DC08-425 November 27, 2008
BT encourages small business in Northern Ireland to play a major role in fighting climate change
Today BT Business is launching an ‘Understanding Green Business Practices’ guide to help Northern Ireland’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to understand how sustainable business practices can deliver benefits to the environment and their business.
BT is also encouraging small businesses to commit to tackling climate change by making a pledge at: www.btplc.com/ClimateChange/Takeaction/LivingLightly/.
Small businesses represent 41.7 per cent of UK employment, so it is important that they are as active in tackling climate change as larger corporate companies.
By adopting the five simple actions outlined by BT Business in the guide, SMEs could collectively save millions of tonnes of carbon emissions annually and play an integral part in addressing climate change. And by making a pledge, SMEs can demonstrate their commitment to making changes which will have a positive impact on the world and help tackle climate change.
Dr Chris Tuppen, Chief Sustainability Officer, BT and named in The Guardian newspapers Top 50 people likely to save the world from climatic disaster is currently on a visit to Northern Ireland, he said: “The 72,500 small and medium businesses in Northern Ireland are not only the lifeblood of the economy, but they can make a big difference to tackling climate change while at the same time discover new long-term commercial opportunities.
Liam O’Brien, managing director BT Business added: “In our guide, we demonstrate how small steps – when taken by the SME community as a whole – can make a massive difference. The good news is that when SMEs use IT and communications technology to act in a more sustainable way, they will also benefit from reduced costs, an enhanced reputation with customers, and greater productivity among their employees.”
The five recommendations explain how a series of simple actions add up to a big difference:
1) Use conferencing to reduce travel for meetings
If every small business in the UK replaced ten meetings a year with audio conferences, small businesses could collectively save more than 1.7m tonnes of CO2. Cutting down on travel would also cut expenditure on air tickets, train tickets and petrol.
2) Reduce unnecessary trips back to the office by using mobile communications technology
Using mobile communications can ensure employees do not have to make additional trips back to the office following meetings. With a reduction in employee car travel by the equivalent of two working days of car travel a year, small businesses could collectively save more than one million tonnes of CO2.2
3) Shut down computers and other electrical kit at the end of the day
If every small business in the UK forgets to switch off just one PC monitor at night, they could be collectively wasting enough energy for every person in London to microwave at least two dinners each. As well as helping the environment, turning off equipment cuts electricity bills.
4) Use recycled stationery and save paper
If every SME in the UK switched to using recycled paper, small businesses would collectively save billions of litres of water.
5) Take-up flexible working
By supporting the equivalent of one employee working from home for just one day a week for a year, small businesses could collectively save 516 million kgs of CO2. 5
Once SMEs have taken these small steps, additional ways of working more responsibly include:
• Creating shared online “workspaces” to enable better collaboration and reduced
paper use.
• Using legally compliant electronic signatures, meaning documents do not need to
be printed.
• Network and market the business online, reducing the need for travel and printing.
• Using a single, unified IT and communications network, reducing power and permitting remote upgrades and repairs.
More information can be found at http://www.btplc.com/societyandenvironment/index.htm
Ends
For information contact:Rachel Heron, BT, T: 07789 758580 E: Rachel.heron@bt.com
Notes to editors
1. One audio conference meeting can save up to 40kgs of CO2, enough CO2 for a return journey from London to Oxford. Conferencing figures are based on a survey carried out examining BT’s own use of conferencing: Conferencing at BT- results of a survey on its economic, environmental and social impacts, Professor Peter James, University of Bradford and SustainIT, April 2007.
2. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, an average petrol car can emit up to 20kgs of carbon if driven at a steady 60mph for one hour.
3. Leaving a PC monitor on all night wastes enough energy to microwave six dinners (Source: The Carbon Trust)
4. Every tonne of recycled paper saves 32,000 litres of water (Source: The Environment Agency)
5. Based on data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Transport, avoiding one average road commute per week for a year in an average petrol car would save around 120kg of CO2.
Chris Tuppen, Chief Sustainability Officer, BT Group
As Chief Sustainability Officer, Chris Tuppen’s remit covers all aspects of BT’s approach to sustainability and corporate responsibility issues. In addition to helping set the company’s sustainability strategy he is directly responsible for producing the company’s corporate accountability report and frequently engages with strategic stakeholders including regulators, investors and customers.
In parallel to his role within BT, Chris plays an active part in a number of prominent bodies. Chris has served on the boards of CSR Europe and of the US charity, Business for Social Responsibility. He co-chaired the Global Reporting Initiative’s measurement working group and chaired the Global e- Sustainability Initiative and the European Telecommunication Network Operators Association’s environmental working group.
He is currently a member of the Executive Board of the Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability Forum, the Council of AccountAbility, an international membership organisation committed to enhancing social and ethical accountability, and the social and environmental committee of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA.
In January 2008 he was named by a special Guardian newspaper panel of prominent environmental figures as one of the 50 people who could save the planet from climatic disaster.
