Optus Awarded the ‘Telco to Ace ESG’ at the Twimbit Telecom Awards 2024

Optus has been recognised at the Twimbit Asia Pacific Telecom Awards 2024 for the ‘Telco to Ace ESG’ as we work to minimise our environmental footprint, foster positive social impact, promote diversity and inclusion and uphold high standards of corporate governance.

Optus recognises the transformative power of connectivity in bridging the digital divide and fostering an inclusive society where no-one is left behind. Through our flagship social impact programs like Digital Thumbprint and Donate Your Data, Optus continues to educate young people and families on digital safety, improve their digital wellbeing and expand access and connectivity to those who need it most.

Optus recently celebrated 10 years of our Digital Thumbprint program, which has educated over 580,000 Australian students on digital safety and wellbeing. The free face to face program for schools covers five topics including; cyberbullying, cyber security, digital discernment, digital identity and digital balance and also provides a range of additional resources for families to help encourage building respectful friendships online, first phone readiness and scams. The digital education program also extends beyond the school gate by providing families with free interactive and engaging resources to support and encourage important conversations with their children.

The Donate Your Data program continues to be one of the most effective ways Optus address the digital divide that exists for vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and families. Launched in 2019, Donate Your Data was launched to support Australians who cannot afford regular access to the internet. Working with our charity partners, over 44,500 people in total have received support with free calls, texts and data. This equates to $30M of equivalent value delivered across the life of the program. The aim is to help bridge the digital divide by enabling free connectivity for more disadvantaged youth and families.

Despite the significant growth in Optus’ network coverage across Australia in recent years and increased use of mobiles, Optus has been able to reduce its energy consumption through energy efficiency initiatives across its operations and continue to reduce its emissions through the use of electricity backed by renewable energy sources.

Optus recognises the role it plays in linking our community to a future with reduced carbon emissions and they have taken bolder climate action together with the Singtel Group, to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 (brought forward from 2050). We continued to reduce our full scopes of emissions in line with our updated and accelerated Net Zero target of 2045 and 2030 target to reduce operational emissions of 55% by 2030 from a 2023 baseline. These refreshed targets have been recently validated by the Science based Target initiative (SBTi), the first telco in the Asia Pacific to do so.

Andrew Buay, Vice President of Group Sustainability at Optus said: “We are very proud that we have been recognised for our community and environment efforts. As we look ahead, we remain steadfast in committing to a meaningful contribution to our society and the environment. We will continue to innovate, collaborate and demonstrate that responsible business practices are not only good for people and the planet, but essential for long-term business success.”

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Media contact:
Optus Corporate Affairs
(02) 9037 8179  
media@optus.com.au