BT Pledges to Reduce its Environmental Carbon Emissions by 87% for 2030

Last year saw UK telecoms giant BT achieve their target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 (i.e. four years ahead of schedule). Today they’ve set a new goal of cutting carbon emissions by 87% in tonnes of CO2e per unit of GVA (Gross Value Added) by 2030, from a 2016/17 baseline.

The operator hopes that their latest commitment, which has been approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), will help them to support the ambitious aims of the COP21 Paris Agreement (i.e. limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it even further to 1.5°C by the end of the century).

The new target will require some big changes at the operator, such as the need to adopt low carbon vehicles into its fleet and further reducing the carbon intensity of their buildings. On top of that BT are working towards a goal of purchasing 100% renewable electricity for its operations by 2020 (currently 82%), not to mention various other schemes (e.g. recycling 500,000 HomeHub routers).

Niall Dunne, BT’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said:

“The role that technology can play in creating a more resource efficient world is both profound and exciting. The benefits of leading climate action extend to our customers, suppliers and people. Our commitment to this 1.5°C target will help create partnerships and coalitions that continue the unstoppable momentum enabled by the Paris agreement.”

Last year an independent study, which examined the environmental performance of the world’s largest publicly-traded companies by market capitalisation (500 of them), ranked BT Group as the 3rd best and Sky plc (Sky Broadband) came 8th (here).