ENVIRONMENT

We are committed to pursuing and supporting environmental compliance and sustainability efforts.

Making choices to lessen our environmental footprint

Areas of Focus

Environmental Compliance and Management

We are focused on complying with applicable environmental regulatory requirements. Our environmental management systems (EMS) help us identify and mitigate the environmental impacts of our operations, drive continuous improvement and facilitate regulatory compliance.

Facilities in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom are certified in accordance with ISO 14001.

Occupational Health and Safety

We are committed to providing a healthy and safe workplace for our employees and others who visit our facilities. Our safety management system is designed to drive continuous improvement in safety performance by incorporating “risk-based thinking” into our prioritization of health and safety objectives and organizational safety goals.

Facilities in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom are certified in accordance with OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001 (UK only).

Energy, Emissions and Water Usage

In order to reduce our carbon footprint, we are committed to identifying and implementing actionable energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction initiatives. Water is an essential natural resource and climate change can impact the availability of a water supply, especially in areas that are either drought-stricken or have the potential to be drought-stricken. Water usage at Lumen is primarily for drinking water consumption; however, some of our facilities use water in closed-loop cooling systems.

Some initiatives and achievements related to energy, emissions and water include:

Establishing an approved science-based target to reduce GHG emissions: Reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 18% by 2025 and scope 3 GHG emissions 10% from a 2018 baseline year
Reducing our absolute GHG emissions and intensity by purchasing renewable energy and investing in facility efficiency improvements/new technologies
Helping customers reduce their energy consumption with our products and services such as Connector of IoT (Internet of Things) Solutions, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Lumen Smart Home, online billing/autopay, set-top box energy conservation, and small network equipment conservation
Tracking and managing water usage in our facilities — in 2019, Lumen used approximately 480,000,000 gallons of water in North America

Waste Management

Lumen is committed to establishing and enhancing internal waste management programs and initiatives to reduce waste through minimization, re-use, and recycling. Our waste management programs and initiatives are also intended to ensure the appropriate disposition of hazardous wastes and to reduce waste through managing product-end-of-life, which includes recycling and reuse of electronic and communications equipment.

Supplier Environmental Assessment

Ethical and responsible corporate conduct is of the utmost importance, and we expect our suppliers to embrace and share this commitment. Lumen requires suppliers to use reasonable efforts to employ environmentally preferable and energy-efficient services. We conduct environmental reviews of suppliers to ensure compliance with our Supplier Code of Conduct and have also initiated programs to lessen environment impacts of the procurement of our products/services.

Climate Preparedness

Ensuring business resiliency and survivability is a key concern during an incident or business disruption. Our corporate business continuity management (BCM) program supports an environment of prevention, collaboration, communication, response, and recovery—which enables us to serve customers, shareholders, and employees in the face of disruptive events.