Everyone is talking about 'carbon footprints' and we are being asked to consider the impact our actions are having on the environment, whether at home or when travelling. From using energy saving light bulbs in the home, to reducing journeys made by car and air, the challenges have been set. But that doesn't need to be the end of your contribution. Where can you make the difference? Is it just in your own home? How about at work- is your employer doing their bit? For example, reducing energy consumption; reusing materials; and recycling (whether it is electrical goods or even paper).

It is no longer sufficient for companies just to make a profit - they now need to do this in the most responsible way. They must show that they consider sustainability and their environmental impacts, and that they are making a positive contribution to society. Is your employer taking corporate social responsibility seriously? Do you know what actions they are taking to become greener and more accountable? Could they be doing more?

To make a real difference, companies need to think about how they can introduce measures that not only limit their own carbon footprint but also help their customers to be greener on a day-to-day basis. BT is encouraging its customers to use teleconferencing and home and flexi-working to reduce business travel. It is also developing a Carbon Audit service to help business customers understand the carbon footprint of their ICT systems and use technology to reduce their overall emissions.

Join Adrian Hosford, Director of Corporate Social Resposibility at BT on Wednesday 11th July at 16:30.

MD: Hello and welcome to the Business Show my name is Mai Davies. Now everybody from popstars to politians are currently talking about carbon footprints partly because of consumer demand, partly because of government agendas, everybody now has woken up and realised especially the business community that they to think about how transparent they are, how ethic they are and how perhaps they have a role in saving the planet. Now over the next 20 minutes we’re going to be looking tangible ways that businesses can think about their carbon footprint and how reduce them. Well joining me is the Director of Corporate Responsibility for BT this is Adrian Hosford. Hello Adrian, welcome.

AH: Hi good to be here.

MD: Don’t forget this is an interactive show so if you’ve got any questions for Adrian we’ll try and get them answered just put them in the box at the bottom press send we’ll try and get them answered from Adrian. Now all this thing about carbon footprints and carbon neutrality everybody’s talking about them at the moment they’re real buzz words and buzz phrases how did all this come about, why is it suddenly so important and so fashionable in a way?

AH: Well what's happened recently I think is that the evidence of climate change has become absolutely overwhelming, it really is a fact, climate change is here it's happening, it's happening now and unless we do something now and in the next few years we really have a very serious problem. So it's become very urgent.

MD: I mean we saw a lot of talk about the environment you know a few years ago maybe in the late 80’s everybody was talking environment this and green that, and then it suddenly disappeared and it become know as kind of the green froth, but you don’t think that that's going to happen this time that it's far more serious now that we’ve realised that this a very serious issue.

AH: Yes I think it's a completely different situation now we’re already using all the resources that the world has and the population is growing rapidly, economies are growing, unless we do things differently and in ways that consume less carbon we really are in deep trouble.

MD: And we’ve seen things like we’ve had the Live Earth concert recently so it's been, it's quite a hip issue with everybody at the moment isn’t it?

AH: It is, I mean that thank goodness I mean you know the Stone Report, Al Gore pop concerts it is becoming now a mainstream issue for everybody to think about and it is a question of everybody doing their bit we can’t leave this to other people.

MD: It's not just kind of you and me going home and turning the electricity off and not using so much, it's you know you’re the Director of Corporate Responsibility for your company, for BT businesses really have to think about they way they operate now don’t they? It's something they really-really have to think about for their profits as well as their reputation.

AH: Yes I mean it also makes good business sense you know in terms of reducing costs, in terms of creating products that are low carbon and that are sustainable so that consumers and customers can live a more sustainable lifestyle, market opportunities, reputation, employee motivation, there are compelling business reasons why everybody needs to get involved.

MD: Do you think businesses get that yet I mean some of them do obviously BT does and May some of the more forward thinking ones do but do you think enough of the business community have realised that this is something they need to seriously look at?

AH: Not yet I think as you say it's the early adopters, it's those more forward looking businesses that are really leading the pace at the moment but very very quickly all businesses, all organisations voluntary, government, as well as business need to get involved, and everyone all consumers it really does require everyone right throughout the economy, right throughout the population to become involved this issue is gonna' touch everyone.

MD: Do you find it's big companies or smaller companies who are grasping the nettle mostly?

AH: Well both we think the big companies are really mad if they don’t address the issue. I think it's easier for small businesses not to tackle this issue but there some smaller businesses doing some very good work in this area a lot of people concerned, but for the big business the quoted FTSE companies I think you have to take it seriously now.

MD: Okay well we’ve got question coming in to you on the web so we’ll put some of these questions. We’ve got the first one from David Hulme he says “BT was named company of the year last week” you were weren’t you, for what was the award? Business of the Year and the Environment?

AH: Yes we won Company of the Year 2007 for our positive impact on society and that was terrific right across a number of dimensions, so reducing our carbon footprint we’ve reduced it by 60%, by what we do in the community we invest over 20 million every year in the community, and we do great things around education, charities, telethons, but for our policies you know diversity, our flexible working, a whole range of different things and what the judges do is they look at our impact right across the board and say last year BT had the most positive impact on society of all companies.

MD: Okay we’ve got another question from Nicola. Nicola wants to know “Can large organisations truly be socially responsible?” 'Cos it's not just about the environment is it, it's about the community as well.

AH: Yes its about the community, it's about they way you do business, so it involves customer service, it involves treating your employees well, it involves taking ethical decisions, making sure that you carry your human rights policies right through your supply chain so you’ve got no child labour in your supply chain. So it's very aspect of your business your policies, your practices, what you do in the community, what you do in customer service, what you do on the environment all of that.

MD: Is it difficult for large companies 'cos Nicola’s question is “Can large companies be truly socially responsible?” Is it harder for a very large company with perhaps bases in different countries to be truest socially responsible?

AH: It's not easy but it even more important for large companies to do it because they reach other people, such a wide range of people right down the supply chain, customers, suppliers, partners they have a huge impact so it's important they they take it seriously and they look at all of their impacts and they set targets, and they judge their performance, and they try and constantly improve.

MD: So it’s difficult but possible and necessary?

AH: Very possible and very necessary and now of course there are lots of proven techniques, ways of doing it, it's become quite a science.

MD: Such as?

AH: Well for instance you have the environmental management systems which help you manage your impacts. You can look at your business divide it into those part of the business and where they have impact, set targets, and set programme in place, and measure your impact and do that continuously. So lots of tools out there project management tools, best practice experience, it's widely shared so it's very-very possible for all companies now to get involved.

MD: Okay. Deria wants to know “How does BT decide where to spend it money on a CSR programme?”

AH: Well we have policy and we put 1% at least of our profits back into the community and society in which we do our business. And we try and do that around the areas where we can have most impact, we’re a communication company our job is to try and enable better communications we believe better communications can create a better world, so we prioritise areas where communication has most impact. You know for instance Childline. Any child in distress can pick up and phone and get through to somebody who will listen to them who will help them with their problem we thought that was important so that gets a priority, telethons because telethons are ways of raising money by using the phone the phone network, but we also do work in education because education is an issue that people care about and we have and education programme which focuses on improving communication skills. Communication skill is the key skill that people need to get jobs nowadays, so.

MD: So what kind of projects would those be?

AH: Well the education programme for instance, we create resources for teachers, for pupils, for parents, interactive online resources, classroom materials, we do drama in school workshops last year for insurance we reached 3 million children. So we look at all the possible areas that we should invest our money in and see where can have most impact related to what we do which is improve communication.

MD: So like your old slogan ‘It's good to talk’ you’re teaching children it's good to talk and it's good to talk well.

AH: Exactly it's good to talk well and here's how to collaborate, so lots of businesses today work in a very flat structure where collaboration skills are absolutely critical so the skills of building empathy, getting on well with other people, working in teams, co-creating. All of those skills are critical to the future and we encourage schools to teach those skills and they’re the skills that employers want.

MD: Just to say quickly we’re just over halfway thorough so if you’ve got any questions please for Adrian put them at the bottom so the screen on the box and press send we’ll try and get them answered in the next ten minutes or so. Do you find that a lot of companies come to you because you know you’ve won this award as best business in the area, that they come to you talking about advice on best practice in social responsibility and in looking at the environment?

AH: Yes we do get quite a few enquiries and we’re very happy to share our experience. We have very informative website bt.com/betterworld and there we put total transparency of what we do, why we do it, and also share some of the techniques so that other people can do it, and if people want specific help then we’ll always try and help.

MD: 'Cos that's very useful for companies 'cos as we were saying earlier it difficult to start the ball rolling but if you can have access to best practice from other people then obviously that would help.

AH: Yes and there’re organisations like Business in the Community or the Corporate Responsibility Group where the information is widely shared between companies. So know lots of people from other companies who do what I do and we try together to understand how best to achieve the best results.

MD: Okay we’ve got some more questions coming in Richard wants to know “Do you think teleconferencing can ever really replace face to face meetings?” Teleconferencing of course means people don’t have to get on a plane or a train and create a bigger carbon footprint they can speak to each other and have meetings in other ways, but Richard says “Is that as good?”

AH: Well it's a very good question and the answer I think is really you need both. Together they work best so you need to build relationships with somebody face to face, so you really need to think about relationships over time and use teleconferencing, audioconferencing you know as part of the mix so that you know you get the best out of the relationship.

MD: There’s a similar question here actually from somebody called Peter who says “Do you think that one day that working from offices will be a thing of the past?” You obviously think not it's got to be a mixture of the two.

AH: Yes I think flexible working, so working at touchdown bases and offices perhaps shared spaces more then big company spaces, coffee shops, home, on the move, I think a much more flexible approach. I think you’ll a rise of shared facilities, but obviously if you can work from home for some of time then you create a much smaller carbon footprint, if you can travel off peak you help very much too with congestion, if you can work in a flexible way and manage your own lifestyle so you can reduce your footprint. We also find from research that people are more productive they tend to work longer actually,

MD: If they’re working from home?

AH: yes they do, and they tend to enjoy it more because they got control over their own lives, and you know they can do their emails when it suits them and maybe go to the school and pick up their kids or go on the golf course. You can vary it and you control your lifestyle think you’re more motivated and you’re more productive.

MD: Do you think teleconferencing will become more popular, do you think it's a growing area?

AH: It is growing very rapidly I mean in BT for instance we’ve got over 60,000 people who work flexible and we’ve got 11,000 people who work from home as their first base. So I think it's growing rapidly, I think it's about over 10% of the population at the moment and I would imagine that there’re a lot more jobs that could benefit and there’s no reason why it can’t rise to 30%, 40% of the the population it really is a very effective way of working.

MD: Natalie wants to know “How can I convince my sceptical colleagues that very little really makes a difference?”

AH: Good question because there is a tendency for people to think ‘what can my little bit really achieve?’

MD: It won’t make a difference it’s drop in the ocean.

AH: Yeah, I will if you will. And that means that everybody holds back and that really is the issue. I think what we need to do is make sustainable living, sustainable lifestyle,

MD: And sustained working.

AH: and working as sexy, as exciting, as fun, as inspirational, as you know rampant consumerism has been. So we need to really to encourage everyone to get involved it's only if everybody does it that we really have a chance of tackling things like climate change and sustainable economic growth.

MD: Do you find in companies I mean Natalie doesn’t say what kind of company she works for who her colleagues are, but does it tend to work bottom up or top down, does the lead have to some from the bosses or can it come from employees saying ‘No I think the people I work for, my company should be doing this?”

AH: It can some from both and should come from both you need pressure really from everywhere in the system. Bosses need to see that it's cost effective, its more productive, employees need to see that it's more fun, it gives them a better lifestyle and if you’ve got pressure from both ends and you set up initially test projects to pilot teleworking you’ll find in no time at all the benefits will be coming through and it’ll spread widely across the company.

MD: Well there’s a question there from somebody who obviously wants to do it from bottom up, it's a question from Harry and he says “Is there a pack available for me to give to my boss to help him to understand the importance of the sustainability and the environment.”

AH: Yes I mean we’ll be happy to give him of the arguments some of the things that he can take to his boss if he approaches us on his betterworld site we’ll be happy to provide him.

MD: And what's the address again?

AH: It's BT.com/betterworld

MD: And what kind of things would be in the pack that he could give to his boss 'cos his boss sounds like he’s not very receptive at the moment?

AH: Things like the statistics, the evidence the hard evidence that it makes good business sense of terms of hard costs, productivity, and motivation.

MD: So even if Harry’s boss doesn’t think ‘Oh no this is far too difficult’ he’ll look at it and think ‘actually we might make more money’.

AH: Yes.

MD: So it doesn’t matter why they are doing it, it matters that they are doing it?

AH: I think in a way the best reason is the traditional business reason, if Harry’s boss can see that this makes good business sense that it's likely to make him more effective and his company more effective, or her more effective then that's the best reason to change.

MD: Is there a strange motivator for some companies do you think, do you think they think ‘okay if it helps my profits I’ll do it, if it's not gonna' help my profits won’t’.

AH: I think it is the strongest message I mean it is obviously the right thing to do morally and ethically but it makes good business sense and that I think you know if you’ve got the business case right, the evidence is there then that’ll be the fasted reason to change and then it's also nice to do it because it is the right thing to do.

MD: So there is kind of no excuse really is there? David wants to know “If there is a link between employee turnover and satisfaction within a firm who cares about its CSR?”

AH: There is for instance in BT we know that something like 62% of our employees are proud to work for BT as a result of knowing what we do on CSR. So we’ve got hard evidence that shows that there is a motivation link between being a good, responsible, and caring company and were people like to work and their motivation.

MD: So that's good business again isn’t it for a company if your employee are happy they’re gonna' be more productive, so everybody’s happy in a way.

AH: Yes and it is a win win around and there’s no real downside of doing this. It does take a little bit of upfront investment to get started.

MD: Does that put companies off?

AH: I think it has done in the past but I think they’re now getting ceased by the urgency of this agenda and also the fact that a lot of their competitors are doing it. You really will get left behind as a company if you’re not doing CSR and if you’re not tackling climate change, so I think it's becoming more wide spread, and the quicker. You know climate change is here ad the quicker we response the less pain we’ll have to take a species.

MD: Later on indeed. Michael Rock has written in and he wants to know “How can I work out my own personal carbon footprint and is it even possible to work it out?”

AH: Yes in fact we help, if he goes to the same site there is a carbon calculator there and which if you put in some simple information about your energy consumption, your travel, and patterns of work and stuff, then you’ll get a calculation and you’ll see what sort of CO2 consumption. On average it tends to be about 10 tons in the UK person per year. So if you’re below that you’re doing well if you’re above it you need to take some urgent action but the idea is that everybody reduces over time, so you can go as many times as you like take your current footprint, take some action and then measure again and see how much you’ve reduced.

MD: That very useful isn’t because it's like going on a diet in a way you can measure you know exactly how you’re coming down and is there information on there to show you how you can reduce personally those emissions?

AH: Absolutely loads of information, lots of tips, lots of things, so yes there’s really no excuse.

MD: Okay well we’ve got a final question now from Todd he wants to know “What will happen if we change nothing?”

AH: Well I’m afraid we’re in for a very-very bumpy ride. In terms of the impact on the economy, on the planet if we don’t do anything we’re in for a catastrophic future where you know floods, very adverse weather, real impact on the economy so people will feel it where it hurts most in their income, in their quality of life, and for many it will be a life or death choice.

MD: Which is a hect of choice Adrian Hosford I’m afraid we’re gonna' have to leave it there 'cos we’ve run out of time. If you want to know anymore of course you can go to the BT website it's BTplc.com and I think you were saying it’s BTplc.com/betterworld?

AH: Yes indeed.

MD: So there’re be more information on there everything you need to know if you’re a business or if you work in a company and you just want your boss to do a little bit more go to BTplc.com and get your questions answered and get your pack for your employer. That's it from us for the Business Show; we’ll see you again next time. Thanks for watching.

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