Verizon Named to Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the Third Straight Year

NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third straight year, Verizon is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, which lists North America's leading companies as measured by governance, social and environmental performance.

The DJSI North America tracks the financial performance of the top 20 percent, in terms of sustainability, of the 600 biggest North American companies in the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index based on long-term economic, environmental and social criteria. Verizon scored particularly well in the areas of corporate governance, privacy protection and service development.

"Applying the transformational power of our broadband and wireless networks to deliver long-term business and social value is core to how we serve tens of millions of customers across the globe," said Kathryn C. Brown, Verizon's senior vice president – public policy development and corporate responsibility. "We're committed to growing our business responsibly, which makes it an honor to have that commitment once again recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index."

Earlier this year, Verizon's sustainability team developed a new carbon intensity metric to measure carbon efficiency, enabling the company to accurately quantify, for the first time, the impact of all its green initiatives. The metric shows how much CO2 emissions result from moving a single terabyte of information across Verizon's network. Using this metric, Verizon improved its carbon efficiency by 15 percent in 2010 versus 2009 and is committed to improving by an additional 15 percent in 2011.

Verizon is consistently recognized as being one of the most trusted companies for protecting customer information. The company is on the Ponemon Institute's list of Most Trusted Companies for Privacy and is the highest-ranked U.S. communications company on the list.

In the last year, Verizon also:

• Funded "Telling Amy's Story," through a Verizon Foundation grant.  The gripping documentary, about a young mother of two who was shot and killed by her abusive husband, is part of Verizon's focus on preventing domestic violence.  The documentary has aired on more than 330 public television stations and has been used as a training tool by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.
• Awarded nearly $67 million in grants to nonprofit agencies with a primary focus on education and domestic violence prevention. Verizon employees contributed more than 730,000 volunteer hours to nonprofits last year.
• Deployed an additional 1,642 alternative-fuel vehicles, moving closer to Verizon's goal of making such vehicles 15 percent of the company's fleet.
• Teamed with Cisco and Motorola to introduce two ENERGY STAR certified set-top boxes for Verizon's FiOS TV customers.
• Launched three green mobile devices – including the world's first certified carbon-free smartphone, the Motorola CITRUS.

For more information about Verizon's commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen, visit http://responsibility.verizon.com/ and also download the company's 2010-2011 "Corporate Responsibility Report."  

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 more than 106 million total connections 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, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 196,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.  

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SOURCE Verizon