Taking sustainability beyond recycling

Shifting the way people think about sustainability was hot topic this Tuesday at the Media CSR Conference, which Virgin Media attended along with other members of the Media Corporate Social Responsibility Forum. The conference was a great opportunity for the group’s members to share best practise and influence industry discussions.

Changing how people think about sustainability is a big challenge. At Virgin Media, we believe that sustainability goes far beyond recycling; it’s about having a social impact and should be at the core of business.

Virgin Media believes that nurturing a highly engaged workforce that is representative of the diversity of our customers and communities is crucial. More specifically, we want to increase the percentage of women senior leaders from 30% to 40% by 2018. In 2016 we will pilot unconscious bias training, something that many other business members of the Media CSR Forum also pledged to do.


Another key topic that emerged during the conference was the huge potential that the internet and technology has in doing good. Although there are problems, such as online abuse, there is an ever-growing opportunity to help people through digital. At Virgin Media we strive to be at the forefront of this opportunity and through conversations we’ve had with experts, staff, customers, and members of the public, we have learned that people want improved technology and guidance from internet service providers. Because of this, Virgin Media introduced a variety of initiatives that help our customers and their families get the very best from the web and stay safe online.

This subject was presented by Becky Gardiner, Editor of Guardian’s ‘The Web We Want’ series, where actors are making it a workplace issue, as well as empowering the public to share their experiences and take control, and it was inspiring to see the optimism within the industry, and the initiatives being deployed.

The conference highlighted the ways in which some companies prioritise communicating their progress in CSR in an engaging way. At Virgin Media we are continually making our sustainability story come to life through new videos. Keep an eye out for our 360-degree sustainability report launching on 4th July.