European Green Digital Coalition: Liberty Global is Founding Member

John Malone’s Liberty Global has become a founding member of the European Green Digital Coalition, a collective set up to support the use of digital technologies to promote environmental sustainability.

The multinational telco — owners of “Fleabag” and “1917” producer All3Media and joint owners with Telefonica of the merged Virgin Media and O2 — is among a group of founding members, announced Friday by EU commissioner Thierry Breton and the EU presidency at a Digital Day event in Lisbon, Portugal. The coalition will aim to help in reaching UN Sustainable Development Goals.

By signing the European Green Digital Declaration, companies commit to establishing science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and becoming climate neutral no later than 2040.

Companies signing the declaration also commit to investing in the development and deployment of “green digital solutions with significant energy and material efficiency that achieve a net positive impact,” as well as engaging with relevant orgs to create standardized methodologies to measure the net impact on the environment and climate of green digital solutions. They also sign on to promote cross-sector dialogue.

Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, said: “We’re proud to be a founding member of the European Green Digital Coalition. Digital technologies have a huge role to play in the fight against climate change and we look forward to utilising our networks and expertise to help deliver a greener and more sustainable future.”

In the last six months, Liberty Global has been awarded leadership status by CDP Global (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) in its annual survey into climate change and carbon emissions and was named one of the world’s most sustainable companies through its inclusion in the influential Dow Jones Sustainability World index for the eighth year.

Green initiatives are being rolled out across the company’s various subsidiaries.

VodafoneZiggo, Liberty Global’s JV in the Netherlands, launched its first Green Bond in December last year. The bond — the first high yield Green Bond to be issued by a company outside the renewable energy space — will be used to finance projects that support VodafoneZiggo’s transition towards low-carbon, climate-resilient growth in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, eco-efficient products, technology and processes and green buildings.

In addition, Virgin Media Ireland are bringing 100% renewable energy to their access network, while Sunrise UPC in Switzerland have rolled out new technology that increases the energy efficiency of its 5G mobile network. Elsewhere, Virgin Media UK also launched a five-year sustainability strategy earlier this month, aiming to reach net zero carbon and zero waste operations by the end of 2025.