Displaying items by tag: BT Group

British telecom giant BT said it aims to reduce its carbon emissions 87 percent by 2030, setting itself on a path to help limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century. As part of the transition to a low carbon business model, BT had previously set itself a target in 2008 of an 80 percent reduction of its carbon emissions by 2020.

After reaching this target four years ahead of schedule, BT has set a new 2030 target, approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative, which is aligned with the most ambitious aim of the COP21 Paris Agreement. This aim seeks to limit 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.

To meet this ambitious goal BT will be targeting innovative ways to further reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, for example through the adoption of low carbon vehicles in its fleet and reducing the carbon intensity of buildings.

“The role that technology can play in creating a more resource efficient world is both profound and exciting,” said BT Chief Sustainability Officer, Niall Dunne, announcing the target. “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.”

As part of its wider energy program, BT has made strides in reducing its end-to-end carbon footprint which has helped to deliver a total of £221m of energy savings since 2009/2010. BT is also well on its way to achieving its commitment to purchase 100 percent renewable electricity for its operations by 2020, where markets allow, the company said, sourcing 82 percent renewably last year.

In addition, BT promotes energy efficiency by providing products and services that enable its customers to reduce emissions. As part of its 2020 ambitions, BT aims to help its customers cut their carbon emissions by at least three times its own end-to-end carbon impact. So far it has reached 1.8 times, enabling customers to avoid 10 million tons of carbon in 2016/2017, up 32 percent on the previous year.

These carbon-abating products and services represented £5.3bn, or 22 percent, of BT’s total revenue last year. BT’s commitment to reducing its carbon intensity could help the UK Government meet its carbon reduction targets. International climate negotiations will continue at COP23 in Bonn, Germany, this November.

BT announced the launch of a new project with See.Sense, an innovative cycling company from Northern Ireland, to provide sensor-enabled and connected bike lights to up to 180 cyclists across Manchester as part of CityVerve, the UK’s smart city demonstrator.

The See.Sense light sensors, known as ICONs, connect via Bluetooth to an app on Android phones. The app will transmit anonymised data on the cyclist’s environment – such as the quality of the road surface, light levels, as well as cycling routes, collisions and near-miss events - back to BT’s Internet of Things (IoT) data hub.

Many thousands of IoT data feeds are collated by the BT hub and presented in a uniform way for innovators and city planners working with CityVerve. By acting as an information broker, the hub lowers the barrier to participation in the IoT ecosystem. Easy access to the data will help developers turn innovative ideas into applications in many areas, including planning ways to improve cycling infrastructure, and creating policies to promote cycling in the city.

See.Sense were crowned winners of a BT competition last year and received a £15,000 prize fund to help with their project. The award-winning lights are designed specifically to be daylight-visible, enhancing cyclist safety in all lighting conditions, while flashing brighter and faster in riskier situations such as round junctions and roundabouts. They were also recently voted ‘Best Bike Gadget’ by readers of road.cc, the UK’s biggest online cycling website.

Professor John Davies, Chief Researcher of Future Technologies at BT, said: “This is an exciting project to be working on with Manchester City Council and CityVerve. There are wide range of opportunities emerging from the real-time data collected from the lights and other sources stored in our platform, bringing valuable insights for the city’s infrastructure and policies, and helping develop a safer and better cycling experience for the people of Manchester.”

Irene McAleese, Co-founder of See.Sense, said: “This project is providing us with an opportunity to have a closed trial for data collection at scale, and show how our unique crowdsourced data can be used to reduce barriers to cycling, particularly around safety. Better data will help to make cycling more visible to policy makers, and allow cities to take adaptive, data-driven decisions. This will also provide the opportunity for improved integration of cycling into the city’s mobility plans.”

The app which tracks the lights is only available via Android phones. The trial will run from the 14th of August until the end of the CityVerve project, and the cyclists can keep using their lights at the end of the trial.

As part of its mission to offer the best experience for UK mobile customers, UK operator EE, part of BT Group, is announcing that all existing pay monthly and pay as you go customers will soon enjoy roaming to 47 European destinations at no extra charge.

EE is also launching a new range of 4GEE Max plans, designed to offer the ultimate roaming experience for customers with more inclusive destinations worldwide than any other UK network.

From 15 June, all existing EE pay monthly and pay as you go customers will get inclusive roaming to 47 European destinations as part of their mobile, mobile broadband or tablet allowance.

Existing customers, whether in or outside of their contract period, will benefit from inclusive roaming at no extra cost and will receive an SMS to let them know of the changes to their plan, as well as a reminder when they switch their phone on abroad.

Customers that would like to benefit from inclusive roaming before June can sign up at any time to one of EE’s new plans without affecting their upgrade dates or length of contract.

EE is also introducing a new range of 4GEE Max plans on 10 May for new and upgrading customers. The new plans allow customers to use their UK call, text and data allowances across 52 destinations, more than any other network, including Europe as well as the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand – which covers over 80% of time EE customers spend overseas.

Now EE 4GEE Max customers can video call from LA, or live-stream Sydney Harbour in HD at no extra cost with their UK allowances. 4GEE Max customers also get access to our fastest available 4G speeds abroad with 125 EE partner networks.

4GEE Max plans also come with EE’s largest mobile data allowances as well as the UK’s fastest 4G speeds, 4G in more places across the UK than any other operator and inclusive access to the BT Sport app for the duration of the plan.

“Our customers want to be able to stay connected whether they’re travelling around the UK or abroad,” said EE CEO Marc Allera. “We go further to provide our customers with 4G in more places across the UK than any other operator, and we’re offering inclusive roaming in more destinations as well – so our customers can stay in touch whether they’re lying on a beach in the Mediterranean, checking out the latest restaurants in New York, or hiking in New Zealand.”