BT and the Environment

From Lauraibm

Current revision as of 13:49, 2 November 2007

MI Summary

BT

BT makes a very open statement of its many environmental targets, and also lists its achievements and awards received to date. Of course, in the absence of any form of audit by a third party, whether BT actually achieves these targets will be unverifiable by any outsider. And many of its targets and achievements appear to make no allowance for acquisitions and divestments, which could make a significant difference to the environmental damage caused by BT.

But this is nit-picking. There is much to be admired in BT's frankness, and IBM should be concerned as a competitor by BT's description of its envirnomental work with customers such as Marks & Spencer and British Gas, and of the 10 data centre audits it has conducted, and of its Carbon Audit service for business customers.

What the Vendor says about itself

BT's 2007 Sustainability Report

Our vision is to be dedicated to helping customers thrive in a changing world. Doing this in a responsible way is what our corporate social responsibility (CSR) work is all about.

Our Sustainability - Business Overview puts our Corporate Social Responsibility activity into the context of our business strategy. It highlights the many dilemmas and challenges we face as we compete in new markets, take advantage of technological advances and our industry undergoes rapid change. It also includes key sustainability performance information for the 2007 financial year.

BT's 2007 Sustainability Report

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Current Climate Change Targets

• BT will publish the findings of its 2007 staff survey, which assessed the social and environmental impacts arising from the use of conferencing services within BT. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions (measured in tonnes CO2 equivalent) to 80% below 1996 levels. (Target Date December 2016)
• 20% of BT’s employees will be actively engaged in reducing carbon footprint at work and at home.(Target Date December 2012)
• BT will produce a report on energy efficiency options, possible targets and labelling for key consumer products. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will produce a study of energy efficiency options, possible targets and labelling for key business products (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will execute both internal and external Climate Change communications plans. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will begin a trial on hybrid vehicles in collaboration with a manufacturer. (Target Date December 2007)
• BT will define a roadmap for establishing an EMS in all countries. (Target Date September 2007)
• BT will roll out a Climate Change road-show (Target Date August 2007).

Current Emissions to Air Targets

• BT will control the amount of HCFC/CFC refrigerant lost to the atmosphere to no more than 4% of the total held in BT’s operational estate. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will control the amount of HFC refrigerant lost to the atmosphere to no more than 7% of the total held in BT’s operational estate. (Target Date March 2008)
• We will reduce the amount of CFC/HCFC's installed in the BT operational estate by 5%. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will control the amount of HCFC/CFC refrigerant lost to the atmosphere to no more than 7% of the total held in BT’s non-operational estate. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will control the amount of HFC refrigerant lost to the atmosphere to no more than 7% of the total held in BT’s non-operational estate. (Target Date March 2008)

Current Environment Targets

• BT will introduce environmental management systems into two non UK geographies.(Target Date March 2008)

Current Fuel, Energy and Water Targets

• BT will implement energy savings measures to deliver energy reduction of 5GWh across the UK data centre estate.(Target Date March 2008)
• BT will pressure test 1000 of its fuel storage tanks. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will decommission 200 buried tanks and replace them with internal double-skinned tanks. (Target Date March 2008)
• As part of the roll out of BT’s 21CN next generation network, BT will implement a sub metering strategy at 30 of its ‘pathfinder’ sites. Sub metering is included in the scope of the Infrastructure design for Pathfinder sites. Metering has been installed at some sites in preparation for equipment installation. (Target Date March 2007)
• BT will, as a direct result the installation of its new 21st Century multi- service access network, deliver a 30% line for line energy reduction (Target Date March 2010)

Current Transport Targets

• BT will assess the fuel saving benefit from 50 commercial vehicles used by drivers trained on fuel-efficient driving techniques. (Target Date March 2008)

• BT will order all new light commercial vehicles that will limit speed to a maximum speed set of 70mph. (Target Date March 2008)

Current Waste Targets

• BT will reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by 8% based on the March 2007 outturn figure. NB excluding activity arising from the 21CN network and property strategy projects. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will improve or maintain the percentage of waste recycled against the total waste generated from normal BT operations compared to 2006/07 performance. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will implement dedicated recycling stations at up to 15 of its major office buildings. In addition, we will review waste skip provision at around 150 major operational buildings and TEC’s with the aim of replacing open top skips with alternative containers and recycling facilities. (Target Date March 2008)
• BT will review with Telereal participation by their contractors in the Considerate Constructor Scheme providing dedicated recycling processes for major refurbishment projects. (Target Date March 2008)

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Performance on climate change

CO₂ Equivalent Emissions

We have reduced our total UK CO2 emissions by 60% on 1996 levels. This is equivalent to an annual saving of 0.97 million tonnes of CO2. We are on track to meet our 80% reduction target by 2016.

Our emissions reductions already exceed the UK Government's target to reduce greenhouse gases emissions by 20%, by 2010 (from a 1990 baseline) and the UK’s Kyoto Protocol target of a 12.5% reduction by 2010.

We report our emissions according to the inventory guidelines detailed in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. This initiative, hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, brings together leading experts on greenhouse gas emissions to develop internationally-accepted accounting and reporting standards.

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Action on climate change

This section summarises the action we have taken on the four areas of our climate change strategy. Up to now most of our efforts have been focused on reducing our own footprint but we expect this to change as we implement our new strategy.

Reducing our own footprint

Our carbon emissions come from two sources: directly from the fuel we burn to heat our buildings, run our vehicles and power standby generators; and indirectly from the electricity we buy and from business travel. Our 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 our network buildings. Selecting energy efficient equipment and installing building management systems that integrate heating and cooling, reducing waste Since 2004 we have sourced nearly all our UK electricity from low-carbon sources, including renewable energy and combined heat and power. Encouraging teleconferencing, home- and flexi-working that reduce employee business travel.

In financial year 2007, BT extended its UK Green Energy contract until 2010. By purchasing green energy we are preventing annual CO2 emissions equivalent to those resulting from the electricity consumption of over 300,000 households - roughly the number of those in Liverpool and Cardiff combined.

In financial year 2007, we conducted a complete review of our energy sourcing and explored the potential for increasing our use of wind-generated electricity.

We now provide data management services for many of our large customers. Data centres are high-energy consumers. This year we audited energy consumption at 10 of our data centres to assess opportunities to increase energy efficiency. Additionally, we identified unused and underused equipment at our data centres in the UK and have decommissioned or consolidated around 3,000 servers, equating to approximately 800 2kW equivalent racks of equipment. We expect this to save 23GWhrs of electricity per year resulting in significant cost savings and reducing CO2 emissions by 3,300 tonnes.

Influencing our customers

We have started to identify ways that our products and services can help customers reduce their impact on climate change. For example, we are 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.

We are reviewing the energy consumption of the hardware products that we sell and investigating new carbon saving ICT applications.

Influencing our suppliers

We have established procurement principles that support our climate change strategy. We will use these to encourage suppliers to offer products and services with a reduced environmental impact. Energy consumption will be one of the mandatory criteria used in all tender processes. See Suppliers.

For example, in a recent tendering exercise for broadband products energy consumption was one of the tender criteria and suppliers were assessed against their compliance with 'The EU Code of Conduct on Efficiency of External Power Supplies'. This is a voluntary code designed to reduce the power consumption of electrical and electronic appliances when in stand-by mode.

Engaging our employees

We have launched a series of employee road shows across the UK, Europe and the USA. These will update employees on our plans and tell them how they can get involved.

We are recruiting a network of employee volunteers, known as Carbon Busters, from across the business to champion our climate change efforts. We also have a taskforce of senior executives who meet on a monthly basis to drive progress.

We have launched a climate change website for employees and other stakeholders which includes a carbon calculator and ideas on how to reduce your carbon footprint.

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Recognition and awards

BT is proud to have received a number of Industry awards including being rated number 1 in the telecommunications sector in the Dow Jones Global Sustainability Index for the last six years, as well as receiving the prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development.

For reporting, BT has been named as the worlds leading corporate sustainability reporter in 2006 Global Reporters rankings, a bi-annual benchmarking survey published by think tank SustainAbility in association with the United Nations Environment.

BT's Timeline of Awards

BT's CSR ratings

• BT rated world No. 1 telecommunications company in Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 6 years running

• BT named as one of the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" by Innovest for second year running (2006 and 2005)

• BT won prestigious World Council for Corporate Governance "Golden Peacock" award for its corporate social responsibility work in 2005 and 2006

• BT rated as one of the top company's that count in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index (2006)

• German magazine "Manager" rated BT top telecommunications sector for corporate social responsibility (2005)

• BT was ranked fourth in the Low Carbon Leader awards 2005 for our action on reducing CO2 emissions

• BT rated top of telecommunications sector in Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index (2004)

• BT included in the FTSE4Good indices (2004)

• OEKOM AG ranked BT second from 24 corporate responsibility in the telecommunications sector

• BT received Queens Award for Sustainable Development (2003)

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BT in the Press

• Big Businesses Must Keep Green Promises (1-Nov-07)
• BT offers green advice to SMEs (1-Nov-07)
• Sustainability a Business Opportunity, says BT (31-Oct-07)
• How to Cut Your Company's Carbon Footprint (and energy costs) (19-Oct-07)
• BT Airs Its Plans to Build Wind Farms (19-Oct-2007)
• Success and Sustainability
• 26m Servers in Data Centres Use 2% Of World's Electricity (15-Oct-07)
• BT launches carbon assessment service (20-Sep-07)
• BT makes it seven in a row (6-Sep-07)
• BT Aims For More Efficient Data Centers (5-Sep-07)
• BT tough on emission cuts (7-Aug-07)
• BT extends green procurement (23-Jan-07)

Full article: BT Aims For More Efficient Data Centers (5-Sep-07)

BT is consolidating many of its systems onto VMware and Solaris containers to physically reduce the number of servers. The company is also evaluating the overall energy efficiency of the buildings housing their data centres, and is considering using fresh air cooling and converting from AC to DC.

Full article: BT makes it seven in a row (6-Sep-07)

For the seventh consecutive year, BT has been recognised as the world's top telecoms company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The DJSI citation states: "Although an out-performer in most sustainability criteria, BT particularly excels in the environmental and social dimensions.

BT tough on emission cuts (7-Aug-07)

BT’s head of climate change described the purchasing of offsets instead of cutting emissions oneself as an attempt to get off scot-free – something that BT will not promote. BT claims to have saved tens of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ by using videoconferencing.

Donna Young, the head of climate change at BT, believes that every company needs to start taking environmental responsibility by reducing their carbon emissions. To help in reducing their emissions BT has started a program to encourage their 160,000 employees to reduce their own carbon emissions both at home and at work. To help in engaging employees and the community BT used climate change road shows and carbon busters clubs.

BT extends green procurement (23-Jan-07)

BT has renewed the ‘largest green energy contract in the world’. It extended its three-year contract with npower and British Gas which contains the clause that it will receive one terawatt-hour of renewable energy. This means BT will reduce CO₂ emissions equivalent to the output of 300, 000 houses, BT said.

Sources:

• 1. BT's Sustainability

• 2. Current Targets

• 3. Performance on Climate Change

• 4 Aaction on Climate Change

• 5 BT's CSR Ratings