BT launches carbon assessment service (20-Sep-07)

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Full article: BT launches carbon assessment service (20-Sep-07)

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BT launches carbon assessment service Appraisal will calculate corporate clients' CO2 emissions

Sarah Arnott, Computing 20 Sep 2007 BT is launching a carbon impact assessment service to calculate the CO2 emissions of corporate customers' IT estates.

The appraisal will take into account staff work patterns including travel and IT use as well as business operations, shard services and building infrastructure to establish the organisation's carbon footprint.

Recommendations will be made on the basis of behavioural change and potential infrastructure adjustments, said BT Global Services head of sustainability Dinah McLeod.

"Large organisations have many activities that can directly or indirectly cause the emissions of carbon.

"BT can credibly and demonstrably help a customer understand the role networked IT services plays in both producing and reducing carbon footprint."

The telecoms firm has cut its own carbon emissions by 60 per cent since 1996 and has a target to shave off another 20 per cent by 2016.

• Source: VNUnet

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By Martin Veitch: Thursday 20 September 2007, 18:27

BT is to launch service that helps firms measure their IT-created carbon footprints. The telecoms behemoth is setting up a sustainability practice under the Global Services umbrella brand and will calculate customers’ CO2 emissions produced by IT services. After using the metric it will offer advice on cutting the size of the footprint. The service will be initially available in the UK and US.

Some areas where firms can take chunks out of their emissions include using virtualisation, home working and teleconferencing, it suggested. Of course, you could argue that the conferencing and remote working ideas will also help BT shift its own services but the firm does have a long record of flexible working for its own staff. Also, BT claims to have cut its own footprint by 60 percent over the last 12 years.

• Source: The Inquirer

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BT joins growing list of green consultants

More and more companies are grasping the importance of a green strategy to address swelling energy bills and power shortages, as well as to shrink their carbon footprints. The next logical step, of course, is planning a strategy to tackle the problem, which is no easy task, considering just how many facets of a company's operations play into the big green picture.

Not surprisingly, vendors are now lining up to help in developing green blueprints for shrinking carbon footprints and lowering energy consumption. Sun, for example, unveiled a set of services and tools last month as part of its Eco Innovation Initiative. IBM has boarded the green-consulting train, as has consulting firms such as A.T. Kearney, which just announced its plans to offer "carbon-neutral consulting."

And just today, BT's Global Services sustainability practice launched a service to help large organizations reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint.

According to BT, the service will "take into account the way people's work patterns (such as their travel and IT use) contribute to CO2 emissions, and how business operations, shared services, and building infrastructure add to an organization’s carbon footprint." As part of the service, BT will help companies assess a variety of business scenarios to determine what benefits they might reap through, for example, virtualizing the call center or holding virtual meetings so as to cut travel.

"Importantly, when looking at clients' carbon emissions, we explore both the required behavior change as well as any adjustments to their infrastructure," said Scott Cain, head of IT transformation for BT Global Services, in a written statement. "Many of our customers have yet to mobilize significantly in this area and can benefit from BT's learning and capabilities to help them in their development of more sustainable business solutions."

• Source: InfoWorld

For an overview on the topic(s), see also

• BT and the Environment