Company Profile: BT Group
The We Mean Business coalition
BT Group is a British multinational and one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services.
BT consists of four customer-facing units: Consumer, Enterprise, Global and Openreach. For the year ended 31 March 2019, BT Group’s reported revenue was £23,428m with reported profit before taxation of £2,666 million ($3,292). The company employs 106,700 full-time equivalent people and is headquartered in London, UK.
Commitments
- BT Group is committed to being a net zero carbon emissions business by 2045.
- As part of its approved science-based target, BT Group aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 87% by 2030, compared with 2016/17 levels and reduce its supply chain (scope 3) emissions by 29% by 2030 (from 2016/17 levels).
- To enable customers to reduce their carbon emissions by at least three times by 2020, when looking at the end-to-end carbon impact of their business.
- BT Group is committed to sourcing 100% of its electricity worldwide from renewable sources by 2020.
- BT Group aims to convert its 29,000 vehicles, which range from cars to heavy goods vehicles, to EVs where this is the best technical and economic solution. It will pursue other ultra-low emission solutions where electric vehicles are not viable
Emissions reduction
- Between 1996 and 2019, BT Group has cut its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 80%.
- BT Group reduced its emissions from its direct operations and energy use (scopes 1 and 2) by 17% between 2018 and 2019 and by 26% between 2017 and 2018. The company’s 2018/19 emissions were 298,461 tonnes CO2e, down from 377,000 in 2018 and 404,000 in 2017.
- Across its supply chain, BT Group reduced its emissions to 4,112,000 tonnes CO2e in 2018/19, down from 4,387,000 in 2018 (6% reduction) and 4,772,000 in 2017 (14%).
- BT Group’s carbon emissions intensity reduced by over a quarter between 2016 and 2019.
- In 2019 BT Group used 2.24% less energy worldwide compared to the previous year.
Renewable electricity
- In 2019, BT Group procured 87% of its electricity from renewable sources, up from just 40% in 2004 and 0% in 1992.
- In the UK, BT Group uses around 1% of the UK’s electricity to run its business. Today, 100% of their electricity purchased directly in the UK is from renewable sources.
- BT Group exceeded its target with 139 of its top suppliers using renewable energy in 2019 (target was for 125 supplies by 2020).
Electric vehicles
- In 2018, BT Group made pure electric plug-in vehicles available to employees through its company car scheme and installed electric vehicle charging points at nine sites.
Cost savings through decarbonisation
- By 2019, BT Group had saved over £298 million through its energy efficiency programme (which started in 2009/10).
- Over 23% of BT Group’s revenue in 2018/19 (£5.5bn) was made from products and services that enable customers to cut their carbon emissions.
Impact areas
- In 2019 BT Group recovered or recycled 99.6% of its waste in the UK.
Innovations
- Up to 2019, BT has spent over £30m on systems that use water and fresh air instead of greenhouse gases to cool their network. More than 2,500 old systems were switched to energy efficient cooling solutions in 2019 and the company is on track for 7,800 of the old systems being switched by 2021.
- In 2019 BT Group launched an Internet of Things-enabled vehicle monitoring system called Auto Mate. The system collects fuel economy and carbon footprint data so business customers can spot ways to reduce the environmental impact of their fleets.
Policy advocacy
- In April 2017, BT participated in the UK government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) consultation on the Government Green Paper ‘Building our Industrial Strategy’.
- Gabrielle Ginér, Head of Environmental Sustainability at BT Group, in Dec 2018, called for policy makers to implement policies that commit to a 1.5 degree scenario and encourage electric vehicle investment.
- BT Group was one of a small group of business voices in the 2018 UN agency for climate change Talanoa Dialogue.
- At the COP24 UN Climate Conference in Katowice, BT Group’s CEO was one of 50 leaders of major global businesses from the World Economic Forum to sign an open letter calling for more climate action.
Leadership
- Gabrielle Ginér is Chair of the UN Climate Change Momentum for Change: Advisory Panel.
- In 2018, BT Group joined 21 tech sector companies in making a joint declaration to Step Up and come together to accelerate progress on climate action.
- BT Group is one of 139 companies worldwide to make CDP’s A list.