Plan Zero
Our supporting aims
Plan Zero is underpinned by strong supporting aims that demonstrate our commitment to being a sustainable and responsible business.
Create value for our communities
We are passionate about being better for everyone. Not just for our customers, but also for our communities, locally and further afield.
We set up the OVO Foundation in 2014 to expand OVO Energy’s charitable giving and bring caring closer to home. It focuses on energy access, youth poverty and educational inequality and we’re in the process of reviewing our Foundation’s aims to align them more closely with Plan Zero.
Safeguard data and privacy
Our customers are at the centre of everything we do at OVO. So as well as providing them with great value and excellent service, we’re committed to protecting our customers’ privacy. Our ambition is to ensure customers are safe from cyber attacks and that their data is protected as they connect devices needed to transition to a zero carbon energy system.
We have an Information Security team that covers security engineering, enterprise security, business continuity, and security compliance. We work with different teams within the business to carry out threat modelling workshops, provide consultancy, and tools to help them improve their security. The team creates procedures and policies which are aligned with ISO27001, PCI DSS, and helps technology teams improve the security of their products and services.
Strengthen the supply chain
As a business that prides itself on being responsible and aims to be sustainable, OVO has a zero tolerance approach to all types of modern slavery and human trafficking within our business and supply chains. We have and are further developing, several policies that are relevant to the prevention of modern slavery and human trafficking, both across our own business and within our supply chain. In 2018, OVO initiated the development of a Supplier Code of Conduct to set out the standards, principles and values to which OVO expects its suppliers to adhere, including a commitment to eradicating modern slavery and human trafficking. The Supplier Code of Conduct will be implemented in 2019 and will require suppliers to cascade these commitments through their supply chain.
Protect health and safety
We want to have a healthy, engaged workforce so we do our best to look after our people’s physical and emotional wellbeing. We do everything we can to provide safe working conditions in which our people can thrive. We expect our partners, suppliers and contractors to apply the same commitment and approach. Our mantra is that we aim for ‘do no harm’. In 2019, we completed an internal review of health and safety management and have set up a health and safety working group to drive positive change across the business. We will continue to develop our health and safety management system and our health and safety culture.
Case study
Giving back to the community
Each year, OVO colleagues choose charities in London and Bristol to support through grants and volunteering. Since 2016, we’ve invested over £250,000 in local charities and OVO volunteers have spent 1,000s of hours directly helping out.
In 2019/20 our OVO Gives Back funding will go towards:
- Tackling air pollution in London by monitoring air quality in and around schools and playgrounds and using evidence to campaign for change with policymakers (in partnership with the British Lung Foundation).
- Inspiring a youth movement committed to conservation by supporting young people to design and deliver environmental projects that positively impact biodiversity and increase connection to nature (in partnership with Action for Conservation).
- Tackling littering and plastic pollution in and around Bristol’s waterways (in partnership with Clean Up Bristol Harbour).
- Supporting young people to talk openly about their mental health (in partnership with Off the Record).
- Fighting food poverty with children, families and youth groups (in partnership with Square Food Foundation).
Case study
I Dig Trees
OVO has had a four-year partnership with ‘I Dig Trees’, which sees us plant five trees through the I Dig Trees programme for every customer with a Green Electricity Upgrade. The I Dig Trees legacy has grown year after year. So far, an incredible 728,000 trees have been distributed across the UK as communities have come together to improve their local environment and make a difference for future generations too. This is an example of an existing environmental project linked to our core customer offering. We are planning to expand these over the coming years to also include other environmental initiatives such as offsetting, local renewable energy projects and of course, a continued focus on reforestation.
Case study
OVO Foundation
OVO Foundation was created in 2014 with the mission of supporting inspiring organisations with smart ideas to give young people across the world a better and brighter future. OVO Foundation develops projects in three programme areas: energy and the environment, youth poverty and education. OVO Foundation is funded by 70,000+ OVO Energy customers (who donate at least 25p each month) as well as OVO Energy which matches all customer donations but also provides ‘top-up’ donations to ensure an annual income of £1m.
Recent examples of the OVO Foundation’s work include:
- Future Builders – We give young homeless people the chance to renovate derelict homes that they’ll actually live in, as well as training and skills to live and work independently. This programme is run in 4 UK cities and has supported 100 young people since 2016 through the renovation of 7 properties.
- Project Jua – ‘Jua’ means ‘sunshine’ in Swahili. The perfect name for a project that installs solar panels on schools and health clinics in rural Kenya. We’ve provided almost £2m to electrify 320 schools and health clinics and benefit 100,000s of children and people. Through the project, we are powering human progress with clean and affordable energy – as well as leapfrogging the need for grid extension and polluting fossil fuels. When I Grow Up – Our new £300,000 early years portfolio focuses on closing the disadvantage gap for children aged 0-5 from less advantaged families in deprived areas of the UK by developing their communication, language and vocabulary and engaging parents in positive behaviours to create a strong and effective home learning environment