AT&T has established a Connected Climate Initiative (CCI), which aims to bring together partners and academics to further cut carbon emissions. The firm has set an industry-leading goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 1 billion metric tons by 2035.
A gigaton is equivalent to roughly 15% of US greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 3% of worldwide energy-related emissions, or 1.6 billion flights from Los Angeles to New York.
The company intends to convene the brightest minds from leading technology companies, AT&T Business customers, universities, and nonprofits through the newly formed Connected Climate Initiative to identify best practices, develop innovative new products and use cases, and scale the innovations of startup partners building future’s 5G– and other broadband-enabled climate solutions. At the heart of this initiative is a push to persuade business IT firms to use more renewable energy sources, as well as to move more application workloads to the cloud.
Anne Chow, CEO, AT&T Business, commented: “As businesses embrace climate change as a priority, our connectivity solutions can help them make progress to reach their goals. AT&T has a track record of delivering sustainability results within our own large-scale operations and for our business customers across industries. The time is now to expand our impact by developing and deploying more capabilities and solutions that enable companies to reduce their environmental footprint. This is a collective imperative across all business that also benefits the planet and society as a whole.”
Microsoft, Equinix, Duke Energy, Texas A&M University System, The University of Missouri, SunPower, Badger Meter, IndustLabs, Traxen, BSR, RMI, Third Derivative, and the Carbon Trust are among the organizations that have expressed their support to CCI.
