Isra-Mart srl:BT promises green Olympic legacy

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While the organisers of the London Olympics consider whether or not knocking down the Olympic stadium to replace it with a football stadium really constitutes part of its vision for an environmentally sustainable event, other aspects of the Games are already delivering a more encouraging green legacy.

BT, which is a sustainability partner for London 2012 and is providing the communications infrastructure for the Olympics sites, has revealed that the comprehensive carbon footprinting exercise it undertook as part of the project will now be replicated for other corporate customers.

Speaking to BusinessGreen, Graham Seabrook,head of carbon footprinting at BT, said the company had been working with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) to develop a methodology for measuring the carbon footprint of the project to install a unified communications network for the Olympics.

"We are now taking what we have learned and applying it to all our products and services," he said. "Many of our customers are asking for data on the carbon footprint of our services, particularly in the run-up to the next phase of the Carbon Reduction Commitment, and we can now provide that information."

BT's carbon footprinting is based on the standard Greenhouse Gas Protocol from the World Resources Institute and covers emissions from the use of the equipment it installs and all related support services.

Seabrook said the service would help customers identify areas where they can reduce emissions and provide them with a benchmark to measure the effectiveness of their green policies. He added that it would also help BT compete for future contracts, particularly with a public sector that increasingly demands information on carbon emissions as part of tenders.

In addition to its carbon footprinting efforts, BT claims to have helped reduce the environmental impact of the Games by deploying a unified communications network that removes the need for separate voice and data infrastructure.

"Employing a converged network dramatically reduces energy consumption and waste, and maximises potential for re-use after the Games," said Tim Boden, BT business director for London 2012. "The design reduces the diversity of equipment needed. For example, the BT-hosted voice platform eliminates the need for separate telephony gateways and switchboards at each venue."