O2 awarded Carbon Trust standard

O2 is the first UK mobile operator to be officially certified with the Carbon Trust Standard. The award is recognition of O2’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and the 15% reduction in energy consumption achieved over the past three years.

The Carbon Trust Standard is the world’s first carbon award that requires an organisation to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and actually make real reductions year-on-year. Unlike other award schemes, organisations are rewarded for actions they have taken to cut carbon across their own operations.

O2 has implemented a range of initiatives over the past three years to improve energy efficiency. These include:

· A £1.4m investment in smart metering technology to accurately monitor real-time energy consumption across cell sites, retail premises and offices

· Installing more energy efficiency technology in the O2 network

· Removal of air conditioning on certain cell sites, replaced with free-cooling fan boxes

· The use of LED lighting in retail stores

· Advanced boiler controls for all main gas boilers

· Waterless urinals in offices and contact centres

· Reducing PC monitor standby times

· A significant internal recycling initiative championed by employees themselves

Overall, O2 has saved 47,000 tonnes of CO2 as a result of these initiatives.

Ronan Dunne, CEO, Telefónica O2 UK commented:

“Part of our success can be put down to a realisation that you don’t always need to spend large amounts of money to see energy and carbon improvements. For O2, we saw some of our early wins from simple initiatives such as changing heating & cooling patterns in the offices & contact centres and our awareness raising ‘Flick the Switch’ campaign targeting energy wastage. The results improved our bottom line, without excessive expenditure. Really, it’s all about listening to your people and suppliers, and addressing their needs with minimal energy consumption.”

Harry Morrison, General Manager of the Carbon Trust Standard, commented:

“Being certified with the Carbon Trust Standard is proof an organisation has taken genuine action to reduce their direct impact on climate change by cutting carbon emissions. We congratulate O2 on this achievement.

“Both businesses and consumers share a desire for one, credible way to prove an organisation has not only measured, but actually reduced their carbon emissions year-on-year without the use of offsetting. The Carbon Trust Standard provides this credibility and we encourage more organisations to follow O2 in making this commitment.”

The Carbon Trust Standard was launched in June 2008 with the support of Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Deborah Meaden.

Deborah Meaden, Dragon’s Den entrepreneur said:

“I passionately believe that success in business and positive action on the environment can go hand in hand and deliver real bottom line benefits. The Carbon Trust Standard is about showing which organisations have really taken practical action on climate change – it cuts through greenwash and celebrates those businesses making genuine reductions in their carbon emissions.

“Tackling environmental issues has to be seen as both a business priority and opportunity and achieving the Carbon Trust Standard is a great way of recognising truly progressive organisations.”

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