Sustainable Business

Business Models Carbon reduction 4/5 He adds that while it is early days, involvement in a platform like Net Positive gives BT the opportunity to build momentum and encourage wider uptake of the philosophy. "We want to show other companies that this is something they can come on board with, that this is a good model for growing business. It isn't just something that applies to one particular natural resource, or sector. We'll be working together to compare our different approaches and identify what that the common factor is across them that defines Net Positive." For BT, the Net Positive solutions it develops for its own business will primarily be driven by customer demand. Over the next 12 months, Moss says his priority will be to work with the company's market-facing units to grow the portfolio of products that can actively contribute towards carbon abatement during use – both for businesses and consumers. Asked for examples of recent innovation in this field, Moss points to the BT Home Hub wireless broadband router and how extensive lifecycle analysis has been carried out to reduce material use through packaging, takeback and refurbishment as well as reducing electrical power consumption. The company slimmed down the shape of the router so it fits through a letterbox, thus saving on vehicle journeys for redelivery, and developed a 'Swap Box' concept so that old or faulty hubs could be returned for refurbishment using the same packaging. For the latest model, the Hub 5, VDSL technology is built into the device so it doesn't require a separate modem. The Net Good environmental benefit arises from a power reduction of up to 30% when it is deployed with BT Infinity, compared with previous BT Home Hub configurations - with the potential to save around 13,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. "This was done in collaboration with our suppliers. It not only helps us with the Net Good goal, it's circular economy because it takes into account the entire lifecycle of device. And it also addresses a customer service issue," Moss says, adding that for consumers the trick is to deliver carbon benefits to them as part of normal customer service as they tend to be influenced more by value judgments. "A lot of our work is showing us that sustainability is a route to business benefit. For example if we increase the proportion of people that are prepared to return their Home Hub and we can change the faceplate of that Home Hub instead of building a new one, it's a cost benefit. It often leads to not only broader efficiency improvement, but customer service improvement," Moss adds. Looking ahead, BT is involved in some interesting pilot work that could eventually feed into its Net Good strategy. It is working with the Open University to help accelerate a smart city programme in Milton Keynes by developing a hub capable of collecting large-scale data relevant to how the city functions in terms of key infrastructure networks such We want to show other companies that this is something they can come on board with, that this is a good model for growing business

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