Verizon's Climate-Related Innovation Recognized in Maplecroft Climate Innovation Index

NEW YORK, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon has once again been named to the Maplecroft Climate Innovation Index, a list of 100 top performing companies in the U.S. selected for their climate-related innovation and carbon-management programs.  Verizon is ranked No. 50 overall, up from No. 61 in the last ranking and up from No. 97 in the initial ranking in 2009.

The Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (CIIs) are the single most exhaustive study of the USA's largest multinational companies and how they manage and adapt to climate change, with a special focus on innovation. Maplecroft rated each company against more than 100 criteria, including: technological innovation and new working practices to combat climate-change impacts; management of climate-related issues; adaption to physical climate-related risks, such as flooding or more extreme weather events throughout the supply chain; and the reduction of GHG emissions.

According to the report, Verizon's strengths include its efforts to reduce its carbon intensity and its recognition of the opportunities associated with the role of broadband and wireless technology in improving the efficiency of energy and transportation infrastructure.

"Since establishing a dedicated sustainability program, Verizon has made tremendous strides to measure and improve the efficiency of our business operations and to make a positive impact on our customers and communities," said Jim Gowen, Verizon chief sustainability officer. "We are proud to see this progress recognized by Maplecroft, and are thrilled by our continued rise in the rankings."

Earlier this year, Verizon announced that it planned to cut its CO2 intensity in half by 2020. Carbon intensity is a company-developed efficiency metric that measures how much energy is required to move a terabyte of data across Verizon's network.

Through aggressive network and real estate energy-efficiency initiatives and conservation projects led by employee green teams worldwide, Verizon has improved its carbon efficiency by more than 30 percent over the past two years. 

In addition to Maplecroft, Verizon has been named to several lists that recognize sustainability, corporate ethical standards and social responsibility performance, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the Newsweek Global Green 100, the FTSE4Good Index, the Ethibel Sustainability Index and the Calvert Large Cap Value Fund.

Verizon's corporate responsibility efforts were also recently recognized by Corporate Responsibility magazine, which named Verizon to the publication's 2012 100 Best Corporate Citizens List – the fifth consecutive year Verizon has appeared on the list

To view Maplecroft's methodology and results in the Maplecroft CII, visit www.maplecroft.com. More information about Verizon's overall sustainability initiatives can be found at www.verizon.com/sustainability.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with 93 million retail customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 192,000.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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SOURCE Verizon