By Jane Wood, Nations and Regions director at BT

THE Scottish Government’s Climate Change Bill is in its early legislative stages in the Scottish Parliament. It will set in place new ambitious targets to reduce Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2050 as well as introducing new powers to set Scotland on course to net zero emissions by a date which is yet to be decided.

Scotland is a small, agile nation and has had the leadership in place for many years at all layers of government and business to reach these goals, so we should embrace these targets and work collaboratively to achieving them. The Scottish economy will continue to benefit from low-carbon investment and the jobs and efficiencies it creates.

The UK Government in partnership with Scottish minsters has asked the Committee on Climate Change to advise it when the UK economy can achieve net zero emissions. This could mean the UK would become the first amongst the G7 nations.

We are proud at BT of the work we have done to reduce our emissions over the last 25 years. We have a big responsibility, as we use around one per cent of the UK’s electricity each year keeping the UK connected, and we continue to reduce our energy consumption year on year.

Last year, BT set in place a new pledge to become a net zero-carbon business by 2045. We are confident we can achieve this having put in place a science-based target in line with a 1.5C trajectory in 2017 having met our original emissions target – to reduce our emissions by 80 per cent by 2020 – four years early.

Scotland has moved quickly to decarbonise its electricity supply, so we are now a net-exporter of green electricity to the rest of the UK. This has reduced our dependency on fossil fuel generation such as coal and gas. At BT we have signed PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements) with wind farms across the UK, including Fallago Rig in the Scottish Borders and Stroupster in Caithness, which means all of our electricity requirements in Scotland come from renewable sources, which has helped us to reach our targets.

The next challenge will be reducing emissions from how we heat our buildings and from transport. There are a number of ways in which BT and other large businesses can achieve this: BT is looking at how we can convert our fleet to ultra-low emission vehicles which will reduce carbon as well as other emissions which pollute our air. We are also investigating how we can decarbonise our buildings and we are working with our suppliers to help them reduce their environmental impacts.

Our climate action work doesn’t just benefit society, it also makes business sense. Since 2010, we have made savings of more than £250 million through our energy efficiency programme alone. Last year our products and services helped our customers avoid more than 11m tonnes of carbon. That’s the equivalent of the carbon emissions of nearly three million UK households. The revenues associated with these services represent £5.3bn or 22 per cent of BT’s total revenues.

Keeping to 1.5C is a vital goal and we will all need to play a part. Business can’t wait for government to regulate us; through collaboration on innovation in the green economy and the excellent resources we can draw upon, Scotland has every opportunity to reach net zero emissions well ahead of the targets that will soon be put in place.