About the Report

Headquartered in Kuwait, Zain’s countries of operation referenced in this report include Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and South Sudan as well as key subsidiaries ZainTECH and Zain Omantel International (ZOI).

The report is in line with the company’s financial statements that can be found in the annual report.
Zain also holds a 15.5% stake in INWI in Morocco through a joint venture. As Zain does not manage INWI operationally, this entity is not part of the scope of the Sustainability Report.

Zain also ensures its Sustainability Report is independently verified under limited assurance by Ernst & Young (Al Aiban, Al Osaimi and Partners). The independent assurance report can be found here.

The Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, and relevant Executive Management at Zain Group review, assess, and approve the publication of the Sustainability Report.

Zain’s Sustainability Report is developed in alignment to the AA1000 Accountability Principles (AA1000AP) 2018; the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards; the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards, where it follows the ‘Telecommunications Sustainability Accounting Standard’; Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGP) on Business and Human Rights Reporting Framework; ESG Reporting Guide published by Boursa Kuwait, GSMA ESG Metrics for Mobile; and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) principles.

Centered on the Corporate Sustainability’s strategy mission, the 2023 Sustainability Report demonstrates the company’s efforts to provide Meaningful Connectivity leading to equitable systemic change. The report provides the required context of its markets to showcase how it continued to execute its five-year 2020-2025 Corporate Sustainability strategy. Throughout 2023, the company remained committed to achieving its targets whilst maneuvering through the various challenges and deficits faced by its operating markets.

The strategy’s four pillars were created based on a comprehensive stakeholder engagement exercise in addition to being rooted in understanding the deficits and context of its economic, societal, environmental, and human rights impacts.

1. Climate Change: Decarbonize the business and transition towards Net-Zero by 2050
2. Operate Responsibly: Embed Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles across the entire value chain
3. Inclusion: Reduce the digital inequality gap
4. Generation Youth: Build resilience across Zain communities by targeting 16 million children and youthMore information on how Zain’s efforts in achieving the above-mentioned objectives can be found in the ‘Sustainability Agenda’ section on page 84.

Please note, some information deemed significant that was mentioned in previous reports is repeated in this edition, while redundant or easily available information may have been omitted to ensure fluidity and clarity of the current report. The report also describes situations where considerable organizational changes have taken place during the reporting period.

This report is published on March 28, 2024.

Zain welcomes any comments, feedback, or suggestions regarding the content and aspects related to Zain’s sustainability performance.

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