Message from the Chief Sustainability Officer

For Zain, 2021 was a year defined by a focus on recovery and turning the business around to re-establish growth across the organization. Impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic continued well into the year, which the company addressed proactively.

Throughout our markets, the company adhered to the , imposed restrictions to continue to ensure the health and well-being of our employees while also being responsive to our customers’ needs.
Further progress on our digital transformation strategy continued to gain traction, demonstrating its intrinsic value to the company’s overall development.

During the year, climate change was a topic of material significance for the organization. Our operations began to take a lead in this area by setting in place waste reduction targets, classifying and categorizing waste, and addressing our water consumption levels by automating water faucets at the Group and Zain Kuwait headquarters. We also began conducting pilot projects to eliminate the consumption of single use water bottles.

In order to address climate change head-on and to proactively manage our own emissions across our footprint, we continued to develop our Scope 3 inventory and further cemented the mechanisms and governance models related to CO2 emissions reductions. The company continued with its participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and fully disclosed our climate action management.

Our operations continued to make substantial progress and align closely with the Group’s corporate sustainability strategy throughout the year. Digital literacy initiatives were launched across the organization to ensure that we play a pivotal role in uplifting our communities. We recognize that as the world becomes increasingly digital, those without digital skills will be left behind. Upskilling is critical for society and as such is a core aspect of Zain’s 4Sight strategy.

As part of our ambition to provide meaningful connectivity, our operations continued to use their reach to build public awareness to foster and attract attention to sustainability topics such as diversity & inclusion, climate change, youth empowerment, and child online safety.

Strong progress was achieved in blocking child sexual abuse material (CSAM) by installing blocking mechanisms through Project Arachnid across our operations. Zain Kuwait fully installed additional blocking mechanisms for CSAM, with Zain Sudan placing extensive CSAM blocking mechanisms through the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF); Zain Iraq has allocated the necessary budgets to install the needed blocking mechanism; and Zain Jordan will continue to enhance developments in this area as well. Zain Saudi Arabia launched parental control guidance on its website.

Realizing the possible risk and material impact the pandemic potentially brought to millions of young people across the world by being exposed to harmful material online, Zain launched a unique social media campaign across its operating companies, entitled “Internet Monsters”. The campaign centered on classic fairy tales that were given a modern twist, touching on issues such as cyber bullying, child abuse material, identity theft, and awareness on agreeing unconditionally to terms and conditions online. The campaign drew 66.3 million impressions.

2021 undoubtedly brought forth the need to establish resilience as well as the requirement to set in place mitigation and transition plans across the business given that the material impact of climate change could further destabilize our communities and the region at large.

Zain is committed to continuing to evolve its approach to corporate sustainability and will be refining our sustainability targets during 2022 with the aim to forge greater cohesion across our operations in order to achieve our sustainability agenda.

We will continue to engage with all our stakeholders across our value chain, and we welcome interested parties to read our report and support us in our transformational journey in the hope to provide sustainable and meaningful value.

Yours sincerely,
Jennifer Suleiman