Case study: Kirsty’s story Cothrom (), meaning opportunity in Gaelic, is at Ormiclate on South Uist. The main focus of its work is training adult learners but the group also includes a full-time Gaelic language nursery and a furniture restoration and upcycling enterprise. “Fast, reliable broadband will make a big difference to our work. It will revolutionise what we do. We have 20 now and superfast broadband will make a huge difference to their day-to-day work. The fast technology will open up a huge of new learning opportunities to the organisation and facilitate our transition to e-learning and distance learning. We’ll also be able to introduce new programmes and our staff will be able to access all kinds of online support.” Kirsty MacCormick, Manager, Cothrom Community Centre, Scotland. Reaching remote areas UK homes and businesses still unable to access fibre include some of the premises that are hardest to reach. But we don’t let tough terrain or difficult conditions get in the way. We’re coming up with innovative ways to get even the most remote communities connected. For example, we’re bringing superfast broadband to some rural areas for the first time with our 4GEE Home Antenna service (see quote below). In customer trials in the Northern Fells area of Cumbria, this service delivered speeds of more than 100Mbps across our mobile networks. We estimate up to 580,000 homes across the UK could benefit. We’re also using drones to get fibre to hard-to-reach places (see case study) and to help us make critical equipment deliveries for maintenance or repairs in remote places like the Scottish Highlands and Islands during bad weather. “Fast and reliable internet is just as essential in the countryside as it is in urban areas, but unfortunately it is not currently as widely available. This is a major issue for everyday life at home – for example, students rely on decent internet for research, parents need to bank online and thousands of rural families are missing out on a wealth of on-demand entertainment. We welcome this innovative 4G solution from EE and believe it will have a big impact on some of the most remote communities across the UK.” Sarah Lee, Head of Policy, Countryside Alliance. Case Flying fibre in for hard-to-reach homes “This year, my team one of our greatest engineering challenges yet: getting highspeed broadband to the tiny village of Pontfadog in rural North Wales. learning
We earned a place on the CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for our efforts to manage climate change with our suppliers, putting us in the top 2% of the 3,300 companies assessed. Tackling climate change Climate change is one of the world’s biggest challenges. We’re tackling it through targets, technology and teamwork – and using our influence to ask our suppliers, customers and peers to do their bit too. Making a net positive contribution Ambition 2017/18 performance By 2020, help our customers reduce carbon emissions by at least three times the end-to-end carbon impact of our business 2.2:1 ratio achieved during 2017/18 The Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals call on businesses to play their part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve a duty to answer that call by targeting emissions reductions across our value chain. Our products and services can also help other people and businesses cut their carbon footprints. Research () shows that investment in ICT could, by 2030, result in a 24% annual reduction in the UK’s carbon emissions. Despite the ICT sector needing more energy to deliver these savings, growing use of telecommunications doesn’t mean an equivalent increase in carbon emissions. A recent study () shows there’s been a huge increase in data traffic globally, but emissions per user have dropped from 21.5kg CO2e to 19kg CO2e between 2010 and 2015 worldwide. That’s because companies like us are reducing emissions by improving energy efficiency, investing in new technology and using more renewable electricity. We’re working hard to shrink our carbon footprint – from our operations, our supply chain and the use of our products – and to help our customers cut theirs. This is how we’re making a net positive contribution overall. By 2020, we want to help customers reduce their carbon emissions by three times our own end-to-end carbon impact. That’s our 3:1 ambition. When we set it, we were only just net positive, with a ratio of 1.1:1. In the five years since, we’ve doubled that ratio, having now achieved 2.2:1, up from 1.8:1 last year. Our 3:1 ambition (2020)
product stewardship questionnaire () as part of our checks to make sure that electrical or electronic equipment sold to our UK business complies with this legislation. Behaving responsibly Respecting people and what’s right. These are the fundamentals of being a responsible business. We strive to get these basics right every time. Progress against our ambition 39% of our people volunteered their time and skills this year Overview and highlights We’ve a responsibility to do what’s right for our employees and anyone else affected by our business. We take that responsibility seriously and we expect our suppliers to do so too. Our purpose helps us make a positive contribution to society and the environment. To do that, we need to get the fundamentals right – in our own business and our supply chain. This helps us earn trust. We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards and respect human rights in everything we do. We expect everyone who works with us – employees, partners and suppliers – to follow our ethics code. Our policies and governance structures help us make sure this happens in practice. We work to mitigate any risks our business could pose to human rights and we’re using our influence to help tackle modern slavery. We engage with and invest in our people, and we aim to create an inclusive, healthy workplace that enables everyone at BT to thrive. Our people also have an important role to play in helping us fulfil our purpose – through their work and by volunteering to support good causes. We also look beyond our own business to extend our ethical, social and environmental standards into our supply chain. 2017/18 highlights: Behaving responsibly Modern Slavery Helping to identify victims Calls to the Modern Slavery Helpline, that we’ve established with Unseen, identified 6,210 potential victims this year.