. one million disabled people with the skills and had my back, after months of feeling so alone. Our digital approach is disrupting the wider confidence they need to get into and stay in The main thing that Support to Work helped me employment support market.

virginmedia.com/sustainability 1 Scope Disability Price Tag Policy Report, 2019 Southampton FC Player, Mario Lemina, in action sporting the one-off Scope logo shirt The Scope for equality

Case study

Intro We know a lot of people are still uncomfortable talking about disability. Many find it awkward Strategy and are not sure how to approach the topic,

Transforming lives or if they should at all

Boosting business At Virgin Media we have a long term focus on We secured over 30 pieces in national print creating an inclusive culture for our people and media, national broadcast coverage including Better products our customers. Our partnership with Scope Sky News and ITV News and an array of radio forms part of this commitment but we want outlets, enabling Scope to bring their renewed to go beyond transforming the experience for commitment to disability equality to the front More inclusive disabled employees and customers and use our of public consciousness. brand to shift public perceptions about disability. The event also provided a moment for us to pause August 2018 marked a huge moment for Scope, and reflect on how far Virgin Media has come Lower impact as they launched their new brand identity and a since the first logo swap in May 2017. In this time renewed focus on their role as a social purpose we’ve embedded a truly strategic partnership and organisation. In support of this pivotal point in their delivered significant impacts across all shared Prev page history, we donated our official Virgin Media shirt programmes, campaigns and initiatives. The Next page sponsorship of Southampton FC to Scope as they repetition of the logo swap is indicative of the ever took on Leicester City FC at St Mary’s Stadium. increasing focus on disability across Virgin Media; Marketing, Corporate Affairs, Sponsorship and many other teams pulled together to make the Page 11 of 28 event possible. Our second logo swap enabled Scope to showcase their bold Looking to the future, we’re confident in the growing importance placed on our sustainability new logo on the shirts of the agenda in core brand activations. Symbolic actions Saints players. It provided a like this, reaching millions, can really get the nation talking, helping our mission to support disabled unique platform for Scope to people achieve everyday equality. engage the public with their new identity and Disability Game Changers campaign. virginmedia.com/sustainability 12

Doing more good with digital Intro

Strategy

Transforming lives

Boosting business

Better products

More inclusive

Lower impact

Prev page Next page

Page 12 of 28

OUR 2020 GOAL:

Create the opportunities for 100,000 small businesses to grow through digital

virginmedia.com/sustainability Boosting business

Create the opportunities for 100,000 small businesses to grow through digital Intro

Strategy Why this is important to us How we’re making it happen In 2018 we…

We know that harnessing the power of digital VOOM is our way of boosting the UK and Irish Virgin Media Business has driven this initiative • Supported 35,616 small businesses, reaching technology can help unlock growth and generate economies by creating opportunities for 100,000 forward and Peter Kelly, Managing Director of 112, 947 in total since 2015, meaning we've hit our Transforming lives wealth. Small businesses already contribute over small businesses to grow through digital. Virgin Media Business is the executive sponsor target a year early half1 of all private sector turnover in the UK. With for this goal. the right support, small businesses can continue Since 2010, VOOM has grown to become a unique • Provided a place for small business owners to Boosting business to create jobs, contribute to local communities and and powerful community of entrepreneurs and The three areas we focus on: meet like-minded entrepreneurs and potential help drive digital competitive advantage for the UK. small business owners who come together with business partners on the VOOM Pioneers digital Virgin Media to make connections, share their Boosting the speed of business: In 2017, platform. Since 2010, 15,162 members have used Better products We have been enabling small businesses expertise, find peer-to-peer support and compete Virgin Media Business launched VOOM the VOOM Pioneers platform to start conversations, to unleash their digital potential and drive for their chance to ‘pitch to Rich’. The community Fibre, to become the only provider in the ask to start conversations, ask questions, offer business growth through inspiration, is packed with great advice from successful start- market to offer its top speed of 350Mbps advice and meet at face-to-face events that More inclusive education and peer-to-peer support. ups, business leaders and leading brand partners as standard. After learning that the we hosted like Virgin StartUp, Crowdfunder.co.uk, Paypal average employee loses 15 minutes a day and LinkedIn. to slow internet speeds2, we went a step • Hit the road in a big red bus to complete the further introducing a new speed of up to VOOM Tour which took in 15 cities across the UK, Lower impact 500Mpbs, the fastest widely available offered over 1,400 one-to-one consultancy sessions speed in the market3 and gave away £50,000 in prize money Prev page Building connections that really matter: Next page The VOOM Pioneers digital platform • Held another great VOOM Pitch competition with provided a place for small business more than 3,500 businesses battling it out for their owners to meet like-minded entrepreneurs chance to pitch to Sir and share and potential business partners in the £1 million prize fund Page 13 of 28 Getting ahead: From humble beginnings By 2020, we’ll have… in 2011, VOOM Pitch has grown to become the UK and Ireland’s biggest pitching • Continued to develop VOOM as a business competition giving entrepreneurs the acceleration initiative, providing more chance to pitch to Sir Richard Branson opportunities to boost business potential and giving away over £3.5 million worth of prizes to more than 52 businesses • Delivered social and economic impact through the opportunities we have created for businesses

2 Virgin Media Business Digital Opportunities report, 2016. A small business with eight employees used for illustrative purposes only. Eight people losing 15 minutes for five days equals 600 minutes, or ten hours of time, lost. According to the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, businesses with 0-9 employees account for 96% of all UK businesses. 1 Combined annual turnover of SMEs was £2 trillion. Business population estimate for the UK and regions: 2018 statistical report, 3 Speed claim: The UK’s fastest major business broadband provider based on VOOM Fibre 350Mbps vs major UK B2B ISPs max: virginmedia.com/sustainability Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBIS) 314Mbps BT; 80Mbps O2; 76Mbps Plusnet; 76Mbps TalkTalk; and 76Mbps Vodafone. Virgin Fibre areas only VOOM pioneers leaving the VOOM bus Giving businesses VOOM to shine

Case study Intro Our boosting business goal is all about creating Strategy opportunities for small businesses to grow

Transforming lives VOOM, the UK and Ireland’s biggest pitching In addition to the main prize pool, VOOM 2018 also competition does just that, giving entrepreneurs awarded five special awards (worth over £50,000 and small businesses the chance to pitch to in prize money) from our partners including Virgin Boosting business Sir Richard Branson. Since 2011, the competition Unite, Crowdfunder, PayPay, Grant Thornton and has awarded over £3.5 million in prizes and has even a very special award from Sir Mo Farah, for supported 27,500 businesses to grow. going the extra mile. Better products VOOM 2018 was our biggest and best yet, with Outside of the VOOM competition, Virgin Media the familiar elements of the pitching competition, Business also hosted webinar sessions for small More inclusive backed up by big brands offering great advice, businesses on important subjects like the new mentoring and prizes to the entrants. In the lead GDPR regulations which were a big challenge up to the main competition, the VOOM bus for a lot of businesses, big and small. 3,527 small visited 15 cities across the UK with brand partners businesses attended these webinars, gaining new Lower impact including Virgin StartUp, Crowdfunder.co.uk, skills to help their business to grow. PayPal, LinkedIn and many more. The VOOM bus hosted over 1,400 one-to-one sessions covering Prev page digital business skills, crowdfunding, leadership Next page and international growth.

Page 14 of 28 In 2018, more than 3,500 businesses battled it out across two categories for their chance to pitch to Sir Richard Branson and win a share of £1 million in prizes.

virginmedia.com/sustainability Rebecca Bright MBE. Founder of Therapy Box (right) A healthcare app with some va-va-VOOM

Case study Intro The digital healthcare market is thriving Strategy as was evident from the VOOM 2018 entries

One of these entries went all the way. Therapy Rebecca, who bagged the Queen’s Award Transforming lives Box, the artificial intelligence app that uses for Enterprise Innovation in 2014, says: machine learning to diagnose, treat and support people with hidden communications disabilities, Boosting business took home the coveted ‘Scale & Grow’ trophy “I’m lucky that I’ve been (for organisations with more than 20 employees). able to use my expertise as Better products Around one in 10 children are affected by a speech and language Developmental Language Disorders (DLDs). DLDs often lead to isolation and poor academic therapist to build a business More inclusive performance; they’re more likely to drop out of that creates apps to help school, and half of offenders in custody have communication problems of some sort. This is people with disabilities such where Therapy Box comes in. Therapy Box is a as motor neurone disease, Lower impact London based small to medium sized enterprise (SME) founded by speech and language therapist stroke and autism. So far Rebecca Bright MBE. In her experience working we’ve launched over 40 Prev page for the NHS she realised there was a need to create a new way to support those affected. apps, which are used by Next page people all over the world.” Therapy Box have developed a range of apps that support patients with DLDs and communications Page 15 of 28 disabilities. The ATLAS Project app, still in By winning the Scale & Grow award and a share of development, will analyse a child’s speech to find out the £1 million prize, Therapy Box have continued if she or he needs a referral to a specialist. This would to invest in further research and development and save a stack of therapist time. Rebecca describes upskilling for machinery learning projects. This how she wanted to stop children slipping through the allows them to place themselves as a leader in by making initial detection and diagnosis easier. AI with a focus on using speech and acoustics to detect disease and disability. “DLD is often called ‘the hidden disability’, and early intervention is hugely important as it has a significant knock-on effect on children’s lives. Our app listens to the child’s speech, analyses it and triggers a referral if necessary.” virginmedia.com/sustainability 16

Growing responsibly & sustainably Intro

Strategy

Transforming lives

Boosting business

Better products

More inclusive

Lower impact

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Page 16 of 28

OUR 2020 GOAL:

Improve the sustainability performance of every new customer product

virginmedia.com/sustainability Better products

Intro Improve the sustainability performance Strategy of every new customer product

Transforming lives Why this is important to us How we’re making it happen

The production, use and disposal of electrical Following the creation of our product scorecard, Boosting business products touches on many global environmental a tool we’ve developed to measure and improve and social issues like greenhouse gas emissions the sustainability performance of our products, from energy consumption, resource depletion, we’re actively working with our product suppliers Better products the treatment of workers in the supply chain and to identify opportunities to improve the environmental the safe disposal, reuse or recycling of products and social impacts of new products as they’re when customers no longer need them. developed. This includes energy efficiency, the More inclusive amount of materials used, recycled content and The impacts of electrical products through their recyclability, minimising packaging and making sure lifecycle can far outweigh the direct operational the product follows accessibility guidelines. impacts of a business. While one product in a In 2018 we… By 2020, we’ll have... Lower impact home may not seem to make a big difference, The directors responsible for our products are across millions of customers, this really adds up. regularly updated on the product scorecard and • Published the Virgin TV V6 product scorecard • Embedded social and environmental performance how we’re using it to deliver improved performance as a key focus in the new product development Prev page At Virgin Media, we want our products to have in the development of new customer products. The • Worked with the product team at Liberty Global process resulting in demonstrable reductions in Next page an environmental and social story we can all be Sustainability team work with the Liberty Global to influence the design of the next router to environmental and social impact every time we proud of. Looking holistically at the sustainability Corporate Responsibility team to drive accountability be rolled out across the Group, using the launch a new product. This should tell a story performance of our products past and present with the Liberty Global product owners who manage product scorecard to ensure the hardware about the whole product, across the whole means we can take a more considered approach to the product development process on behalf of the and software has improved environmental lifecycle and identify opportunities for innovation Page 17 of 28 our product development. local markets. Jeff Dodds, our Chief Operating and social credentials that impacts the industry, not just Virgin Media Officer is the executive sponsor for this goal. • Reduced or avoided single-use plastic amounting To drive progress on our goal, we have to 60 tonnes, including removing document two areas of focus: wallets, plastic resealing tabs, packing tape and pallet wrap at our distribution centres Making sure our products follow and in our product packaging accessibility guidelines and consider the experience of our disabled customers

Improving the environmental and social impacts of all new customer products virginmedia.com/sustainability Virgin TV V6 box A score for sustainability

Case study

Intro Back in 2015 we committed to making every new customer product more Strategy sustainable than the last

Transforming lives Back in 2015, we committed to making every new The application of the scorecard methodology customer product more sustainable than the last. to the V6 shows building products to enhance To deliver this promise we developed our product the quality of its service provision can be Boosting business scorecard which helps us measure and communicate achieved alongside significant improvements how we’re reducing the environmental and social in environmental and social performance. impacts of every product. The results from our first Better products product scorecard published in 2017 for our Hub 3 act as the benchmark for all future broadband routers. The product scorecard isn’t More inclusive In January 2018, we published the product just about measuring the scorecard results for our V6 box. In addition impact of our products. to being our smallest, smartest and fastest Lower impact box ever, we know that: We’re also using it to influence the design and • It uses less than half the power across a 24-hour Prev page period compared to the existing TiVo box due development of future Next page to its low power modes, in a typical user products by working with Our smallest, smartest, Record six programmes Recordings, on demand Supports 4K Ultra-High Comes with 1TB storage scenario. Across our customer base this is fastest box yet – half the while watching a 7th. and live TV can be Definition content. allowing 500 hours of SD Liberty Global at the size of our previous TiVo watched in one room, recordings or 100 hours of already saving enough energy to power over box with ten times paused and continued in HD recordings. 7,000 UK homes a year earliest stages of product the power. another room or on our Page 18 of 28 Virgin TV Go App. • It uses 21% fewer materials by weight, development, as well as like plastics, metals and electronics asking our suppliers to

• It uses 50% less packaging when in distribution demonstrate how they can from our suppliers to our central logistics hub, improve the sustainability the Big Red Shed impacts of future products.

virginmedia.com/sustainability Big-ups to our Big Red Shed Case study When we look at the environmental Intro impact of our products, we look beyond just the product and also at the process Strategy of getting them from A to B

Transforming lives This process involves packaging and transportation • Quick Start box tabs. We’ve removed the plastic from the manufacturer to our Big Red Shed (our resealing push tabs from our Quick Start boxes Boosting business central logistics hub) and out to our Little Red that enables customers to return their old kit to Sheds (our regional logistics hubs). The products us and replaced with paper based gummed tape. are then picked up by our field technicians to take This saved half a tonne of plastic in 2018 alone Better products out to customers. Increasingly, we are also sending products directly from our Big Red Shed to customers • Document wallets. We’ve removed single-use as part of our Quick Start service, with customers plastic document wallets from our Quick Start More inclusive setting up their own products in their home. boxes, saving up to half a tonne of single-use plastic a year We’ve built a strong connection over the years with our logistics partner Kuehne+Nagel who operate • Reusing cardboard. We’re reusing the original Lower impact our logistics hubs. Part of this strong partnership is a cardboard boxes that customer products are commitment to reducing our environmental impact, delivered to us in, saving 22 tonnes of cardboard including maintaining a zero waste to landfill per year Prev page logistics supply chain (the storage and distribution Next page of our products) since 2013. In 2018, in addition to • Pallet wrap. We’ve removed the plastic toppers continuing to reduce how much packaging we use for pallets of equipment saving over 12 tonnes of and refurbishing customer kit that can be reused, plastic per year the focus also turned to single-use plastic. Page 19 of 28 • Packing tape. We’ve removed plastic based These are some of the measures we implemented packing tape in favour of paper based gummed in 2018, which are now integrated into our normal tape, saving 50kg of plastic a year business practice: • Returns to the Big Red Shed. We've stopped • Refurbishing and reusing equipment. In 2018 using shrink wrap for items that are returned we took back over 1.9 million items of our kit, with to our Big Red Shed from our Little Red Sheds. 1.1 million being refurbished and sent back out to This is saving over 700kg of shrink wrap per year be reused. In addition, we screened and cleaned over half a million HDMI cables, power supply In 2019, we’ll continue to work with our equipment units and remote controls for reuse partners to identify more opportunities to remove unnecessary packaging. Logistics in action virginmedia.com/sustainability 20

Growing responsibly & sustainably Intro

Strategy

Transforming lives

Boosting business

Better products

More inclusive

Lower impact

Prev page Next page

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OUR 2020 GOAL:

Nurture an engaged workforce that represents the diversity of our customers and communities

virginmedia.com/sustainability More inclusive

Nurture an engaged workforce that represents Intro the diversity of our customers and communities

Strategy Why this is important to us How we’re making it happen In 2018 we… By 2020, we’ll have...

Diversity of thought, background and experience This goal is overseen by our Ethics Committee, which • Revamped our priority fault service for disabled • Mapped out and created clear career routes is essential to drive business performance. meets quarterly and is attended by functional leads and vulnerable customers who depend on their to join Virgin Media and removed barriers for Transforming lives from key business areas. It’s truly cross-functional so landline and extended the service to broadband new talent pools While the business case to create an engaged people from our People, Customer and Sustainability and diverse workforce is widely understood and teams regularly get together and review progress • Published our customer facing accessibility and • Provided the policies, tools and systems that Boosting business accepted, there are many indicators that there’s against our action plans. Catherine Lynch, Chief vulnerability policy and delivered new disability underpin and enable inclusive practices a lot more work to do. The findings of the gender People Officer, is the executive sponsor of this goal. and vulnerability training to over 8,000 of our pay gap, the low representation of women in senior frontline employees • Created a more inclusive culture that looks, Better products positions, the low uptake of women entering To drive progress on our goal, we have three feels and is experienced by all of our people science, technology, engineering and maths areas of focus: • Trained hiring managers to increase awareness (STEM) roles and the disability employment gap of cultural difference and internal bias and our • Made progress towards achieving a 50:50 More inclusive are a few of the examples showing a lot more Attract and nurture the widest possible recruiters on writing inclusive job adverts, which gender balance by 2025 progress is required. talent pool. Make sure diverse talent are then screened for bias channels are used for recruitment at all At Virgin Media, we know building an inclusive levels, and consistently implement our • Overhauled our workplace adjustments process Lower impact environment is essential to our growth. We’re working policy of shortlisting at least one female to ensure simple access and consistency of on building a fully inclusive culture, celebrating for every senior position vacancy to address delivery, and reduced the time for workplace everybody’s individuality and differences. We also bias in traditionally male-dominated areas adjustments delivery in volume recruitment Prev page believe we have a pivotal role within our industry of the business from 12 weeks to one week Next page to drive improved gender balance and help those with disabilities to thrive at work. Equip and empower our leaders to • Launched outreach to women in STEM own and drive inclusion. Through programmes including 'Women in the Field' making inclusion a leadership behaviour Page 21 of 28 that’s supported through development, • Relaunched our gender balance network measurement and reward, it‘s our intent and set up further women's networks to make inclusion part of all our people's including 'Women in Sales' everyday business • Launched our disability network, UltraViolet on Make inclusion a normal part of what we #PurpleLightUp day, an international awareness do and who we are. Our inclusion strategy event, calling on organisations across the globe to is driven by our Executive Committee and recognise the economic power of disabled people business leaders. We are changing our ways of working and complementing this by ensuring • Launched our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic our physical work environments are accessible (BAME) network and relaunched our gender to all. Inclusion is part of everyone’s remit balance network

• Worked with military resettlement organisations virginmedia.com/sustainability to attract more female service leavers Maria, Virgin Media Field Service Technician Levelling fields

Case study Our field technicians travel all around the Intro country every day visiting customers’ homes to set up their services and fix problems Strategy

Transforming lives Historically it’s been a male-dominated area In a pilot scheme in 2018, we committed and we want to do something about this to recruiting 20 female field technicians gender imbalance. across four locations - Flitwick, Portsmouth, Boosting business Cardiff and Plymouth. We launched a recruitment campaign ‘Calling all Women’ with the hashtag ‘#levellingthefield’ and Better products had an overwhelming response. The targeted approach We received over 900 applications within the More inclusive first four weeks and as a result were able to we took to the recruitment extend the pilot. The targeted approach we took strategy resulted in a total to the recruitment strategy resulted in a total of 74 women working within our field technician Lower impact of 74 women working community, 56 of which were hired in 2018 across within our field technician our operating regions. This has increased the percentage of our female field technicians from Prev page community, 56 of which 3.8% to 7.1%. Next page were hired in 2018 across our We were subsequently shortlisted in the Diversity operating regions. This has and Inclusion category of the Recruitment increased the percentage of Marketing Awards. Although there’s still a long Page 22 of 28 way to go, our learnings and approach mean our female field technicians we’re definitely going in the right direction. from 3.8% to 7.1%.

virginmedia.com/sustainability The future is purple

Case study #PurpleLightUp is an annual campaign Intro from PurpleSpace

Strategy

Transforming lives PurpleSpace is the world's only professional On 3 December 2018, Virgin Media joined global development hub for disability network leaders, corporations, governments and universities, bringing organisations across the world together and lit up our London HQ. But we weren’t going to Boosting business on International Day of Persons with Disabilities stop there. Disability is at the core of to celebrate the economic power of disabled our commitment to transform lives through digital people across the globe. technology and we wanted to leverage our digital Better products platforms to ensure the campaign reached as big an audience as possible, including our people, #PurpleLightUp is an important customers and the general public. More inclusive example of the collective We turned our digital channels purple, including our consumer and corporate websites, social power of businesses and media platforms and TV Discovery Bar – the main Lower impact organisations standing up information bar that features on the home page of all Virgin TV platforms. In total our campaign for inclusion in their own content hit almost 15 million impressions on the day. Prev page workplace and society Next page We also used the day to launch our first employee at large. disability network, UltraViolet. This was brought to life through a live panel discussion with senior leaders, line managers and key disability Josh Dennis, one of our Customer Page 23 of 28 influencers on how we can continue to have Transformation Executives, featured in an confident conversations about disability. advert produced by in support of the campaign alongside employees from #PurpleLightUp is an important example of the businesses committed to thinking and acting collective power of businesses standing up for differently about disability in their workplace. inclusion in their own workplace and across society

at large. At Virgin Media, we believe building inclusive businesses leads to an inclusive society.

Virgin Media #PurpleLightUp campaign poster virginmedia.com/sustainability 24

Growing responsibly & sustainably Intro

Strategy

Transforming lives

Boosting business

Better products

More inclusive

Lower impact

Prev page Next page

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OUR 2020 GOAL:

Grow our business without increasing our carbon footprint

virginmedia.com/sustainability Lower impact

Grow our business without increasing Intro our carbon footprint

Strategy Why this is important to us How we’re making it happen

Business will play a vital role in delivering the UK’s Jeanie York, Chief Technology and Information climate change commitments under the Climate Officer is the executive sponsor for our lower impact Transforming lives Change Act 2008 and the UK government’s 25- goal. The delivery of this goal is overseen by our year environmental plan, as well as the recent Sustainable Operations sub-committee, chaired by In 2018, we… By 2020, we’ll have... announcement that the UK will seek to achieve the Vice President of Planning and Engineering and Boosting business net zero emissions by 2050. In addition to the attended by functional leads for Property, Facilities • Achieved a 22% reduction in our carbon • Found new ways to power and cool our network global challenge of climate change, there’s and Sustainability. footprint (fuel and electricity use) against our with lower energy demand increasing focus on how society can best move 2014 baseline in conjunction with the delivery Better products to a more circular economy, with the impact To drive progress on our goal, we have of our ambitious network expansion plan • Made the most of more efficient logistics methods of plastic waste on our natural environment four areas of focus: and enabled more customers to resolve issues continuing to make headlines. • 100% of contracted electricity, for our buildings online to minimise vehicle journeys More inclusive Reducing energy demand in our technical and technical estate across the UK and Ireland, In 2015, we launched the biggest investment in estate, which accounts for over 75% of our came from renewable sources. This represents • Made a step change in the way we use and new broadband infrastructure for more than a carbon footprint (fuel and electricity use), 99.5% of our total electricity consumption, with manage waste across the business, building decade. We plan to increase the number of homes through investment in our OREO (Overall the remaining 0.5% relating to sites without an on the success we've had in our zero-waste-to- Lower impact and businesses to which Virgin Media can offer Room Energy Optimisation) programme assigned energy supplier. landfill logistics supply chain and reduction of its ultrafast broadband services to up to 17 million and using newer, more efficient equipment single-use plastic at our core sites. This means

premises. For every kilowatt hour we use in our • Reduced fleet fuel by 9% saving 1,200 tCO2e, taking big steps to cut out the most common Prev page technical sites, litres of fuel we consume in our Reducing vehicle fuel consumption meaning on average, our car fleet is below waste streams and delivering zero waste to fleet and every tonne of waste we send to landfill, through driver monitoring software 100gCO /km for the first time landfill across all of our offices Next page 2 we’re contributing to the UK’s greenhouse gas and purchasing more efficient vans emissions and waste challenges. • Diverted 91% of office waste from landfill Instilling good environmental management Page 25 of 28 The more we can grow our business while principles across our estate through the • Diverted 100% of logistics supply chain minimising energy, fuel and waste, the more continued rollout of our ISO14001 certified waste from landfill cost efficient we can be while also positively Environmental Management System contributing to the UK’s carbon and waste targets. • Saved over 60 tonnes of single-use plastic Working towards zero office waste to through removing plastic packaging from landfill and cutting out single-use our uniform supply chain, Quick-Start boxes plastic waste and logistics operation at our Big Red Shed. We’ve also tackled waste in our catering facilities including saving over 50,000 single-use coffee cups

virginmedia.com/sustainability A Virgin Media data centre Project OREO: filled with smart solutions Case study Intro Since 2014, Virgin Media has reduced its

Strategy carbon footprint from fuel and electricity use by 22%, while growing our network to millions Transforming lives more homes and businesses, delivering faster speeds and new products Boosting business

The biggest part of our footprint and focus of By focusing on the following, Project OREO Better products our improvement in performance is the energy delivers substantial energy and cost savings: used in our technical estate. Over 75% of our 2018 operational carbon footprint relates to energy used • Good housekeeping. Ensuring good air by More inclusive in the complex network of data centres, hubsites keeping air filters clean, making sure floor grills and street cabinets that deliver our services to are in the right location and preventing build-up customers’ home. Since 2014, our carbon footprint of cable from electricity use has reduced by 32%, and energy Lower impact consumption in 2018 is the lowest at any point during • and cold aisles. Positioning heat producing the past five years. Throughout that period, one kit to face in one direction to create a hot aisle on project has been a mainstay: Project OREO. one side and cold on the other with cooling only Prev page required on every other aisle. Gaps between kit Next page Not the cookie, but Overall Room Energy and holes in the floor are blocked to prevent hot air Optimisation. The project is a comprehensive creeping into cold areas approach to optimising our highest consuming technical sites, delivering substantial energy • Free air cooling. Sucking in the outside cooler Page 26 of 28 efficiency and in many cases, absolute reductions air into the site creating an almost mechanical- in consumption. OREO has already won multiple source of cooling awards, including at the Data Centre Dynamics EMEA Awards and the Energy Awards. • Temperature control. Actively keeping on top of the temperature and intervene when needed OREO can seem incredibly complex, but it’s actually to correct it pretty simple. Many of our technical sites look like how you’d imagine a typical data centre – rows of In 2018, Virgin Media invested over £6 million technical-looking kit stacked up, each with wires into the next round of OREO at 42 sites. This connected to them. In these sites, it all comes down has already delivered over £1.8 million in energy to managing temperature and hot and cold air flows. savings, equivalent to over 15 million kWh

The hotter it gets, the more cooling is needed, which energy and 4,280 tCO2e. uses energy. virginmedia.com/sustainability Virgin Media Field Service Technician on the job Lightfoot: treading lightly on the road Case study Intro In 2017 we rolled out Lightfoot across our fleet,

Strategy a connected vehicle technology which uses advanced real-time engine analytics to provide Transforming lives in-cab coaching to help drivers improve both efficiency and safety Boosting business

Better products In 2017, we rolled out Lightfoot across our fleet, In addition, since the introduction More inclusive a connected vehicle technology that uses advanced real-time engine analytics to provide of the technology, driver safety in-cab coaching to help drivers improve both behaviour across our van fleet efficiency and safety. Lower impact has improved, decreasing driver In 2018, 7% of Virgin Media’s carbon footprint fault accidents by 18%. was attributed to the emissions from vehicle fuel. Prev page The use of the Lightfoot technology alongside a Next page series of efficiencies driven through our OREO One year on, Lightfoot programme has made a significant contribution

has helped us significantly to the 22% reduction in CO2e emissions against our 2014 baseline. Our 2020 goal is to grow our Page 27 of 28 improve the efficiency of business without increasing our carbon footprint. our fleet, specifically a 10% We’re already showing we can grow our business and significantly reduce our carbon footprint. improvement in miles per Looking forward, we’re working with the Energy gallon, which has helped us Saving Trust to explore further options for to reduce our fleet emissions reducing the impact of our fleet.

by 1,249 tonnes of CO2e.

virginmedia.com/sustainability Thanks for giving me a read

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