Better Health for All
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Vodafone leverages its telecommunications services to deliver substantial health benefits. The 'm-mama' program in Tanzania reduced maternal mortality by 38%, expected to save 9,000 lives over five years.
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Vodafone Egypt digitized 13 hospitals, projected to serve 10 million citizens annually, enhancing patient data access and diagnostic accuracy.
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The company also provides remote patient monitoring solutions, digital triage solutions like eTriage, and IoT connectivity for smart sharps bins, showing double-digit improvements in medication adherence.
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Vodafone's "everyone.connected" initiative provides free devices and 40GB data/month for six months, while its M-Pesa platform facilitates over €351 million in annual healthcare payments, enhancing financial accessibility for over 66.2 million customers.
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Vodafone supports the healthcare workforce by training over 25,000 healthcare workers in Egypt
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and provides clinical communication solutions. Exceptional mental health initiatives include dedicated support for UK staff with over 200 Mental First Aiders,
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and the "Me Myself and AI" campaign reaching over 13 million young people to promote digital wellbeing and address screen time impacts.
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Instant Network Schools have improved health education for 247,000 students.
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However, Vodafone received a €45 million fine in Germany for failures to adequately protect user data, including insufficient partner monitoring and security defects that exposed eSIM profiles and led to customer fraud.
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This indicates significant vulnerabilities in data protection, past issues with risk mitigation, and a negative indirect health externality. Vodafone also runs campaigns to address excessive screen time, acknowledging its mental health impact.
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Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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Vodafone faces a certified class-action lawsuit seeking over £1.1 billion for allegedly overcharging 10.9 million customers through "loyalty penalties," where the same monthly fee was charged after the handset cost was paid off in combined contracts
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. The company was also fined €45 million by the BfDI for inadequate review of partner agencies and security deficiencies that led to fraud cases involving fictitious contracts
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. Additionally, Vodafone received a compliance notice from the Consumer Protection Commission for misleading information about contract lengths and returns periods
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. Ofcom received over 800 complaints about Vodafone's mid-contract price increases between January and October 2023
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, which often involved an annual increase of CPI plus 3.9%, resulting in a 7.3% total increase for some plans in April 2026
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Fair Pay & Worker Respect
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Vodafone reported a lost-time incident rate (TRIR) of 0.02 per 200,000 hours in 2024.
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The voluntary employee turnover rate was 8% in 2025.
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The CEO to median employee pay ratio was 60:1 in 2025.
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The employee engagement index stood at 75 in October 2024.
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In 2024, 13.7% of Vodafone's total employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements.
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The median gender pay gap was 11.5% in 2024, which translates to a pay equity ratio of 0.885.
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Vodafone is an Accredited Living Wage employer and applies Fair Pay Principles to all employees, covering competitive pay, non-discrimination, and comprehensive benefits.
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,
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The company publishes its UK gender pay gap report annually and voluntarily reported its ethnicity pay gap for UK employees in 2024.
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Vodafone UK supports flexible working, including hybrid models and support programs for menopause, domestic violence, and parenting.
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A Global Parental Leave Policy provides 16 weeks of fully paid leave to all employees.
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In 2024, 94% of employees completed 'Doing What's Right' training, and 649 'Speak Up' reports were received.
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Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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Vodafone requires all suppliers to be fully compliant with its Code of Ethical Purchasing (CEP) at all times, which sets standards for human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.
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Key global suppliers are evaluated annually using a scorecard, with on-site audits conducted as necessary.
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Vodafone conducts annual due diligence and supplier engagement to trace the origins of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (3TG) in its products, ensuring they are free from conflict minerals.
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Since October 2020, 20% of scoring in supplier tenders accounts for 'Purpose' factors, including diversity and environmental sustainability.
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Honest & Fair Business
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Vodafone incurred approximately $54.72 million in ethics-related regulatory fines in the past three years, including €1 million in FY23
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and €2 million in FY22
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for data privacy issues, and a €45 million ($51.3 million) data privacy fine in Germany.
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The company reported two distinct financial restatements: FY22 data traffic volumes were restated,
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and prior periods were re-stated to reflect divestments.
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Vodafone received a Refinitiv ESG score of 86 out of 100 in September 2023.
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The company operates a "Speak-Up process" with an anonymous hotline and a non-retaliation policy,
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with 93.6% of assigned employees completing related training by March 31, 2024,
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and 649 concerns reported in 2024.
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According to Sustainalytics, Vodafone has no major controversies related to its operations or supply chain.
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Approximately 76.92% of its board members are independent.
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Vodafone has a comprehensive anti-bribery policy that prohibits bribes,
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includes guidelines on gifts and hospitality,
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forbids facilitation payments (unless under duress),
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and involves regular training, risk assessments, internal checks, and independent external assurance.
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Kind to Animals
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Vodafone Group PLC is a telecommunications company whose core business model does not involve animal testing, animal-derived ingredients, animal agriculture, or captive animal operations. Consequently, KPIs such as cruelty-free certification share, alternative testing usage, humane certified operations percentage, ethical input substitution percentage, cage-free sourcing percentage, animal testing policy, animal testing volume, innovation investment in animal-free technologies, animal agriculture ethics, animal-free R&D collaboration, and public policy engagement related to animal welfare are not applicable to its operations.
No War, No Weapons
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Vodafone actively engages with the defense sector, working on sensitive technology for the Ministry of Defence
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and launching 'military-grade' cybersecurity services initially developed for the UK government.
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The company partnered with BAE Systems, a major defense firm, for advanced communications security and mobile services
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, and exhibited at a defense and security event in 2021 to find military customers for its 5G network and other services.
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For oversight, Vodafone is required to set up a national security committee to oversee sensitive work impacting UK national security, including its work for the Ministry of Defence.
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In terms of procurement, Vodafone aims to ensure its products do not contain 3TG metals funding conflict
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, conducts Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry (RCOI) and detailed due diligence
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, and was identified as a 'Responsible Minerals Front-Runner'.
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Vodafone aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, focusing on assessing and mitigating human rights risks.
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For surveillance transparency, Vodafone released a report detailing government demands for information from 29 countries
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, including specific numbers of metadata requests in the U.K. (515,000)
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, Australia (685,000)
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, and Italy (605,000)
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, and direct network access in 6 countries.
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Planet-Friendly Business
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Vodafone's total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions were 7.55 million tCO2e in FY24, marking a 13.4% decline from FY23.
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The company has science-based targets validated by the SBTi to a 1.5°C pathway.
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It aims for net-zero emissions across its full value chain by 2040, with interim targets to reduce Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 90% and Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2030.
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In FY24, 84% of purchased electricity globally was from renewable sources, reaching 100% in European operations.
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Vodafone's TCFD disclosure is consistent with 10 out of 11 recommendations, with the remaining one partially consistent, and climate-related risks are integrated into the Group risk management framework.
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A detailed quantitative climate scenario analysis of seven-priority climate-related risks and opportunities has been conducted and integrated into the Group risk management framework.
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Respect for Cultures & Communities
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Vodafone has established 5 formal partnerships with community groups.
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These include UK Black Pride (since 2022), UK Black Tech Fest, Visionary Woman Global Convention and Expo, BYP, and PK Porthcurno - Museum of Global Communications.
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Safe & Smart Tech
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Vodafone experienced a data breach in October 2025 affecting approximately 2.5 million customers, with exposed data including names, contact information, billing details, financial records, and SIM card details.
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Disclosure of this breach was prompt. The company was also fined 30 million euros in 2025 for security deficiencies in its authentication process
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and 15 million euros for inadequate review and monitoring of partner agencies, indicating multiple incidents of unauthorized data use.
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Additionally, Vodafone was fined €42,000 in the 2024 financial year for data privacy issues.
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These incidents reflect multiple regulatory penalties and a reactive approach to compliance, despite Vodafone's privacy management policy being based on GDPR.
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In terms of proactive measures, Vodafone has implemented a pan-European ethical AI policy and controls, an AI Governance Board, and an 'AI Ethics by design' approach.
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The company partners with the University of Oxford to develop deep learning models for bias detection and removal, and conducts risk assessments to ensure fairness, demonstrating sophisticated prevention mechanisms for algorithmic harms.
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Vodafone mandates privacy training for every employee every two years, rolls out ethical AI awareness campaigns for all employees, and provides additional training for specialists, with effectiveness subject to regular reporting and testing.
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The company states that all its products, services, and processes are subject to privacy impact assessments, reflecting a strong privacy by design approach.
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Vodafone provides excellent user data control through a centralized, multi-channel permissions platform, allowing customers to manage preferences in near real-time and update or withdraw permissions from app settings.
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Furthermore, Vodafone has committed to strong data protection and fundamental digital rights, advocating for intelligent AI regulation and donating several million euros to organizations promoting data protection and digital literacy.
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
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Vodafone's new device packaging has been plastic-free since April 2021
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, and packaging for phone cases was made of 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard in 2022
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. The company uses 96% recycled plastic in its TV 3 Set Top Box casing
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and 85% recycled plastic in remote controls
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. Vodafone has eliminated plastic return bags for Ziggo customers, saving 1.5 thousand kilos of plastic
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, and eliminated 1.5 million plastic air pillows annually from its packaging
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. The company achieved its 2025 target to reuse, resell, or send for recycling 100% of decommissioned network equipment
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. Its asset marketplace, established in 2020
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, saved €3.9 million and avoided 398 tonnes of CO2 emissions
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. Vodafone's '1 million phones for the planet' campaign collected 700,000 used phones
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. Suppliers have agreed to no longer use single-use plastic in transport
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, and Vodafone engages with strategic suppliers to improve data insights into their e-waste management processes
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