This is a good example of what a Force for Good company is and how to be one because it shows a company taking action to lead the way in an area that is outside the normal scope of its operations. (BT already has the UK’s biggest "green electricity" contract, and could have waited for the electricity generation industry to generate more green power. Instead the company is being proactive to accelerate the change it believes is needed.)
The company's strategy is also built around engagement with different groups of stakeholders: local communities, customers, suppliers, and employees.
Description
This scheme is the UK's biggest corporate wind power project outside the energy sector.
BT is one of Britain’s biggest consumers of electricity, accounting for around 0.7 per cent of the UK’s entire consumption.
The company has already achieved a 60 per cent reduction in its carbon emissions, and is committed to reducing them further to 80 per cent by 2016.
The project, costing up to £250m, will bring together third party funding and renewable energy partners to safeguard future supplies of clean, green energy for BT as part of the company’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
The company is identifying high wind-yield sites on or adjacent to BT-owned land. Subject to planning consent and suitable sites being secured, BT’s wind farms would have a total installed generating capacity of around 100MW by 2012 (around fifty wind turbines), with the remaining 150MW targeted by 2016.
BT is committed to working responsibly with local communities and will ensure that they are engaged throughout the development process.
This initiative is part of a wider sustainability strategy to:
1) Reduce the company's carbon footprint (by increasing efficiency and using green electricity)
2) Engage customers (by getting them to use the company's services as a low-carbon alternative to air travel and by helping customer businesses carry out 'carbon audits' on their own operations)
3) Influence suppliers (to deliver more carbon-efficient products and services)
4) Involve employees (to reduce their carbon footprints at home and at work)
Source
The BT press release is here:
http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=dd615e9c-71ad-4daa-951a-55651baae5bb
Validation
Jonathon Porritt, co-founder and programme director of sustainable development organisation, Forum for the Future, described it as "precisely the kind of decisive, ambitious intervention that more and more companies are going to have to come forward with."