AT&T Expands Focus on Sustainability

“More and more AT&T business customers are ramping up their efforts to assess and reduce emissions in their supply chains,” says Tim Fleming, director of global enterprise sustainability at AT&T. They include lowering their carbon footprint across the business and supply chains, with an increase focus on Scope 3 emissions, growing renewable energy, being more transparent with sustainability efforts and preparing for disruptions from natural events among other tops.

AT&T says sustainability is increasingly a driver of cost savings and revenue generation and the company’s sustainability team listed several areas that will influence their work over the next year. It says after an early focus on wind power, which includes a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement made earlier this year in Oklahoma, the company has seen more opportunities in purchasing solar energy.

It is also adopting broadband-enabled, low-carbon technology for AT&T’s operations as well as working with business customers to help them reduce emissions.

AT&T says more tax incentives for renewable energy could offer increased deals for the power sources. “With an increased focus on Scope 3 emissions, we’re seeing a growing number of requests for information from our customers as they engage their suppliers on sustainability.” The Science Based Targets Initiative says more than 80% of the world’s emissions are created by corporate Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The company says more stakeholders and investors want to know where businesses stand on net zero efforts, as accountability becomes increasingly important on making sustainable transitions. The company says it is the seventh largest consumer of renewable energy in the United States and it plans to increase its ranking in 2022.

AT&T also says it wants to grow its renewable energy resources. With corporations continually expanding their focus on sustainability and how it impacts business, AT&T is concentrating on numerous areas to achieve stated goals and make continued improvements in the area. Earlier in 2021 the company launched the Connected Climate Initiative, which is a collaborative effort by businesses to reduce emissions by a gigaton by 2035 compared with 2018 levels.

AT&T released its Climate Strategy & Transition plan this year to show how the company is working toward its goals. It recently launched its Net-Zero Corporate Standard, which includes a plan to help improve cuts in Scope 3 emissions.