BT in Ireland paves the way for Better Future
BT has unveiled its new Better Future strategy in its annual Better Future sustainability report, promising to use the power of communication to improve lives, ways of doing business and to make its overall impact on society a positive one.
BT, which invested £27 million in 2012/13, including €1.5m across the island of Ireland through cash and in-kind support, is reinforcing its commitment to being a responsible and sustainable business, has outlined three focus areas – Connected Society, Net Good and Improving Lives – each with its own vision and an ambitious goal to achieve by the end of 2020. Across the island of Ireland alone, BT people spent 1,785 days volunteering in 2012, giving back in kind over €650,000 to local communities and charitable causes.
An integral part of BT’s broader aim to drive profitable revenue growth, the Better Future strategy goes beyond driving sustainable practices in BT’s own operations to recognising the broader value the business can deliver to society.
Connected Society is about improving society globally through the power of digital connections. BT’s 2020 goal is that more than nine out of ten people in the UK will have access to fibre-based products and services. Across Ireland, through its flagship BT Connected Communities initiative, BT currently supports 16 community organisations, providing access to high speed broadband, PC equipment, training suites and a wide range of skills training.
Net Good is focused on helping society live within the constraints of our planet’s resources through BT’s products and services. BT’s 2020 goal is to help customers reduce carbon emissions by at least three times the end to end carbon impact of its business. Despite increased business volumes, BT has achieved its target of hitting an 80% reduction in UK carbon emissions three years ahead of deadline and reduced its energy consumption in 2012/13 by 3.3%, saving the business £33m annually.
Improving Lives is focused on improving hundreds of millions of lives globally with the help of BT products and people. BT’s 2020 goal is to use BT’s skills and technology to help generate more than £1bn for good causes. Last year, BT helped raise £59 million for good causes globally, including more than £25m through BT MyDonate’s fundraising, telethons and appeals platforms, £2.9m through payroll giving, and volunteering projects worth an estimated £13m.
Niall Dunne, Chief Sustainability Officer BT, said: “Our Better Future programme signals BT’s evolution to a new model in which every part of the business and every employee has a role to play in realising our visions and achieving our goals to create a better business with a better future. We are very proud of the impact that our people are making in Ireland where the level of volunteering commitment is helping support communities to thrive in this digital age.
“Ours is a long-term commitment, focusing on what we do best – bring together our networks and our technology with the expertise of our people to make a better world. Using the power of communications, we can benefit our customers, our bottom-line and the communities we operate in.”
BT will continue its drive toward a Better Future with the unveiling of its Net Good goal methodology for measuring progress against its 3:1 goal at an industry event next month. In July, it will also host its inaugural Better Future Forum, an online stakeholder platform designed to share and co-create new thinking that will help companies like BT to tackle some of the complex and multifaceted issues linked to the delivery of sustainability ambitions.
The BT Better Future Report 2013 is available to download at www.btplc.com/betterfuture
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