BT has forged a partnership with Silicon Valley innovation platform Plug and Play to work with scale-up companies behind the latest green technologies.
The Green Tech Innovation Platform is one of two initiatives launched by BT to help drive the UK’s transition to Net Zero carbon emissions as it recovers from the Covid-19 crisis.
Partnerships will range from BT finding a cheaper, faster route to market through to new revenue share models or even taking a stake in the business.
The deal with Plug and Play marks the US firm’s entry to the UK market and will explore three areas: smart areas, smart buildings and remote working.
BT has also joined the Climate Group to launch the UK Electric Fleets Alliance to transform its vehicles to green energy.
The company has the second largest commercial fleet in the UK with almost 34,000 vehicles, including more than 28,000 used by Openreach engineers.
BT is the joint-largest private purchaser of electricity in the UK and 100% of the electricity that it purchases directly from UK energy suppliers comes from renewable sources. Globally, 92% of the electricity BT uses comes from renewable sources and, where markets allow, the company plans to hit 100% by December 2020.
Since 2016/17, BT has reduced the carbon emissions intensity of its operations by 42% and by 8% from its supply chain.
Last year, BT helped its customers save 13m tonnes of carbon – three times as much carbon as its own end-to-end carbon emissions – achieving its 3:1 carbon abatement target one year early. For every tonne of CO2 emitted by BT – three tonnes of customer emissions were saved.