Optus Sustainability Report 2020 Our Highlights Contents
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Optus Sustainability Report 2020 Our Highlights Contents 3 Our Company Strategy and Purpose 4 About Optus 5 About this Report 6 A Message from our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 8 Supporting Resilience 13 The Most Connected Communities 27 Our Greatest Asset 38 The Best Experience 46 The Smallest Footprint 57 Addressing the Sustainable Development Goals 2 OVERVIEW THE MOST CONNECTED COMMUNITIES OUR GREATEST ASSET THE BEST EXPERIENCE THE SMALLEST FOOTPRINT ADDRESSING THE SDGS BCK FWD HOME Our Company Strategy and Purpose Engaging Digital Inclusion & our People Citizenship Wellbeing Climate At Optus we’re passionate about powering optimism Change & Education & Carbon Employment with options. We believe that nothing drives greater optimism than a company that operates sustainably to create lasting positive impact for its stakeholders and meet the present and future needs of society. Product Stewardship As a telecommunications company we believe we have a distinct and unique role to play in creating tomorrow’s world. Sustainability Our purpose helps us to think about the world we want Framework and embeds an ethos of innovation into our work. Our The Highest sustainability strategy is based on how we can harness Quality Service & Products our purpose and use our skills, resources and expertise to contribute to a better future for our customers, our people, the environment and our community. We focus The Best Ethical & on areas outlined in our sustainability framework where Talent Responsible we believe we can make a significant impact. Practices A Diverse & Health & Inclusive Safety Always Workship #1 Framework 3 OVERVIEW THE MOST CONNECTED COMMUNITIES OUR GREATEST ASSET THE BEST EXPERIENCE THE SMALLEST FOOTPRINT ADDRESSING THE SDGS BCK FWD HOME About Optus Optus is the second largest provider of telecommunications services in Australia in terms of revenue and employs more than 7,000 people nationally, who together are a reflection of our multicultural country and diverse customer base. As a fully integrated telecommunications provider with more than 10 million customers, we deliver a comprehensive range of products and services including: • Mobile and fixed line telephony • Broadband internet services • Multimedia entertainment and technology services • Satellite services • Converged business telecommunications applications and solutions The Optus 4G network provides coverage to 97.3% of the Australian population, and rollout of the 5G network has commenced. For more about Optus, please visit our website. 4 OVERVIEW THE MOST CONNECTED COMMUNITIES OUR GREATEST ASSET THE BEST EXPERIENCE THE SMALLEST FOOTPRINT ADDRESSING THE SDGS BCK FWD HOME About this Report This is Optus’ 21st annual sustainability report and covers our financial year from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. This report is designed to give our stakeholders a closer look at our sustainability strategy, initiatives and performance during the period. For more details on our sustainability performance, please see the Singtel Group Sustainability Report and Annual Report. As part of the Singtel reporting, Ernst & Young LLP has independently assured a selection of our key ESG disclosures (see their assurance report in the Singtel Group Sustainability Report). We use the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) methodology to measure and report on our contribution to the community. LBG Australia and New Zealand verified that our evaluation of our community investment was correct on the supplied data. 5 OVERVIEW THE MOST CONNECTED COMMUNITIES OUR GREATEST ASSET THE BEST EXPERIENCE THE SMALLEST FOOTPRINT ADDRESSING THE SDGS BCK FWD HOME A Message from our Chairman and CEO Since the start of 2020, Australia has faced some of years, we have sought to embed sustainability into We are looking forward to finalising our human its most challenging times. Severe drought culminated our culture and values, decision-making, operations rights policy and publishing our first modern slavery in devastating bushfires across many parts of the and products and services. statement in FY21. We are also progressing our country, followed by floods and now the impacts of climate-related risk assessment and disclosures via the This means we continue to embrace more climate- the coronavirus pandemic. It is a testing time for many Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures friendly operations and a responsible supply chain; individuals, businesses and communities. (TCFD) framework. Our efforts to make sure Optus we have emphasised empowering our people and is a great place to work are ongoing and we expect to These circumstances reinforce the importance of our providing them with skills for the future workplace; we continue to expand our 5G network availability to meet sustainability approach, good corporate citizenship, have aimed to ensure we give our customers the best the needs of our customers. and the role Optus plays in emergency response, possible experience through the quality and safety of community resilience and promoting optimism. We are our products and services; and we continue to use our Even as we unwind restrictions, coronavirus will have proud of the way our people step up, and collaborate skills and expertise to unlock greater opportunities changed some things forever. More businesses will with partner organisations and community members in the digital economy, especially for individuals and operate differently, like health professionals using to support those impacted by these events – it’s been communities who might otherwise miss out. telehealth. More people will work from home. More a superb effort! You can read more about how we families and friends will connect with their far away supported communities in the Supporting Resilience At its heart, our sustainability loved ones using collaboration tools. We expect more section of this report, and about how we supported our individuals and companies will rely on our services as employees in the Health and Safety Always #1 section. program is about connecting. they have quickly embraced new ways of doing things. We will seek to understand our stakeholders’ evolving At its heart, our sustainability program is about Some of the achievements that stand out in FY20 needs and concerns and leverage our strengths and connecting. We do this in a range of ways: by providing are how our Optus team came together to support partnerships to help address them. opportunities for more vulnerable members of our communities during, and in the wake of, the bushfires, community to connect with others, connecting our including our Green Shoots program to support small The past six years’ have seen sustainability business decisions with the Paris Climate Agreement, businesses to rebuild; how we worked to keep people considerations transform how we go about our making sure that our connections with customers are connected and resolve customer issues while our business and we are confident that in this new decade underpinned by ethical behaviour, robust data privacy networks experienced unprecedented demand due to sustainability will continue to be a defining driving force and security protection, educating young people to enforced isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic; and for our stakeholders and our teams. have positive online behaviours through our Digital how we partnered with our customers to bring greater Thumbprint program and connecting our employees connectivity to people in vulnerable circumstances Paul O’Sullivan, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, with our purpose as an organisation. Over the past few through the Donate Your Data program. Chairman Chief Executive Officer 6 OVERVIEW THE MOST CONNECTED COMMUNITIES OUR GREATEST ASSET THE BEST EXPERIENCE THE SMALLEST FOOTPRINT ADDRESSING THE SDGS BCK FWD HOME Our Greatest Asset The Most Connected Highlights Communities new Optus Talent Ambassadors, contributing The Smallest Footprint 38 to 17% increase in candidate applicants across the 200,000+ business in FY20 Diverted Optus customers donated over 5.8 million GB of data to over 13,000 young Australians in need, providing digital Optus became a Workplace access through Donate Your Data 3,728 kg Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Pay Equity of e-waste or handsets, batteries Ambassador and accessories from land�ill 2,700 Committed to keeping global temperature increases within 1.5°C staff volunteer hours in above pre-industrial levels by 2100 The Best Experience company time contributed and reach to causes during FY20 Named Australia’s strongest Net Zero brand in Brand Finance’s 2019 Top emissions by 2050 100 list of Australia’s strongest million and most valuable brands $14.7 invested in the community Our electricity intensity (kWh/TB) in FY20, a 40% increase continues to decrease with a on FY19 new record low of total network investment to $1.1 enhance resilience 133 kWh/TB Billion and coverage in FY20 (compared to 160 in FY19) Supporting Resilience Launch of the Optus Achieved “leading” performance score additional workers 5G Home Broadband in the Australian Packaging Covenant employed from industries Organisation (APCO) assessment for 500 affected by the COVID-19 calendar 2019 downturn 7 OVERVIEW THE MOST CONNECTED COMMUNITIES OUR GREATEST ASSET THE BEST EXPERIENCE THE SMALLEST FOOTPRINT ADDRESSING THE SDGS BCK FWD HOME Supporting Resilience Telecommunications are a crucial service for communities, economies and nations — keeping businesses running and people connected to services and to their loved ones. This is never more apparent than during times