Highlights

Environment

Bell’s award-winning leadership on the environment starts with its wide range of innovative programs, from sustainable buildings to the use of renewable energy.

But it extends far beyond the company itself, from the requirements we include in supplier contracts to services like video conferencing that help customers meet their own environmental objectives.

Our environmental vision

Environmental protection is core to our corporate responsibility approach and to Bell’s goal to be recognized by customers as Canada’s leading communications company. It aligns with our Strategic imperatives, and with our determination to minimize our carbon footprint and safeguard the environment in every aspect of our operations. Our Environmental policy, first issued in 1993, reflects our team members’ values, as well as the expectations of customers, investors, and society.

Environmental Leadership

At Bell, we have been implementing and maintaining programs to reduce the environmental impact of our operations for more than 25 years. Our environmental management system (EMS) has been certified to be ISO 14001-compliant since 2009, making us the first Canadian telecommunications company to be so designated. Our diligent work to sustain this certification and our environmental protection performance in general, have been recognized by numerous external organizations.

These recognitions reflect our global environmental performance and the fact that many of our services and processes enable carbon abatement for us and our customers, from audio and video conferencing that substitute for business travel to cloud computing, virtualization and sustainable real estate practices. The business service solutions industry, of which Bell is a leading member in Canada, truly has the potential to make a difference in the global pursuit of lower-carbon economies. Efficiencies derived from our business service solutions enable Bell to mitigate its own carbon footprint, and the services we sell enable customers and partners up and down our supply chain to successfully pursue their own carbon-reduction strategies.

Environmental challenges

Our most significant environmental issues are climate change and energy consumption, waste management, including electronic device recovery, and petroleum-product equipment management. Of these topics, 2 (climate change and energy consumption, and electronic device recovery) are made more complex because we have much less control over the factors which most influence the outcomes. Not only do our operations consume energy, especially in data centres, but so does every device in a customer’s hands that connects to our network.

As smartphones and other devices get smarter, they consume more energy. In order to provide seamless access and faster service for these devices, we continue to expand our network coverage. This creates more waste as we replace outdated infrastructure with modern technology such as fibre optic cable. Similarly, customers are upgrading their devices more frequently today, creating a steady stream of e-waste. Since we sell this technology, we recognize that we also have a role in minimizing the number of discarded devices sent to landfill.

Keeping track of these issues takes a dynamic and responsive management system. Bell’s petroleum storage tanks are essential to meeting our day-to-day needs for heating facilities and for our back-up power generators. They are critical assets in emergencies such as ice storms, when areas are without power for extended periods. For information on petroleum-product equipment management, please see the Petroleum-products equipment management information sheet in the Responsibility overview section.

Our contribution to help fight climate change

There is international scientific consensus that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by human activities, especially carbon dioxide (CO₂), are major contributors to climate change.¹ The global scientific evidence highlights companies’ responsibility both to take action to help fight climate change, as well as to adapt to its consequences. As a responsible corpo rate citizen, Bell is taking action on both fronts.

Mitigating climate change is about reducing the release of GHG emissions that are warming our planet. There are many mitigation strategies, including implementing energy savings initiatives, such as retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient; adopting renewable energy sources like solar and wind; and helping customers to reduce their own carbon footprint, for example through the use of technologies as a substitute for transportation.

Diverting waste from landfill

Bell has integrated much of its installation and construction functions. This makes us accountable for managing a large part of our network waste ourselves. Outsourcing such functions would allow us to reduce our waste-to-landfill results, but we would not be able to maintain direct control over functions that directly influence customer service and operations. To minimize the amount of waste we send to landfill, Bell runs several programs to reduce, reuse, recycle or repurpose waste generated to operate our business.

E-waste

Bell provides customers with programs to help them protect the environment by making it easier to recycle their products, including mobile phones, Bell Internet modems and Bell TV receivers. In 2019, thanks to our customers’ participation in our recovery programs, Bell diverted 2,709 tonnes of electronics from landfill.

Bell recovers mobile phones through two complementary programs: the Bell Trade-in program and the Bell Blue Box program. Launched in 2003 and available at all Bell stores, Virgin Mobile stores and participating The Source locations, the Bell Blue Box program was the first cross-Canada collection program established by any company for re-using and recycling mobile phones. Bell donates the net proceeds from the Bell Blue Box program to a partner in the Bell Let’s Talk mental health initiative. In addition, Bell participates in provincial recycling programs for other electronic products, such as tablets, headsets, TVs, computers, and batteries. For more details on these programs, visit Bell.ca/recycling.

In 2017, we began reporting on our progress toward our objective of recovering 10 million used TV receivers, modems, and mobile phones between January 1, 2016 and the end of 2020.

In 2019, we recovered 2,502,226 units. We have recovered 9,850,910 units since January 2016, and on target to meeting our December 2020 objective.

We provide technology for children in need alongside Ordinateurs Pour les Écoles du Québec (OPEQ) and the Computers for Schools (CFS) program. Bell has donated over 100,000 used computers and other electronic devices for schools, families in need, libraries and non-profit groups. 

Additional environmental programs

In addition to the priority environmental initiatives detailed in this section, Bell operates many more programs through our certified ISO 14001-compliant environmental management system (EMS). Please see the Responsibility overview section of our website for information on environmental incidents, environmental site assessments, sustainable buildings, environmental training, sustainable events, electronic billing, biodiversity and integration into the physical environment, vehicles, halocarbons and water consumption.

These programs are integrated throughout Bell’s business units and subsidiaries and are governed by local environmental coordinators. Each environmental coordinator reports to the Corporate Responsibility and Environment team on action plans and results throughout the year. These programs form the foundation of our company-wide EMS. Thanks to our continued diligence in constantly improving our environmental management system and processes, we have been certified as ISO 14001-compliant for 11 consecutive years.