BT steps up its industrial green drive

Telco group BT has entered ‘phase two’ of its Green Tech Innovation Platform programme, bringing three start ups under its wing.

BT today has announced it has entered phase two of its Green Tech Innovation Platform, an environmental scheme which was set up to ‘fast-track cutting-edge new digital solutions to help manufacturers cut their carbon emissions and progress towards a circular world.’

Presumably BT is referring to the ‘circular economy’ concept here – which means recycling – rather than commenting on the shape of the planet.

It’s doing this by working with three start ups who are apparently focussed on green tech – RIICO, Sensorfact and Circularise. The firms are tasked with coming up with more environmentally friendly things in manufacturing sector, such as redesigning manufacturing processes, better energy efficiency and Deliver energy efficiency and providing ‘circularity and transparency in supply chains.’

By way of explanation of why it is doing all this, BT cites its own assertion contained within a recent joint report with Accenture that ‘tech, including 5G, can help reduce carbon emissions from the manufacturing sector by 13% by 2030’.

“We have set a target to help customers avoid 60million tonnes of CO2e by 2030 through our products and services, and Green TIP phase two allows us to do this,” said David Wrout, Principal – Digital Supply Chain, Enterprise Digital Solutions at BT. “By using the power of digital, we can drive sustainability impact throughout the value chain and help our customers with the transition to net zero. We are really excited about the opportunities we can explore with the three innovative start-ups we’ve selected in phase two for our manufacturing customers.”

Alejandra Matamoros, Technology Manager at Manufacturing Technology Centre added: “The MTC is pleased to be working with BT on the Green TIP to support manufacturers in trialling the selected technologies, proving their potential to help them reach their sustainability targets and show other businesses alike how to make progress towards a greener manufacturing industry”.

It’s all a bit vague, as corporate green proclamations have a tendency to be. What it does provide is another example of telco firms using environmental messaging to evangelise for 5G, as Orange did yesterday. Perhaps there are lots of environmental benefits to be had by deploying 5G everywhere, or perhaps marketing departments are grasping for tangible use cases to point to since robot surgery didn’t seem to do the trick. Or perhaps both of these things are true.