The ITM has awarded Bronze ICARUS accreditation status to BT, in recognition of its ‘commitment, measurement and targeted reduction of emissions from its business travel and meetings programme’.
The judges, members of the ICARUS advisory board, praised BT for having made great use of conferencing and collaboration tools to reduce the need for its employees to travel.
BT’s accreditation brings the total number of Bronze level companies to five, after SAS UK & Ireland, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture and Barclays.
Project ICARUS chairman, Mark Avery, commented: ‘It’s easy to say that BT should be focusing its efforts on encouraging people to fly less and use alternative means because that’s the role of their communications products, but it is a big business just like any other and needs to work face-to-face with its customers too.
‘The fact that it is encouraging its employees to make informed decisions about their travel plans and help reduce emissions by using conference calls instead shows that it is genuinely committed to working smarter, a BT ethic operated across its work-force in general.’
Project ICARUS was established by the ITM in 2006 with help from the Government’s Omega fund.
Overseen by an advisory board of senior buyers, academics and consultants, in addition to the accreditation scheme it offers stakeholders environmental and duty of care toolkits and an annual awards programme.
See also:
ITM investigates virtual vs face-to-face (01/12/2009)
First SME for ITM green scheme (03/11/2009)
CWT retains green crown (19/10/2009)
Accenture aims to cut air miles and emissions (25/09/2009)
Barclays earns ICARUS accreditation (15/04/2009)
ITM takes ICARUS to another level (13/01/2009)
ITM firms up CSR standards (23/03/2007)