BT

Sector: Corporate

Employees:

> 106,200 in 170 countries (2007)

Carbon Footprint:

> 635,292 metric tonnes CO₂e (2006/07)

TARGETS

> 2016 CO₂ emissions to be 80% below 1996 levels (includes savings made from green energy tariff).
> To reduce the tonnage of waste sent to landfill by 8% during the 07/08 financial year (excluding waste arising from the 21CN network programme).

Achievements

> Negotiated the world’s biggest green energy contract in 2004.
> The use of conferencing by BT staff worldwide has reduced BT’s annual carbon footprint by at least 97,000 tonnes of CO₂.
> 1000 of 90,000 UK staff registered for BT car-sharing scheme.
> In the 2007 financial year, BT produced 94,928 tonnes of waste in the UK, of which 40,007 tonnes (42%) were recycled.
> Topped the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for six successive years among telecommunications companies.

Benefits

> In 2006/07, use of conferencing by BT staff worldwide has reduced BT’s carbon footprint by at least 97,000 tonnes of CO₂ and eliminated more than 860,000 face-to-face meetings. This equated to a benefit of UK£238 million for BT as a whole - UK£135 million in avoided travel and subsistence costs, and the equivalent of UK£103 million in total time saved.

Low Carbon Solutions

Background

BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services, servicing around 18 million customers in 170 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Its principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services. BT employs over 106,000 people worldwide in its four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

BT set its first carbon reduction target in 1992 and has already reduced its own UK CO₂ emissions by 60% on 1996 levels. In 2007, BT developed a new strategy to further reduce its CO₂ emissions to be 80% below 1996 levels. The climate change strategy has four elements, and sets out how BT will reduce its footprint; influence its customers; influence its suppliers; and engage its employees.
BT state there is a strong business case behind its strategy. The company’s energy costs are going up due to rising fuel prices, taxation and market mechanisms in Europe and increased energy demand from new network equipment.

In 2005 Ben Verwaayen, the CEO of BT, and CEO’s from 23 other multinational companies signed a statement calling for action by world leaders on climate change. In October 2005 the BT Chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, spoke at the launch of the 3rd Climate Disclosure Report. In January 2007 the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) launched a climate change task force which is chaired by Ben Verwaayen.

> Internally, BT has also launched a series of employee road shows across the UK, Europe and the USA. These update employees on BT’s plans, and tells them how they can get involved. The company is also recruiting a network of employee volunteers, known as Carbon Busters, from across the business to champion its climate change efforts.
> Externally, BT has started to identify ways that its products and services can help customers reduce their impact on climate change. For example, it is developing a Carbon Audit service to help business customers understand the carbon footprint of their ICT systems and use technology to reduce their overall emissions.

The company’s efforts to improve energy efficiency include:
> Monitoring electricity use through online reports updated every half-hour;
> Surveys carried out by specialist consultants which identify opportunities to save energy in its network buildings;
> Selecting energy efficient equipment and installing building management systems that integrate heating and cooling, reducing waste.
In 2007, the company audited energy consumption at ten of its data centres to assess how it can boost energy efficiency. It identified unused and underused equipment and has decommissioned or consolidated around 3000 servers. This is expected to save 23GWh of electricity per year resulting in significant cost savings and reducing CO₂ emissions by 3300 tonnes.

> BT is continuing to convert oil-fired heating systems to run on gas to decrease oil consumption.

> BT’s environmental management system (EMS) in the UK and Spain complies with ISO 14001:2004, and is underpinned by the company-wide ISO 9001 certification. BT is extending its EMS to other international operations.
> BT encourages the use of its own products and services in its own business. The use of conferencing by BT staff worldwide has reduced its carbon footprint by at least 97,000 tonnes of CO₂ and eliminated more than 860,000 face-to-face meetings.

> Using one of the UK’s largest computer-based monitoring and targeting systems, it collects data at half-hour intervals from more than 6,000 sites. This has helped the company identify wasted energy earlier than relying on a monthly bill. The company has purchased a complete, web-based environmental information system, called enviroMANAGER™. The system includes modules for managing risk, audits, incidents, and data collection and for developing and monitoring targets.
> BT reports its emissions according to the inventory guidelines detailed in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.

> BT has replaced its refrigerant-based cooling (air conditioning) with automated fresh-air cooling systems in network installations. This had made costs savings and also reduces the use of refrigerant gases, such as HCFCs and HFCs. It is seeking to replicate this approach in its data centres.

> Communications technology can reduce CO₂ emissions. For example, services such as telephone, web and video conferencing can give a Return on Investment of up to 25:1 for spend, versus savings seen through the reduction in associated travel and salary expenses measured over a period of 12 months.

> BT green energy contract provides nearly all of its UK electricity from renewable sources and combined heat and power (CHP) plants.
> The satellite earth station in Goonhilly, Cornwall has a six kilowatt wind turbine alongside the building and 66 square metres of solar electricity cells on the roof. This is BT’s first mainland site in the UK to use this hybrid wind and solar system.

As part of its campaign to reduce emissions, BT has made the following pledges:
> Conduct a complete review of its energy supply, including exploring the further potential of wind.
> Conduct a complete audit of the energy consumption of its data centres.
> Influence its supply chain to produce lower carbon-emitting products.
> Influence customers by proposing lower carbon solutions.
> Engage with its 106,000 strong workforce to reduce their personal carbon footprints and empower them to influence their local communities.
> Incorporate energy consumption and environmental factors into its procurement processes.
These pledges are backed up by key performance indicators in CO₂ and waste reduction and numerous targets on how to meet them.

> In the 2007 financial year, BT spent over £6.8 billion on procurement. The company has tightened the environmental criteria in its procurement principles. These cover the energy consumption and environmental impacts of products and services, from manufacture to usage and disposal which will increasingly become a contract adjudication criterion.

> In December 2005, BT teamed up with car-sharing pioneers Liftshare to develop a scheme for its 90,000-strong UK-based workforce and over 1000 people are registered with the scheme. The liftshare matching service puts BT people travelling in the same direction, or to a similar destination, in contact with each other so they can arrange to travel together and share the costs.

> In the 2007 financial year, BT produced 94,928 tonnes of waste in the UK, of which 40,007 tonnes (42%) were recycled.
> The reuse of network terminating equipment from customer premises and BT’s exchanges has prevented the need to buy new equipment, and saved BT UK£11.65 million.
> In 2005, BT joined forces with The Woodland Trust to pay for a native sapling for every BT customer that signed up to paper-free billing. By the end of May 2007, more than a million BT customers had switched to online billing. By going paper-free, BT’s customers are saving the equivalent of 60 tonnes of paper each year.

News Story: BT ANNOUNCES RECORD GREEN ENERGY CONTRACT

Corporate Case Study: BT
Produced by the Green Power Market Development Group - Europe, in collaboration with WRI.

The BT Tower, London. BT recently made the world’s largest purchase of renewable energy. ©VisualMedia

BT is one of Europe’s leading providers of telecommunications services. ©VisualMedia

BT’s Goonhilly Earth Station, Cornwall. ©VisualMedia