BT announces they will bring forward net zero target by 15 years

BT has announced that it will bring forward its net zero carbon emissions target by 15 years.

The telecoms giant’s target for reducing its own operational emissions down to net zero was initially 2045, but it will now be changed to 2030.

However, BT have reduced their target for customer and supply chain emissions by just 10 years - aiming to achieve this by 2040.

Despite environmental experts warning that it may be too late to reverse the effects of climate change, the UK government has pledged to achieve net zero by 2050.

Scientists agree that an increase in average global temperatures higher than 1.5°C would be devastating to the planet, and the effects of such a rise could not be reversed.

Recent studies show that an increase of 1.5°C could be surpassed by 2030. One study even concluded that there is a 40% probability that a 1.5°C rise will be reached by 2025.

BT claims to have reduced the carbon emissions of its operations by 57% since 2016, and its supply chain emissions by 19%.

The multinational has also successfully switched over to 100% renewable energy worldwide, and has promised to switch its commercial fleet to electric vehicles, or zero carbon emissions vehicles, within the next decade.

The operator now expects to have reduced the emissions from its business by 87% by March 2031, with a big portion of this change coming by the removal of legacy networks. BT will discontinue its 3G mobile services in 2023, and its public switched telephone network (PSTN) connections by 2025.

BT Group’s Chief Digital Impact & Sustainability Officer, Andy Wales, said: “As the world looks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, we must remember that the global climate emergency hasn’t gone away. BT is committed to climate action and today’s announcement will see us not just deliver on our public commitments to date but exceed them.

“Getting our own ‘BT’ house in order isn’t enough though. We must broaden the conversation around climate change by getting households up and down the country talking about it and helping them understand what they can do to help. That’s why I’d encourage all of our customers, colleagues and communities to get involved, by holding their own Sofa Summit, looking at the small, sustainable changes they can make.”