We want to lead the way to a bright, sustainable future. To do that, we’ve made a set of commitments to ensure we’re always striving to be responsible, inclusive and sustainable.

Our BT Group Manifesto strategy

The BT Group Manifesto boldly focuses on accelerating growth – through responsible, inclusive and sustainable tech. This will help us achieve our purpose to connect for good and  our ambition to be the world’s most trusted connector of people, devices and machines by 2030. This allows us to focus on the things that will make the biggest difference to a bright, sustainable future. 

  • We’re committed to:

    • Invest in new growth tech that will help us live and work better.

    • Apply responsible tech principles across BT’s full value chain.

    • Partner to build a diverse talent pipeline to drive the UK’s digital economy and growth.

    This year we’ve:

    • Invested £604m in R&D and launched a new Digital Unit to fast-track innovations in growth areas like healthcare, AI and data.

    • Refreshed our ethics code – Being trusted: our code – to explicitly include our commitments on responsible tech and human rights, updated sourcing and selling processes to further embed our responsible tech principles, and scrutinised ethical issues raised by solutions like AI through our responsible tech steering group.

    • Launched BT Accelerate Digital, our digital talent movement, to inspire people from diverse backgrounds to enter digital careers.

    Contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals…

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    8.7

    10.2

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    16.10

  • We’re committed to:

    • Pass 25m households with full fibre by December 2026.

    • Expand 5G to 90% of the UK geography by 2028, and continue to expand 4G.

    • Help 25m people with digital skills by the end of March 2026.

    • Build a diverse and inclusive workforce through our diversity and inclusion targets.

    This year we’ve:

    • Reached over 7.2m households with full fibre, and extended access to broadband for low-income households through the BT Home Essentials social tariff and Openreach’s Connect the Unconnected offer.

    • Maintained the UK’s largest, fastest 4G network, and continued the rollout out of 5G that now reaches 50% of the population in the UK.

    • Helped a further 4.6m people improve their digital skills (14.7m since 2014/15), including supporting small businesses with ‘Get Mentored, Get Growing’, helping jobseekers through FastFutures, empowering young people to get PhoneSmart and tackling online hate with Hope United.

    • Set commitments to build a diverse and inclusive workforce by 2030, supported by female talent development programmes and rapid action plans on ethnicity and disability. 

    Contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals…

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    4.3 & 4.4

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    5b

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    9.1 & 9c

  • We’re committed to:

    • Be a net zero carbon emissions business by the end of March 2031, and for suppliers and customers by the end of March 2041.

    • Science-based targets1:
      • Reduce the carbon intensity of our operations by 87% by 20312
      • Cut supplier carbon emissions by 42% by 2031.
    • Help customers avoid 60m tonnes of CO2e by the end of March 2030.

    •  Build towards a circular BT by the end of March 2030 and circular tech and telco ecosystem by the end of March 2040.

    This year we’ve:

    • Brought forward the net zero pathway for our operations by 15 years, to the end of March 2031, and set a net zero target for our supplier and customer emissions by the end of March 2041.

    • Cut our carbon emissions intensity by 55% and reduced our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55% since 2016/17, by maintaining 100%3 renewable electricity, introducing more electric vehicles to our fleet and decarbonising our buildings.

    • Cut our supplier carbon emissions by 28% since 2016/17 by continuing to work with suppliers and supported small businesses to set net zero targets.

    • Researched the potential for tech to enable a lower-carbon economy, and partnered to scale up solutions developed through our Green Tech Innovation Platform to help public sector and business customers transition to net zero.

    • Set an ambitious new circular commitment, refurbished or recycled 170k mobile devices and 1.35m home hubs and set-top boxes, and recovered or recycled 97% of our operational waste worldwide.

    1 Approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as in line with 1.5°C climate pathway.
    2 By the end of March 2031, based on reductions since FY17 (scopes 1 and 2 worldwide emissions tonnes CO2e per £m value added).
    3 99.9% of the global electricity BT consumes is from renewable sources. The remaining 0.1% is where renewable electricity is not available in the market.

    Contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals…

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    12.5 & 12.7

    UN’s Global Goals
    UN’s Global Goals

    13a

Toddler clearing up rubbish on beach

BT Group Manifesto

By 2030, we aim to become the world’s most trusted connector of people, devices and machines. This year, we launched the BT Group Manifesto to accelerate growth through technology that’s responsible, inclusive and sustainable.

Group of young students looking at computer screens

Responsible

New technology must earn trust and transform life for the better. We believe in harnessing the power of tech to connect for good.

Father and daughter using a laptop

Inclusive

The future of tech must be inclusive and diverse for everyone to benefit. We’re building inclusive connections, digital skills and a diverse BT Group.

Windmills

Sustainable

Technology must accelerate our journey to net zero emissions and a circular world. That’s why we’ve brought forward our commitment to become a net zero carbon emissions business by 15 years.

Reports and policies

Leading the way to a bright, sustainable future is a key pillar of our Group strategy and why the BT Group Manifesto plays a crucial role. We report on progress and publish our policies to make sure we’re being transparent and accountable.