BT to cut CO2 emissions by 80 per cent

BT will rely on wind farms to produce a quarter of its UK power by 2016 as part of a major drive to cut CO2 emissions.

The telecoms giant will build the largest wind power project outside of the energy sector as part of a push to slash its 1996 global CO2 emission levels by 80 per cent by 2016.

Its Climate Stabilisation Intensity (CSI) target is one of the most aggressive set by a corporation.

BT has already cut emissions in the UK by 58 per cent between 1996 and 2008 but does not at present monitor its current global emissions.

Dr Chris Tuppen, BT's director of sustainable development said in a statement: "The Climate Stabilisation Intensity target creates a relationship between BT's CO2 emissions and its financial performance so that they become interdependent.

"It is a powerful tool for embedding sustainability into organisations worldwide and critical in effecting change."

The company has pledged to track these savings through a new model for measuring and tracking carbon emissions.

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Its 2008 Sustainability report revealed that during the last financial year it had saved £365.3m as a result of its environmental management programme.

A second renewable energy project will take place at its office complex in Southern California where it has begun building a solar-powered system.

By March next year the company will upgrade 90 data centres worldwide, about 25 of which are in the UK, cutting power consumption by 60 per cent using fresh air cooling and AC-DC power conversion.

It has already delivered energy savings of 8.4gWh across its UK data centres over the past year.

During the next year BT will also conduct a trial of electric vehicles in two of its lines of business and will pilot the use of bio-diesel in vehicles.

It wants to cut the amount of UK waste sent to landfill by six per cent and over the past year has already increased the amount of waste it recycles by four per cent.

It will also ensure that a third of its product or service replacement contractors are able to demonstrate increased efficiency or reduced environmental impact.

The report shows that BT failed on some measures, such as an aborted trial to use hybrid vehicles and the roadmap for the global roll out of its environmental management systems, which has been delayed until September this year.