Frequently Asked Questions

Responsible Carbon Reduction

Does BT provide the benchmark for other firms to follow in the race to prevent climate change?
BT has been reducing carbon for over 10 years and has reduced its footprint by 60% since 1996. However, BT believes it can do more and as such, this strategy is about taking a significant step forward. BT believes that reducing carbon is the most important element in reducing the effects of climate change and it hopes that other companies will also do this.

I understand BT introduced its first 'green' targets in 1992. Why have others been so slow to follow suit?
The Stern report issued in October 2006 was a significant step forward as it clearly identifies that the cost of inaction is more than the cost of action. This has been the first time that economists have tried to quantify what the scientists have known for a long time. Recent changes in the weather have had very visible and financial impacts - and has made climate change an issue we can no longer ignore. But some companies have also been doing it for a long time.

BT has reduced its corporate travel via video conferencing. Is it important for firms to have a portfolio of carbon reducing schemes?
Yes, conferencing is an easy and very efficient way to working without travelling. There are many other ideas and products that companies can adopt. We are all in this together so it's important that everyone, every company and every government agency works together to reduce the impacts of climate change

To top the telecoms sector in Dow Jones Global Sustainability Index is an impressive achievement. Why does BT continue to drive towards carbon neutrality?
BT continues to drive energy efficiency in all parts of its business, this is not just a sensible strategy commercially, but also ensures we act more responsibly.

Offsetting and the Kyoto Protocol

Opinion with regards to offsetting is undoubtedly divided. Is offsetting an easy way out or the next best alternative to internal reductions?
BT's strategy is to cut carbon first and foremost and we will be investing in making that our top priority. BT is investigating offsetting but has not made a decision on the extent to which this will be part of our strategy.

Last year CarbonSense produced a paper entitled. 'What would a genuinely carbon neutral BT look like?' They argue that to be carbon neutral an organisation would have to offset some of its emissions. Is it therefore impossible, in your opinion, to be carbon neutral without offsetting?
There is no agreed standard for the term 'carbon neutral'. Using the CarbonSense definition, for BT to be carbon neutral it would have to offset all its residual emissions. It's highly unlikely that any large company can achieve genuine carbon neutrality without using offsets.

CarbonSense talk about spreading the cap and trade system which has been introduced via the city Kyoto Protocol. Despite BT's attempts to reduce carbon emissions it does not figure within such a scheme as its levels of carbon emissions are not high enough to validate their inclusion. Do you feel BT's voluntary measures of reducing carbon emissions will prevent it from being included within a cap and trade system in the future?
A few BT sites are in the European Emissions Trading scheme. DEFRA are proposing to extend cap and trade to other large energy using companies such as BT.

To extend this point would BT welcome stricter government/Kyoto legislation with regards to carbon reductions?
BT would welcome discussions with Government on setting carbon reduction targets.

Public Responsibility

The idea of carbon neutrality has led to the idea of 'carbon positive'. To be carbon positive a firm would in effect be involved in driving a low carbon economy. To what extent should a company, such as BT, be expected to act on behalf of the community? Is this not a job for the government?
BT has a responsibility to the community and therefore needs to act accordingly. BT needs to take account of its customers', suppliers' and shareholders' needs and balance that with being socially responsible. Governments, both UK and International need to work together with business and communities to really have an impact on climate change.

Large corporations are unsurprisingly concerned with public image. Does involvement with offsetting create a better image in your opinion?
It depends on how a company uses offsets. BT's view is that it should reduce its carbon emissions and use offsetting as a last resort. Changing behaviour is the key to driving down emissions and offsets should also be used in a way that prompts a change in behaviour.

Shareholder value is undoubtedly a significant financial indicator for the modern plc. Do you believe an 'ethical' company can attract shareholders to a wider extent than less ethically concerned corporations?
Yes, climate change should be viewed as a business opportunity. As customers and business become more demanding on the products and services they purchase with regard to 'ethical' issues, the more important it will be to develop the right products and services in a low carbon way. But a company needs to do this in a way that delivers value to both society and the business.

Residential Impact

Do you feel that more should be done to encourage individual and household emission reductions rather than weighting the bulk of the burden on big businesses?
Only by working together will climate change stop being a problem. Individuals needs to take personal responsibility for their actions and local and central governments together with organisations need to make this as easy as possible for individuals to behave in the most environmentally responsible way.

Do you think increasing awareness and action concerning climate change is, or will be, significant enough to make a real impact?
We hope so, and that is why we at BT are doing our bit in increasing awareness amongst our employees with real actions they can take in their personal lives to make a difference.

BT's New Green Energy Contract

BT's energy deal with N-power has reportedly saved the company 100 million a year. How has using renewable energy reaped such large financial rewards?
It's not the renewable energy that has reaped the awards but our focus on energy efficiency and other environmental programmes.

What is green energy? How is it defined and where does it come from?
Green energy - which in reality is electricity - is defined as "electricity produced from renewable sources or a by-product from combined heat and power plants which have very low or significantly reduced carbon emissions compared to electricity produced via oil or gas powered plants. Nuclear energy is not classed as "Green". All the renewable electricity is accredited under the Government's Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) scheme - at present the majority is from wind energy.

How can BT verify that this is one of the largest purchase of green energy in the world?
The original contract, signed in October 2004, was confirmed by research independently carried out by The Climate Group to be - at that time - the largest purchase of green energy in the world.

Isn't BT simply 'taking' all the available green electricity with this contract, with suppliers juggling generating capacity so more green electricity is allocated to BT and more traditionally generated power is given to everyone else?
Selling to large corporates like BT incentivises the market, reducing the ability of utility companies to offer short term contracts to large numbers of customers. The purchase of green energy is becoming standard practice amongst some companies and consumers. This creates demand which is a good thing for UK businesses.

Doesn't all this just highlight the embarrassing fact that BT uses a huge amount of electricity, more than enough to power a large city?
We are very open about the fact that we are large users of electricity, as are all telcos. This is our most significant environmental impact and that is why we acknowledge that we must do all we can to reduce our consumption. We are not dissimilar in terms of electricity usage to the UK's large supermarket groups.

What impact will this contract extension have on the 21st Century Network (21CN) project?
None. Although note that 21CN will eventually mean that our consumption decreases because of future efficiency gains. This will have an additional positive impact on BT's total energy consumption.

BT's Carbon Strategy

This green energy deal is all very politically correct, but isn't the growth of 'always on' broadband massively increasing BTs electricity requirements?
We know that broadband results in increased electricity consumption. At the same time broadband makes a massive contribution to more energy efficient working practices, such as flexible working and teleconferencing, which reduce the carbon impact of overall UK travel reductions.

In addition, BT's new 21CN will eventually mean that all our services will be managed on the same IP platform, providing a more energy efficient network.

We know our business is growing and that electricity use will increase unless we take action to manage this impact. That is why, as a responsible company, we are taking steps to reduce our consumption and our emissions. Renewing these contracts is just part of our efforts to reduce emissions.

Can you give some concrete examples of how BT is planning on reducing its own emissions?

We have already implemented a range of energy reduction projects, which include:

Installation of building management systems and optimisers
Development of 'fresh air' only cooling units to remove excess heat from our exchanges.
Energy efficient power systems for our exchanges
Energy Efficient lighting
Data centres and IT efficiency programmes
Introduction of higher operating temperatures in our equipment rooms to avoid the need for cooling
Changing our oil-fired heating boilers to gas-fired boilers.
Investment in energy efficient, buildings (BT Workstyle 2000 sites) with low energy buildings purpose built at Brentwood, Sevenoaks and Edinburgh (50% increase in energy efficiency).
Investment in more efficient telecommunications equipment (e.g. 50% reduction in energy use per broadband line).