As Canada’s largest communications company, we strive to lead in creating an environmentally sustainable future through responsible management of the environment and mitigating the effects of climate change. Our stakeholders expect that our environmental leadershipfootnote 1 be defined by bold action, so we are making meaningful progress toward optimal resource use, reducing our GHG footprint, effective waste reduction and proven circular economy practices.
To deliver on our strategic imperative to engage and invest in our people and create a sustainable future, we endeavour to limit our environmental impact throughout our operations, network and in our solutions. We strive for energy efficiency and resistant to climate-related disruptions, while delivering cost efficiency to both us and to our customers.
How we monitor impact and progress:
Topic |
2022 performance |
YoY change |
2022 third-party verification |
Trend |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions | Carbon neutral operations target starting in 2025footnote 2 | 256,325 | –3.3% | PwC (Scope 1 and 2 emissions and YoY change)footnote 3 | Improving |
| Science-based targets (SBTs)footnote 4 | |||||
| 1) Reduce our absolute scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions 58% by 2030, from a 2020 base yearfootnote 5 | –2.5% | –3.3 percentage points | PwC | Improving | |
| 2) Reach 64% of our suppliers by spend covering purchased goods and services with science-based targets by 2026 | 26% | +11 percentage points | Data not available | Improving | |
| 3) Reduce our absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from categories other than purchased goods and services 42% by 2030, from a 2020 base yearfootnote 6 | –12.1% | -0.1 percentage points | Data not available | Improving | |
| Circular Economy | Waste reduction: Reach and maintain a 15% reduction in total waste sent to landfill by 2025, from a 2019 base year | –8% | Improved by 3 percentage points | PwC | Improving |
| Hazardous waste: Divert 100% of generated hazardous waste to certified recyclers by 2024 | 99% | No change | PwC | Stable | |
| E-waste recovery: Recover 7 million used TV receivers, modems, mobile phones and WiFi pods between January 1, 2021 and the end of 2023 | 4,788,779 | +2,326,681 68% of our 2023 target reached | PwC | Improving | |
| Management approach tagGRI 102-56 | Maintain ISO 14001 certification | Certified | Maintained 14th year in a row | Bureau Veritas | Achieved |
| Maintain ISO 50001 certification | Certified | Maintained 3rd year in a row | Bureau Veritas | Achieved |
A mature environmental management approach
Our Environmental Management System (EMS) powers our environmental leadership, informing our actions to adapt to emerging environmental impacts and future challenges. Demonstrated environmental leadership helps us attract and retain skilled team members and customers, reduces risk and encourages investment in our company.
Our activities and outcomes Environmental leadership and continual improvement
Bell’s leadership on environmental issues starts with innovative programs to reduce environmental impacts throughout our entire value chain. While we build our networks in the environment, consume natural resources and produce residual materials, our EMS seeks to ensure we act to protect biodiversity, reduce consumption of resources, better manage our residual materials, maintain clean air and prevent soil contamination.
Bell also fosters environmental innovation by engaging with cleantech clusters, such as Écotech Québec, that are focused on accelerating clean technologies. Through these partnerships, we support local innovation and leverage cleantech entrepreneurs to improve our environmental performance. Écotech Québec gives Bell access to 19 leading cleantech clusters around the world through the International Cleantech Network.
To learn more more about our environmental programs, see our information sheets on Air Emissions, Biodiversity and ecosystem, Soil and water protection, Sustainable real estate Circular economy and Mitigating climate change.
To learn more about our management approach, see our Environmental and energy management system Clean water and sanitaion Sustainable cities and communities Responsible consumption and production Climate action life on land
Climate change
Climate change poses risks to the health of our operating environment and our ability to create value. To help mitigate these risks, we aim to reduce our energy consumption and GHG emissions while continuing to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
To learn more about how our products and services enable our customers to reduce their GHG footprint, see the Solutions contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation section.
Our activities and outcomesMitigating climate change
Advancing energy efficiency
Our effort to contribute to climate change mitigation starts with our own energy consumption and with the way we manage energy. We are proud to be the first communications companyfootnote asterisk in North America to have its energy management system certified ISO 50001, allowing us to take a systemic and sustainable approach across the company and to ensure continuous improvement.
Since 2008, our senior management-level Energy Board has worked to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of our energy management system by identifying and implementing energy-saving initiatives in our facilities, infrastructure and fleet. It also oversees progress toward meeting our GHG emissions reduction targets. Progress is reported to the Risk and Pension Fund Committee of the BCE Board using a carbon emissions dashboard.
We are reducing electricity usage by optimizing facility and equipment heating and cooling, implementing LED lighting conversions and modernizing our network equipment, as well as working to consolidate, optimize and virtualize servers.
Overall, we have 8 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and 38 BOMA BEST (Building Owners and Managers Association’s Building Environmental Standards) building certifications. More than 7 million square feet of Bell’s occupied space is covered by such certifications.
To learn more, see the Sustainable real estate
Energy consumption (MWh equivalent) divided by network usage (petabytes)
Our energy management system is embedded in our operational structure. As we identify and manage energy savings initiatives, we can easily build short, medium and long-term plans.
We reduce our fuel consumption through our ongoing fleet modernization and electrification. In 2022, we replaced 274 older vehicles with more fuel-efficient models, and we currently have 57 electric and 63 hybrid vehicles in service.
To learn more about our fleet electrification, watch our Bell for Better
We aim to have thousands of electric vehicles by 2027
To learn more about Bell’s approach to advancing our energy efficiency and renewable energy strategy, including historical energy and carbon savings, along with our cleaner vehicle transition plan, see our Mitigating climate change
Reducing our GHG footprint
Our target is to be carbon neutral for our operational GHG emissions starting in 2025, and we continue to implement measures aimed at reducing our electricity and fuel consumption. For the remaining GHG emissions that we cannot reduce, we expect to partner with a well-recognized organization to purchase credible carbon credits to offset emissions.
Looking ahead to 2030, we have set science-based targets (SBTs) that align with the goals of the Paris Agreementfootnote 7. By setting such GHG emissions reduction targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) footnote 8, and by joining the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, we aim to do our fair share to help limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
The SBTi has approved our three specific targets that cover all scopes footnote 9. In line with a 1.5°C trajectory, we target to reduce our absolute operational GHG emissions (scope 1 and 2) 58% by 2030, from our 2020 base year. For our upstream and downstream indirect GHG emissions (scope 3), we used a hybrid approach combining supplier engagement and absolute GHG reductions to have the greatest impact. We thus target reaching 64% of our suppliers (by spend covering purchased goods and services) adopting SBTs by 2026. We further target to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from all categories (other than purchased goods and services) footnote 10 42% by 2030, from 2020.
Our action plan includes flagship initiatives such as vehicle fleet electrification, procurement of renewable energy, improvements to energy-efficient equipment, and the reduction of our real estate footprint. Initiatives to reduce our upstream and downstream indirect emissions, specifically the purchase of goods and services, includes collaboration with industry peers, supplier education and improved contractual agreements. Other indirect emissions should be reduced by dematerializing our real estate footprint and products distributed, and by collaborating with our dealer stores and companies in which we hold non-controlling interests (respectively referred to as franchises and equity investments under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) to reduce their emissions.
Reinforcing Bell’s objective of controlling and reducing its GHG emissions, our $3.5 billion sustainability-linked loan (SLL) supports our science-based targets for operational GHG emissions reduction and supplier engagement by tying performance with our cost of financing.
To learn more about our SLL, see the Sustainable investor returns and strong capital structure section.
Bell’s total GHG emissionsTonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e)footnote 11
Scope 1
141,270
138,722
134,288
Scope 2
121,6811
126,288
122,037
Total
2,229,064
2,223,425
2,182,276
2020
Scopefootnote 12
Scope 1
141,270
Scope 2
121,6811
Scope 3footnote 14
1,966,113
Total
2,229,064
2021
Scope 1
138,722
Scope 2
126,288
Scope 3footnote 14
1,958,415
Total
2,223,425
2022
Scope 1
134,288
Scope 2
122,037
Scope 3footnote 14
1,925,951
Total
2,182,276
To learn more on our energy consumption and carbon footprint across our value chain, see our Mitigating climate change
To learn more about how we address climate change, watch our Bell for Better video
In 2021, we created our Carbon Reduction Task Force, composed of internal stakeholders involved in climate change mitigation. Reporting to the Energy Board, the task force sets targets at business function levels and is exploring internal carbon pricing.
To further explore innovative ways to achieve our GHG emissions reduction targets, in 2022 we created the Innovation Working Group (IWG). Reporting to the Carbon Reduction Task Force, it evaluates, prioritizes and recommends GHG-saving initiatives for funding through our Green Budget, a dedicated annual fund to decarbonize our operations. The IWG is also mandated to establish an “Enviro by Design process”, to consider energy and GHG emissions impacts at the beginning of any new business project.
We are also collaborating with partners, such as Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), GSMA, the EXCEL Partnership, CBSR Net zero working group, the UNGC’s SDG Ambition Accelerator, the Partenariat Climat Montréal, the CIO’s Sustainable IT Pledge and Canada’s Net-Zero Leaderboard to develop best practices in defining and supporting actions to achieve GHG emissions reduction targets.
To learn more about our partnerships, see Our corporate responsibility approach
Adapting to the impacts of climate change
Adapting to the impacts of climate change by building greater resiliency into our business is crucial to ensuring business continuity and value creation as lack of preparation could significantly disrupt our network.
Our operations depend on how well we protect our networks, supporting infrastructure and facilities against damage from natural disasters. This includes seismic and severe-weather events such as ice, snow and windstorms, flooding, wildfires and tornadoes.
We aim to manage the risks related to climate change by improving the resiliency of our value chain and intend to continue to adapt to potential climate change impacts by building greater resiliency into our business.
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Addressing risks and opportunitiesclimate-related
By analyzing our impacts on and exposure to climate-related risks and opportunities, we can both guide our internal actions and keep our stakeholders informed, including regular reporting on our energy performance and associated GHG emissions.
A supporter of the recommendations of the Task Force on climate-related Financial Disclosures, Bell started disclosing based on TCFD recommendations in 2018. Since 2020, Bell’s annual TCFD reports fully align with TCFD recommendations.
To learn more, see our TCFD summary section and our BCE’s 2022 TCFD report.
Since 2003, we have reported on our climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts through the CDP (formerly named Carbon Disclosure Project), which gathers information on climate-related risks and opportunities from organizations worldwide. In 2022, we obtained an A-score from the CDP, ranking us in the “Leadership Band” for the seventh consecutive year, recognizing our leadership on climate action and alignment with current best practices, and the transparency of our climate-related disclosures.
We continue monitoring our climate-related scenario analysis to identify transition and physical risks resulting from the impacts of climate change in the short (five years), medium (10 years) and long term (20 years).
Circular economy
Since the success of our value creation relies on the efficient use of resources, we are improving our circular economy model to focus on solutions that detach growth from accelerating raw material consumption, effectively reducing the environmental impact of our operations. Waste reduction is essential to improving our operational efficiency, which generates economic benefits, and aligns with the values and expectations of our team members and customers.
To manage the existing overlaps between the SDGs and our circular economy frameworks, Bell co-created a guide with the Global Compact Network Canada to establish how the circular economy principles complement the SDGs. Discussions on opportunities, challenges and best practices helped identify solutions that can be implemented within organizations. This approach was intended to inspire further action on the applicable SDGs, and promote the transition toward a circular economy in the Canadian market.
To learn more, read the Leveraging a circular economy to fast-track the SDGs
Our activities and outcomesResponsible procurement of goods and services
tagGRI 301-2tagGRI 102-13
Designing out waste and pollution in our supply chain enables us to build and sustain more resilient processes while limiting costs and burden throughout our business.
To design out waste and pollution in our supply chain we start with suppliers, evaluating environmental and corporate responsibility risks, and setting sustainability criteria to minimize environmental impacts. These criteria address the use of toxic substances, heavy minerals, the recyclability of materials, the identification of plastics used, energy efficiency and the impact on our carbon footprint.
Bell requires that sustainable criteria be applied to contracts for the purchase of electronic products to ensure they are energy efficient. We participate in the Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement (CEEVA), whose program for TV set-top boxes (STBs) aims to complement the ENERGY STAR program in Canada. CEEVA’s Small Network Equipment (SNE) program aims to improve the energy efficiency of these devices without compromising rapidly evolving technological advancements or customer usability. We also require sustainable packaging for all contracts related to tangible goods we resell to customers or use internally.
Bell is also focused on designing out waste by reducing the purchase and use of single-use plastics. Since 2020, Bell has enforced a company-wide directive on single-use plastics to reduce plastic waste at the source. The directive targets four single-use plastic categories: plastic bags, promotional items, water bottles and cafeteria items.
Embedding circularity deeper into our operations strengthens our path toward a positively high-impact value chain. This includes integrating ways to eliminate unnecessary waste and packaging into our process.
To learn more about each activity and our initiatives, see our Circular economy
Bell’s circular economy pillars
Transforming consumption through circular models
We seek to identify potential efficiencies to keep products and materials in use and to develop efficient and effective business practices by encouraging team members to rethink current practices to improve both efficiency and performance. We also ask team members to rethink consumption patterns to reduce material waste at the source, and work with stakeholders to manage and redirect products and materials from landfill.
Over the past few years, we have implemented several reuse, maintenance, repair and refurbishment initiatives, including setting up internal repair shops at a number of work centres to repair tools and ladders. Initiatives such as a reverse logistic process to ensure the repair and reuse of our wooden cable reels used to wind, transport and lay cables, provide a source of value creation for the company in terms of potentially reducing consumption associated with product-life extension and minimizing the purchase of new material, thereby reducing cost.
Bell provides national take-back programs, drop-boxes and mail-in instructions that make recovery of end-of-life consumer electronics easy and efficient.
By renting STBs, modems and Wi-Fi pods, Bell maintains ownership of the equipment, allowing us to manage their maintenance, repair and reuse, diverting electronic waste from landfill. We also provide return and repair services through in-store drop-off and prepaid mailing labels to all customers using rental products. In 2022, our recovery programs diverted more than 1,977 metric tonnes of customer electronic devices away from landfill.
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We have a three-year electronic waste goal of collecting seven million used STBs, receivers, modems, mobile phones and Wi-Fi pods between January 2021 and by the end of 2023, to help divert as much e-waste from landfill as possible. In 2021 and 2022, Bell recovered 4,788,779 electronic devices, and we are on track to meet our target of recovering seven million devices by the end of 2023 footnote 15.
Customer devices recovered between January 1, 2021 to end of 2023
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2,462,098 total devices recovered in 2021
4,788,779 cumulative total devices recovered in 2021 & 2022
Our cumulative target for year 2021 to 2023 is to recover 7,000,000 devices
To learn more, see our Circular economy information sheet
Giving new life to resources and diverting waste
tagGRI 306-1
To better manage our network waste, we have integrated most of our installation and construction functions internally. We also seek to minimize our environmental impact by collaborating with suppliers to advance our waste management practices, helping reduce costs, ensure compliance and avoid hazardous incidents.
In 2021, Bell announced a partnership with World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada), to support their ambitious 10-year Regenerate Canada plan to fight biodiversity loss and climate change in nature. By returning used mobile devices to Bell through the Bell Blue Box program, our customers are also playing a role as we donate the net proceeds from the residual value of these mobile devices to WWF-Canada, advancing their goal of restoring one million hectares of land, steward 100 million hectares of vital ecosystems and reduce carbon emissions by 30 million tonnes.
To learn more, watch our Bell For Better – Bell Blue Box Program video
We have also been recovering residual materials from our operations for more than 30 years and have mature recycling programs for our telecommunications copper cables, terminals, utility poles, cable reels, wood pallets, and lead-acid batteries. We are addressing the challenge of recycling fibre optic cables by working with partners to establish a process to break down the components in order to recycle as much of the cables as possible. In our administrative offices, we launched the Sort-It program in 2009 to encourage employees to sort their waste at central stations by separating paper, cardboard, glass, steel, aluminum and organic matter for diversion from landfill.
We aim to improve our recycling efforts by reporting our progress on reaching and maintaining a total waste-sent-to-landfill reduction target of 15% by 2025, relative to our 2019 base year. In 2022, we reduced the total waste sent to landfill by 8% compared to 2019 footnote 16. We also continue to pursue our established target of recovering 100% of generated hazardous waste footnote 17 and diverting it to certified recyclers by 2024, and have already reached 99% footnote 16.
To learn more about how Bell manages operational waste, watch our Bell for Better
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To learn more on our energy consumption and carbon footprint across our value chain, see our Mitigating climate change
To learn more about how we address climate change, watch our Bell for Better video
In 2021, we created our Carbon Reduction Task Force, composed of internal stakeholders involved in climate change mitigation. Reporting to the Energy Board, the task force sets targets at business function levels and is exploring internal carbon pricing.
To further explore innovative ways to achieve our GHG emissions reduction targets, in 2022 we created the Innovation Working Group (IWG). Reporting to the Carbon Reduction Task Force, it evaluates, prioritizes and recommends GHG-saving initiatives for funding through our Green Budget, a dedicated annual fund to decarbonize our operations. The IWG is also mandated to establish an “Enviro by Design process”, to consider energy and GHG emissions impacts at the beginning of any new business project.
We are also collaborating with partners, such as Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), GSMA, the EXCEL Partnership, CBSR Net zero working group, the UNGC’s SDG Ambition Accelerator, the Partenariat Climat Montréal, the CIO’s Sustainable IT Pledge and Canada’s Net-Zero Leaderboard to develop best practices in defining and supporting actions to achieve GHG emissions reduction targets.
To learn more about our partnerships, see Our corporate responsibility approach
Adapting to the impacts of climate change
Our operations depend on how well we protect our networks, supporting infrastructure and facilities against damage from natural disasters. This includes seismic and severe-weather events such as ice, snow and windstorms, flooding, wildfires and tornadoes.
Addressing risks and opportunitiesclimate-related
A supporter of the recommendations of the Task Force on climate-related Financial Disclosures, Bell started disclosing based on TCFD recommendations in 2018. Since 2020, Bell’s annual TCFD reports fully align with TCFD recommendations.
To learn more, see our TCFD summary section and our BCE’s 2022 TCFD report.
Since 2003, we have reported on our climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts through the CDP (formerly named Carbon Disclosure Project), which gathers information on climate-related risks and opportunities from organizations worldwide. In 2022, we obtained an A-score from the CDP, ranking us in the “Leadership Band” for the seventh consecutive year, recognizing our leadership on climate action and alignment with current best practices, and the transparency of our climate-related disclosures.
Circular economy
Since the success of our value creation relies on the efficient use of resources, we are improving our circular economy model to focus on solutions that detach growth from accelerating raw material consumption, effectively reducing the environmental impact of our operations. Waste reduction is essential to improving our operational efficiency, which generates economic benefits, and aligns with the values and expectations of our team members and customers.
To manage the existing overlaps between the SDGs and our circular economy frameworks, Bell co-created a guide with the Global Compact Network Canada to establish how the circular economy principles complement the SDGs. Discussions on opportunities, challenges and best practices helped identify solutions that can be implemented within organizations. This approach was intended to inspire further action on the applicable SDGs, and promote the transition toward a circular economy in the Canadian market.
To learn more, read the Leveraging a circular economy to fast-track the SDGs
Our activities and outcomesResponsible procurement of goods and services
To design out waste and pollution in our supply chain we start with suppliers, evaluating environmental and corporate responsibility risks, and setting sustainability criteria to minimize environmental impacts. These criteria address the use of toxic substances, heavy minerals, the recyclability of materials, the identification of plastics used, energy efficiency and the impact on our carbon footprint.
Bell requires that sustainable criteria be applied to contracts for the purchase of electronic products to ensure they are energy efficient. We participate in the Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement (CEEVA), whose program for TV set-top boxes (STBs) aims to complement the ENERGY STAR program in Canada. CEEVA’s Small Network Equipment (SNE) program aims to improve the energy efficiency of these devices without compromising rapidly evolving technological advancements or customer usability. We also require sustainable packaging for all contracts related to tangible goods we resell to customers or use internally.
Bell is also focused on designing out waste by reducing the purchase and use of single-use plastics. Since 2020, Bell has enforced a company-wide directive on single-use plastics to reduce plastic waste at the source. The directive targets four single-use plastic categories: plastic bags, promotional items, water bottles and cafeteria items.
Embedding circularity deeper into our operations strengthens our path toward a positively high-impact value chain. This includes integrating ways to eliminate unnecessary waste and packaging into our process.
To learn more about each activity and our initiatives, see our Circular economy
Bell’s circular economy pillars
Transforming consumption through circular models
Over the past few years, we have implemented several reuse, maintenance, repair and refurbishment initiatives, including setting up internal repair shops at a number of work centres to repair tools and ladders. Initiatives such as a reverse logistic process to ensure the repair and reuse of our wooden cable reels used to wind, transport and lay cables, provide a source of value creation for the company in terms of potentially reducing consumption associated with product-life extension and minimizing the purchase of new material, thereby reducing cost.
By renting STBs, modems and Wi-Fi pods, Bell maintains ownership of the equipment, allowing us to manage their maintenance, repair and reuse, diverting electronic waste from landfill. We also provide return and repair services through in-store drop-off and prepaid mailing labels to all customers using rental products. In 2022, our recovery programs diverted more than 1,977 metric tonnes of customer electronic devices away from landfill.
Giving new life to resources and diverting waste
In 2021, Bell announced a partnership with World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada), to support their ambitious 10-year Regenerate Canada plan to fight biodiversity loss and climate change in nature. By returning used mobile devices to Bell through the Bell Blue Box program, our customers are also playing a role as we donate the net proceeds from the residual value of these mobile devices to WWF-Canada, advancing their goal of restoring one million hectares of land, steward 100 million hectares of vital ecosystems and reduce carbon emissions by 30 million tonnes.
To learn more, watch our Bell For Better – Bell Blue Box Program video
We have also been recovering residual materials from our operations for more than 30 years and have mature recycling programs for our telecommunications copper cables, terminals, utility poles, cable reels, wood pallets, and lead-acid batteries. We are addressing the challenge of recycling fibre optic cables by working with partners to establish a process to break down the components in order to recycle as much of the cables as possible. In our administrative offices, we launched the Sort-It program in 2009 to encourage employees to sort their waste at central stations by separating paper, cardboard, glass, steel, aluminum and organic matter for diversion from landfill.
We aim to improve our recycling efforts by reporting our progress on reaching and maintaining a total waste-sent-to-landfill reduction target of 15% by 2025, relative to our 2019 base year. In 2022, we reduced the total waste sent to landfill by 8% compared to 2019 footnote 16. We also continue to pursue our established target of recovering 100% of generated hazardous waste footnote 17 and diverting it to certified recyclers by 2024, and have already reached 99% footnote 16.
To learn more about how Bell manages operational waste, watch our Bell for Better
