VFS Global reports key sustainability achievements in 2021 and sets higher targets

Dubai, Technicalzoo: VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, reported key sustainability achievements in 2021 and shared its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) targets for the near future. The company documented these highlights and key business developments in an ‘Integrated Report’, released on June 06, 2022.

The 2021 report based on Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards captures VFS Global’s sustainability strategy based on five distinguished pillars – Contributing to Sustainable Economic Growth, Delivering Good Governance, Nurturing our Colleagues, Protecting our Environment and Supporting our Communities. Each of these pillars is aligned to the organisation’s business strategy, the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, and national priorities. They also include a considerable focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Employee Empowerment, Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Community Empowerment.

“VFS Global’s first Integrated Report demonstrates the importance we give to Sustainability and to integrating our ESG goals within our business strategy. In 2021, we built a Sustainability strategy spanning across five fundamental pillars backed by well-defined KPIs and targets linked to the performance goals of the senior management and cascaded across the organisation to maximise impact,” said Dr. Elena Primikiri, Head – ESG, VFS Global.

Highlights 2021

Reduction of GHG Emissions – Through measures for energy conservation, purchase of renewable energy, and offsetting initiatives, VFS Global takes reasonable steps to reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to the global efforts to tackle climate change.

• 52% of VFS Global’s electricity usage worldwide is covered by renewable energy
• More than 1,500 trees planted in India and the UAE: Co² sequestering of 9.2 tonnes in 2021
• Support of the Kolar bio-gas project, which eliminates approximately 4.5 tonnes of firewood usage (per household); enabled the offsetting of 73,429 tCo² emissions in 2021 for our business-related travel
• Green procurement: 18% of our locations worldwide use certified green printing paper
• VFS Global to introduce a Climate Change & Comprehensive School Safety education curriculum for classes 3 to 10 students across 45,000+ schools in coordination with the Department of School Education (Govt. of India) and SCERT (State Council of Educational Research and Training) of Tamil Nadu (India)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

• Female to Male ratio (across all ranks): 58:42
• Female ratio in senior management: 23%, targeted to 28% by end of 2022
• 99% of the women employees in India returned to work courtesy of elementary benefits such as flexible working hours and creche facility
• Close to 60% of operations staff (workforce managing visa application centres) worldwide are women
• Equal pay ratio 100%

Workforce empowerment

• Employee engagement: 67% – (above the industry average of 58%*)  
• Training & development: 82% of the global workforce attended at least one training programme in 2021
• Average person-days of training participation: 2.9

Community Outreach

• More than 55,000+ individuals benefited through VFS Global outreach initiatives
• In 2021, 60+ community initiatives rolled out across 22 countries