BT 2009 Annual Report Download - page 25

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL REVIEWS OVERVIEW
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL REVIEWS BUSINESS REVIEW
23BT GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT & FORM 20-F
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL REVIEWS
Corporate responsibility
We measure progress towards our corporate responsibility (CR)
goals using our non-financial KPIs, which are shown in the chart on
pages 24 and 25. We also report the direct costs to BT and the
indirect impacts on society associated with the way we manage
environmental and social issues. This is in accordance with the
principles of the Connected Reporting Framework sponsored
by HRH, the Prince of Wales. Our sustainability report
(www.bt.com/betterworld) provides full details of our CR progress.
Supporting communities
All our lines of business support our community involvement
activities.
UK
In 2009, we helped to launch Communicating for Success, a
co-funded partnership between BT and the Football Foundation, to
tackle digital exclusion and improve communications skills in the
UK.
We partner with a number of charities, including Childline,
Children in Need and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) in
2009, for which BT and BT employees raised over £4m. BT people
volunteer to take donations in our call centres as part of major
charity telephone and online appeals. We also manage the
telephone networks and provide the online donation technology.
For the past three years, Openreach has supported iCAN, a
charity working for children with speech and language difficulties.
Rest of the world
The Inspiring Young Minds programme, our global development
partnership with UNICEF, which brings IT skills to children, launches
in China in 2010, following Brazil in 2008 and South Africa in 2007.
In India, we support the work of the Katha IT and E-commerce
school in one of Delhi’s poorest areas.
We launched our first global disaster relief secondee programme
with the Red Cross. BT volunteers with critical skills can be deployed
into disaster zones alongside the aid charity’s own workers.
Protecting the environment
We aim to be a leader in the new low carbon economy. On the one
hand, we recognise that the IT and communications industries
constitute nearly 2% of global carbon emissions, and we are
working hard to reduce these. On the other hand, communications
technology reduces the need for people to travel and offers scope
for improved logistics, energy distribution and energy management
– which in turn reduces carbon emissions.
We have been rated number one in the telecommunications
sector in the Dow Jones Global Sustainability Index for the past
eight years. We also hold the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for
Sustainable Development and Business in the Community’s
Community Mark.
We meet the guidelines of the Association of British Insurers in
reporting on social performance and have also applied the Prince of
Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability reporting framework.
Corporate responsibility risks
During 2009, we continued to develop our knowledge and
understanding of our corporate responsibility risks. Our most
significant CR risks continue to be:
breach of our code of business ethics
climate change
diversity
health and safety
privacy
supply chain working conditions.
Each of these risks has an owner and a mitigation strategy in place.
These risks are not regarded as material in relation to the group and
consequently are not included in Principal risks and uncertainties.