For the third consecutive year, Nielsen celebrated Global Volunteer Month this April, engaging employees in environmental and community-focused initiatives to dream big to help shape the future for our communities and those we serve around the world. Our celebrations culminated on April 23rd with Nielsen’s thirteenth annual Earth Day call-to-action.
Our 2026 Global Volunteer Month and Earth Day participation nearly doubled compared to 2025, with more than 1,560 employees across 39 countries leading and participating in optional volunteer and educational events, taking advantage of Nielsen’s 24 hours of annual volunteer time benefit available to all employees.
Nielsen employees joined community reforestation and horticulture events in Guadalajara, Mexico, made reusable tote bags in Mumbai, India, constructed kits for children to learn about wind energy in Atlanta, United States, took part in cleanups and sustainability-focused activities around the world, virtually gathered to learn about eating with purpose, and much more.
The GIVE Business Resource Group (BRG), established in early 2026 through the merger of the Cares and Green BRGs, collaborated with the Corporate Citizenship team to coordinate global initiatives throughout April. These efforts resulted in approximately 4,150 hours of volunteer service and community engagement, spanning 142 distinct events and individual activities worldwide.
“Volunteering during Earth Day and Global Volunteer Month reminds us that we are part of something much larger than our daily tasks,” shared Abhishek Ray in Operations, Global Data Solutions and a GIVE India leader. “These opportunities create a unique space to connect beyond our professional roles, fostering a culture of belonging through collective action. From cleaning beaches in Mumbai to uniting for our first global digital cleanup, I truly believe everyone has a seat at the table when it comes to making a difference. This shared pride connects us more deeply to our communities and to each other, reinforcing that we all belong to a mission to shape a better, more sustainable future.”
This year, Nielsen also launched a “Take out the (digital) trash” company-wide campaign to reduce our collective greenhouse gas emissions by deleting at least 300 GB of digital trash throughout April — a first-of-its-kind initiative that engaged employees across all regions in a shared environmental goal. An estimated 478 employees participated, enabling Nielsen to far surpass our goal by deleting nearly 3,400 GB of digital files, reducing our emissions by approximately 136 kg CO₂e annually.1 This campaign doubled as an environmental awareness drive about digital footprints, encouraging ongoing responsible management of our data.
Additionally, the Corporate Citizenship team introduced a Volunteer Milestones Program to celebrate each employee’s community service journey at every step with recognition badges from Nielsen and Cause Card rewards from the Nielsen Foundation. As part of the program launch, nearly 900 employees have already been recognized for joining the company or otherwise volunteering in 2026.
Our Global Volunteer Month celebrations culminated with a live conversation between Climate Central’s Chief Program Officer, Andrew Pershing, and Nielsen Chief People Officer and Nielsen Foundation Board Director, Nicolina Marzicola. More than 400 employees tuned into this conversation exploring the intersection of climate change with sports events and media. In addition to receiving a Data for Good grant from the Nielsen Foundation, Climate Central collaborated with Nielsen in 2024 to publish a report on climate reporting in local media.
As highlighted this April, volunteering opportunities continue to support global engagement and team-building while connecting with our local communities and contributing to a more sustainable future for all people. We look forward to continuing the momentum with volunteering events and recognition throughout the year, leading up to Nielsen’s fourteenth annual global day of service later in 2026.
To learn more about Nielsen’s commitment to responsibility and sustainability, click here.
Notes
1Emissions reported are estimates, calculated with support from Goodera, applying Greenly’s digital data storage emission multipliers (~0.04 kgCO2e/year/GB stored in a U.S. data center, based on average emission factors published by International Energy Agency). The U.S. and Europe share a large portion of all data centers, thus emissions methodologies and grid factors are comparable globally. Reported figures have not been verified by a third-party assurance team.
