From Connecting Classrooms to Making Smarter Cities, AT&T’s Tech is Driving Change
AT&T has released its annual sustainability update, which highlights the company’s successes, progress and opportunities for the future.
Our world has never been more connected than it is today. From smartphones and smartwatches to smart homes and cities, connectivity is changing virtually everything about how we live, work and solve problems. And AT&T is proud to be in the center of it all. Everything the company does is designed to harness the power of connectivity to change the world.
Consider the impact technology is having on one of humanity’s biggest challenges: protecting the environment. Thanks to the Internet of Things – millions of wirelessly enabled sensors and devices – cities, companies and consumers have the ability to operate more efficiently, use less energy and reduce their impact on the environment. Smart traffic management, for example, can route cars in ways that save fuel. Smart homes can conserve power by knowing when we’re not around. And smart irrigation systems can slash water usage by watering plants only when they need it.
Last year, AT&T set an ambitious goal: by 2025, it will enable carbon savings that are 10 times the footprint of the company’s total operations. To get there, the company is leveraging technology to deliver energy-saving customer solutions, increasing the efficiency of its network and building on the thousands of projects it has implemented to reduce energy and water consumption. Additionally, projects like rapid transition to a software-centric network will allow the company to move more data traffic while using less energy to do so.
Technology is also helping people prepare for jobs in the digital economy. AT&T has embarked on a multi-year effort to give employees the skills they need for tomorrow’s high-tech jobs. The company teamed up with Udacity in 2014 to launch the Nanodegree program, which provides employees – and potential employees – with affordable, online credentials for tech skills such as web development and coding. AT&T is also making 1,200 scholarships available for underserved students through qualified non-profit organizations and providing up to 100 paid internships for high-performing graduates.
AT&T is also empowering students to gain the skills they’ll need for the future. With a $350 million commitment through AT&T Aspire, the company is preparing students for success in school and the workplace. It has teamed up with best-in-class organizations – like Girls Who Code, Code.org and Black Girls Code – to help students develop computer science and coding skills. And AT&T is using technology to connect employees as mentors to students wherever they are.
The company further broadened its efforts to drive innovation in education through AT&T Aspire Accelerator, which funds groups that are working to bring educational technology products or services to market. In 2015, the first class graduated five ventures that are using technology to help students and start-ups succeed.
It’s still early. People are only just beginning to explore the potential of the connected world. But what AT&T has seen so far is incredibly exciting. These tools will inevitably become smarter and more powerful over time. As they do, the ability to solve some of society’s biggest challenges will increase exponentially. And AT&T is promising to be right there, leading the charge.
Media Contact:
Samantha Lasky
