Commercial, GHG Emissions  -  April 20, 2021

Verizon Boosts Emissions Goals

Verizon announced two new emissions reduction targets on April 19, committing to a 53% reduction in its operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2) between 2019 and 2030 and a 40% reduction in its value chain emissions (Scope 3) between 2019 and 2035. The targets are approved by the Science Based Target initiative and support the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The company also announced that by 2030, it will help avoid 20 million metric tons (MT) of CO2 annually. Verizon's environmental initiatives enabled the avoidance of 12 million MTs of CO2e in 2020. The avoided amount represents close to 2.8 times the emissions Verizon's operations generated.

In a statement, James Gowen, Verizon's chief sustainability officer and senior vice president, supply chain operations, said, "Sustainability is in Verizon’s DNA, and we’re committed to doing our part to reduce our environmental impact. Our climate commitments and goals are ambitious, but the steps we’re taking now to reduce our carbon emissions and invest in renewable energy will help us become net zero in our operations by 2035."

In 2019, Verizon set a goal to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2035 and committed to generate or source renewable energy equivalent to 50% of its annual electricity use by 2025.  The company's sustainability goals are an element of the Verizon Forward for Good Accelerator, as well as their business plan for economic, environmental and social advancement, called Citizen Verizon.

In January, Verizon announced that the company became a leading corporate buyer of U.S. renewable energy; this is included along with the other achievements published as part of Verizon's 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report.

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