Net Zero Doesn't Have to be a Zero Sum

By Lia Borthwick, Head of Business Development, BT

Legislation, activist consumers, science-based targets, changes to the way we do things and a sense of running out of time. These are scary thoughts when it comes to how we make our organisations more sustainable. There is no instant panacea to saving the world but there are ways in which organisations can take a leap rather than a baby step.

At BT, we have brought forward our sustainability targets and are putting a lot more focus into our efforts to reach net zero on carbon emissions. Our BT Group Manifesto outlines our commitment to be net zero by 2030, as well as committing to help our customers save 60m tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) by 2030. The biggest challenge to net zero is the business case; with every change comes a cost.

Cost benefit analysis, legislative drivers and stakeholder coordination can prove a daunting task. Investment is needed and so you win on achieving sustainability objectives but lose on the P&L in what can appear to be a zero sum scenario. But it doesn’t have to be. Organizations can banish the zero sum scenario by making smart choices on where to focus and the IT division can take the lead. How? By focusing in on the energy consumption of IT assets that are not in active use.

Let’s take a closer look at the energy hungry data centre environment which in Singapore alone constitutes 7% of all electricity consumption a fact which has halted further data centres being created for now. Most of the focus to date has been on the physical environment: the cooling systems, the air-conditioning, lighting etc.

Recently we have been working with our partners Intel and QiO to reduce the energy consumption in our green data centres.

The physical environment might be sustainable, but the racks of servers are still energy hungry. By their very nature, servers are connected so gathering the telemetry data from them and using AI to decide which cores can be powered down is achievable.

Energy savings can be identified in as little as six weeks and are typically in the range of 5-15% total energy reduction. Saving money by adding to the bottom line of an organisation’s financial health, and best of all with a potential ROI in as little as two months.

Our findings are too good to keep to ourselves and so, in line with our commitment to help others on their net zero journey, we are offering to help others take this leap on their journey too.

To find out more about BT’s net zero journey you can read this blog: The role of digitalisation in the race to net zero | BT's Global unit or contact the author at lia.borthwick@bt.com