By 2035, AT&T will be carbon neutral across its entire global operations. The new commitment strengthens the company’s current efforts to mitigate climate change.
AT&T writes on its website:
As one of the world’s largest companies, we can play a role in creating a better, more environmentally sustainable future. We’re acting to address climate change and prepare for its impacts because it is good for our business, for the stakeholders we serve, and for our planet.
As part of this, it will be expanding its Climate Change Analysis Tool (CCAT) across the contiguous United States to better prepare for natural disasters. CCAT is a program that identifies the potential impacts of climate change in a given area on the network and operations. It calculates up to three decades into the future.
John Stankey, AT&T chief executive officer, said:
Our network is tested by climate change and natural disasters every year. We recognize the long-term impact these commitments can have, and we owe it to the millions of customers who rely on our services to create the most resilient and sustainable business we can.
At the moment, it is only running in four pilot states in the southeast. Climate impacts monitored include hurricanes and flooding, as well as drought and wildfire projections. AT&T will make the climate modeling data available to the public to use in their climate risk analysis.
The company is focusing on six initiatives to reach its target. These include:
- Fast-tracking network optimization and energy efficiency efforts
- Virtualizing several network functions
- Transitioning to a low-emissions fleet of service vans
- Going all-in with renewables
- Making its TV production and feature film sector more sustainable
- Investing in carbon offsets wherever it’s impossible to shave off carbon emissions
AT&T will be implementing thousands of energy efficiency projects yearly across its network and operation. The projects will reduce electricity use and costs. It will also be replacing significant portions of energy-intensive network equipment with low-cost, energy-efficient hardware that virtualizes the functions of the network equipment instead.
To improve its mobility sector, the company will be switching its operational fleet to hybrid vehicles, reducing the number of cars in use, and optimizing routes. Eventually, it will completely decarbonize the entire fleet.
AT&T is among the largest corporate buyers of renewable energy in the United States. At Climate Week NYC 2019, it announced having purchased more than 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity to date. That, along with other renewable energy power purchase agreements, is equivalent to taking 690,000 cars off the road or providing power to over 560,000 for a year. It will continue to support the renewable energy marketplace on forth.
Charlene Lake, the Chief Sustainability Officer & Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, said:
AT&T’s renewable energy purchases are just one action our company is taking to respond to the changing climate. Addressing climate change is a global challenge—and it will take collective action to deliver significant impact.
Several other big companies have committed to becoming carbon neutral. For example, the Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will be carbon neutral by 2025. Apple and its supply chain will be by 2030, the grocery chain Sainsbury by 2040, and the Danish manufacturing company Velux by 2041. Meanwhile, Evian already is carbon neutral across all of its facilities, as is Bank of America.
