Case study: How Verizon promotes sustainability among its suppliers

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2021 ESG Report Verizon identified a range of material issues, such as climate change, data protection and privacy, talent attraction and retention, digital inclusion. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for Verizon.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards              

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Verizon engages with:

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Verizon engaged with its stakeholders through interviews.

What actions were taken by Verizon to promote sustainability among its suppliers?

In its 2021 ESG Report Verizon reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:

• Implementing a Supplier Code of Conduct
• Verizon expects all its suppliers to comply with its Supplier Code of Conduct or an equivalent set of standards. Verizon’s Supplier Code of Conduct sets forth its expectations for its suppliers and the subcontractors and agents of suppliers. The Supplier Code includes provisions that:
  • Forbid the use of child labour and forced labour.
  • Protect employees’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, as permitted by local laws.
  • Prohibit discrimination on any basis prohibited by applicable/local law, including, without limitation, race, colour, religion, age, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, disability, marital status, citizenship status, veteran status or military status.
• Verizon reserves the right to review or audit its suppliers’ compliance with the Supplier Code and also incorporates ongoing compliance into its business relationships and procurement decisions.

• Applying a Supplier Risk Management Programme
• Verizon’s Supplier Risk Management Programme supports the company’s implementation of responsible sourcing. Established in 2018, and managed by a dedicated team in Verizon’s Supplier Risk Office, the programme enables Verizon to identify, assess, monitor and manage a range of supply chain-related risks, including those that may be associated with the social and environmental impacts of supplier activity. The Supplier Risk Office works closely with other teams throughout the company, including the BHRP (Business and Human Rights Programme), Business Risk, Compliance, Sourcing and Sustainability to implement a risk management framework that allows Verizon to continually assess and manage supplier-related risks. This work happens throughout the supplier life cycle, including: planning, due diligence, contracting, ongoing monitoring and termination. The Supplier Risk Office is responsible for programme oversight, coordination and support to stakeholders throughout Verizon.

• Evaluating suppliers’ performance
• In 2021, Verizon continued its partnership with EcoVadis. Verizon uses EcoVadis’s assessment tool to evaluate suppliers’ responsible performance. Verizon monitors and assesses supplier performance in four areas:
  • Environment
  • Labour and human rights
  • Ethics
  • Sustainable procurement
• Since 2013, Verizon has assessed 530 key suppliers through this partnership. EcoVadis validates suppliers’ responses to their detailed questionnaire and researches information from other public sources to benchmark suppliers on their performance. When weaknesses are identified, Verizon works with the supplier to create a corrective action plan to improve their current activities. Both Verizon and its suppliers benefit from this partnership.

• Auditing suppliers
• Verizon is a member of the Joint Audit Cooperation (JAC), an association of telecom operators that collaboratively audits common vendors and looks for opportunities to improve supplier responsibility across the industry. This furthers Verizon’s efforts to understand not only what its suppliers are pledging through their policies but also to survey on-site performance. JAC audits are based on a common verification, assessment and development methodology, including the generation of corrective action plans. Topics covered by these audits include: child labour, forced labour, health and safety, freedom of association, non-discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours, wages and compensation, the environment and business ethics. Through 2021, 812 supplier audits had been completed since JAC’s inception in 2010, with 88 audits completed in 2021.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria

2) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
• Targets: 5.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.8
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
• Targets: 16.1

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

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References:

This case study is based on published information by Verizon, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.verizon.com/about/sites/default/files/Verizon-2021-ESG-Report.pdf

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