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Sir Peter Bonfield has Board level
responsibility for environmental matters. The Environmental Policy
Steering Group has operational management responsibility and delivers
an annual report to the Board and the Executive
Committee.
This report advises the Board of the extent to which the company
is meeting its obligations arising from its stated environmental
policy. In particular, it reports on the manner in which BT:
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manages its operations in ways that meet
relevant legal regulations; |
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derives financial benefit
from energy, road transport and waste minimisation programmes;
and |
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minimises its exposure to
any potential environmental liabilities. |
Our certification to ISO 14001, the international
standard for environmental management systems, provides an additional
level of risk management assurance and opportunities for enhancing
marketing and sales propositions, as well as enhancing our wider
corporate reputation by demonstrating sustainable and socially-responsible
business practices.
As a result of these risk assessment processes, which are part of
our approach to meeting the requirements of the Combined Code on
Corporate Governance, the bulk storage of diesel fuel for use in
back-up generators at telephone exchanges has been identified as
BT’s most significant environmental risk.
Although there are a small number of BT sites where ground remediation
is taking place, the cost is not material and so the company declares
no material contingent environmental liability in its financial
statements. In order to minimise any future liability in this area,
we have commenced an £18 million programme to cover tank testing,
enhanced maintenance schedule and remedial works.
Some components from old exchange equipment contain polychlorinated
napthalenes. When they require disposal, we exceed our legal obligations
and ensure their safe destruction as hazardous waste.
During the 2001 financial year, we have made no purchase of any
tangible fixed assets solely on the basis of environmental requirements.
We often take environmental considerations into account when purchasing
new equipment, but do not account for these considerations separately.
The main areas of environmental impact associated with BT’s
operations include energy consumption, waste disposal, transportation,
and the use of ozone-depleting chemicals.
Since 1993, our energy efficiency programme has been accredited
to the Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme run by the National
Energy Foundation. Since 1991, we have reduced our energy consumption
by over 22%, contributing to a 46% reduction in overall CO2
emissions. This is equivalent to 850,000 tonnes of CO2.
In the 2001 financial year, we recycled 18% of our total waste.
We received £4 million income from our recycling activities, offset
against the £7 million we spent on recycling and the £1.5 million
spent sending 117,000 tonnes of waste to landfill.
During the 2001 financial year, we reduced the amount of copier
paper we purchased by 290 tonnes, largely due to increased use of
e-mail and the BT intranet. This year, by printing on both sides
of the paper used for telephone bills, we should save a further
156 million sheets of paper.
We use CFCs in a small number of refrigeration systems and halons
for fire extinguishing. We plan to adhere fully to the proposed
new legislation on the use of CFCs and are part way through a programme
to eliminate the use of halons for fire extinguishing, well in advance
of any legal requirements. During the 2001 financial year, 15,750
kilograms of halon was recovered, from over 4,000 BT sites, and
has been destroyed.
Our operational fleet of almost 38,000 vehicles, one of the largest
in the UK, is now predominantly diesel fuelled. Over the past nine
years, we have reduced our fleet size by 27% and achieved a 33%
reduction in fuel consumption, with a corresponding 25% reduction
in overall CO2 emissions. This is equivalent to 57,800
tonnes of CO2.
We are also continuing to reduce our transport-related environmental
impacts in other ways. For example, a research study, undertaken
in the 2001 financial year on behalf of BT, shows that the internal
use of audio conference calls saved BT 59 million car miles during
the period April 1999 to March 2000, and around 150 million journey
miles across all modes of transport (car, rail, air, etc). This
equates to a reduction in CO2 emitted of some 34,000 tonnes, and
a saving of seven million litres of fuel – worth almost £6 million.
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