We were delighted with the Scottish Government’s development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy, launched in March, which we called for in our earlier report ‘Automatic for the people?’. This sets out a vision of AI enabling us to make better use of resources and develop new, low carbon industries and is based on a principle that AI should benefit people and the planet. As we emerge from the pandemic and drive a green-growth recovery, it is clear that digital technologies will have a vital role to play in Scotland’s journey to 75% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 and net-zero by 2045.

BT has led on climate action for almost 30 years, and we were one of the first companies in the world to adopt science-based targets, directly linking our own goals to the overall level of reductions in emissions needed to limit the most harmful aspects of the climate crisis. As part of the transition to a low carbon business model, we have pledged to become a net zero carbon emissions business by 2045 and in 2016 we launched a new target, aligned to the COP21 Paris Agreement, and are on track to reducing the carbon emissions intensity of our business by 87% by 2030.

Since 2016/17, BT has reduced the carbon emissions intensity of its operations by 57% and by 19% from its supply chain, and 100% of the electricity that we purchase worldwide comes from renewable sources. We are also playing our part by helping our customers to reduce emissions and in 2019/20 we helped them to save 13 million tonnes of carbon, achieving our 3:1 abatement target one year early. This means that for every tonne of CO2 emitted by BT, three tonnes of customer emissions were saved. This year alone, around £5.3bn (25%) of our revenue came from carbon-cutting solutions – from teleconferencing and cloud storage to smart manufacturing and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

And we’re going further with ambitious plans to power Scotland’s road to net zero. We’re investing in full fibre broadband and 5G networks that will support more homeworking, smart cities and pave the way for lower carbon ways of life and work. And our new green tech innovation platform fosters breakthrough technologies to cut carbon in the public sector – including through the adoption of environmental monitoring sensors that integrate into BT street furniture through IoT solutions supporting social housing providers to reduce travel and reduce maintenance costs at the same time.

The recovery presents a huge opportunity for government, businesses and individuals to put action on climate change at the heart of their efforts. This includes innovating at pace and at scale to develop digital enabling, low-carbon technologies that can help us to do things differently and orchestrate a transition to a zero carbon world.

Our latest report represents a real call-to-action: Climate change is among the greatest challenges facing mankind, and while digital technology is just one part of the solution, it is absolutely central to the net zero future we must build. It also represents a major strategic opportunity for the Scottish economy given our ambitions, assets and capabilities for net zero and in the data, digital and tech sectors. Scotland is a small, agile nation and has the leadership in place to become a leading innovator and exporter of technological solutions to the climate change challenge; we should embrace the immense opportunities afforded by Climate Tech and work collaboratively, and at pace, towards unleashing them.

Mark Dames
Title BT Group, Senior Manager External Affairs Scotland and Northern Ireland. Member of BT Scotland Board.