Steve Clemente, Principal in Charge, Operations Services and Leader of Living Green initiative, KPMG
Our greatest accomplishment was achieving our initial 3-year goals and an overall 22 percent absolute emissions reduction from our 2007 baseline. Our success exemplifies high performance and is due to the support of KPMG partners and team members across the U.S. who are helping us reach our goal by integrating environmentally friendly practices into everyday business operations whenever possible. Plus, KPMG is working with clients to implement similar solutions, so it's good for our people to be able to talk about our successes in putting these strategies into practice.
Living Green is a major pillar of our corporate responsibility agenda, and we are committed to affecting change in our business operations to minimize the firm's environmental profile, educating our people on sustainable behaviors, and continuing to focus on environmental stewardship in the communities where we operate.
Susan Arnot Heaney, Director, Corporate Responsibility, Avon Products
We are proud to have published the third Avon Corporate Responsibility Report, capturing our commitments, goals, achievements and challenges against three missions: women's empowerment, philanthropy and sustainability. Imbedded in the report are some especially proud accomplishments that support our commitment to help end deforestation, including our Avon Green Building Promise, with proof points such as LEED Platinum in Shanghai and the first-ever LEED Gold building in all of Colombia; and the Avon Palm Oil Promise, to drive the supply and demand of sustainable palm oil and the protection of forests and biodiversity.
Michael Frank, Vice President of Operations, US Foods
We've reduced GHG from our fleet operations and in distribution centers. We installed solar arrays at three US Foods distribution centers. They now generate an average of 4,198,000 KWh annually. We also opened our first LEED certified facility in Buda, Texas, installed energy-efficient lighting, and invested in efficient refrigeration systems. We earned a Top SmartWay Score and Certified Partner status in the EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership by improving the efficiency of our fleet operations. We reduced engine idle times through driver awareness training and automatic engine shut-off, and reduced fuel consumption by installing maximum speed controls on vehicles and investing in strategic route-planning technologies.
Carl Rush, Senior Vice President, Organic Growth, Waste Management
We've really amped up our investments in waste based renewable energy, conversion and recycling technologies -- like turning waste into gas and liquid fuels -- this year. The investments are helping us to extract value from the variety of materials we manage, everything from food waste to plastics. The projects, part of our Organic Growth Group portfolio, are the future of our business. Our investments are also advancing progress on our sustainability goals: doubling renewable energy production by 2020, tripling the amount of recyclable materials we manage by 2020, and investing in emerging technologies for managing waste.
Amy Hargroves, Manager, of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sprint
In January 2011, Sprint announced a partnership with UL Environment to develop environmental standards for all mobile devices. We saw this as an opportunity to lead our industry with a consistent environmental standard for all carriers -- and one that would help our entire product life cycle -- from sustainable design to end-of-life. We saw this as having the potential to change the industry for good and ultimately increasing the sustainability of mobile devices within the whole industry. In June, Sprint also announced the first phone to be UL Environment certified -- the Samsung Replenish -- which was recently honored by Global Green with the Sustainable Design Award in November.
Drummond Lawson, Green Giant (Director of Sustainability), Method
Method moved to a 100 percent PCR source of PET in early 2011, improving upon our previous PIR/PCR blend. This change reduced the carbon footprint by about half for making approximately 25 million PET bottles -- a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Most impressively, the recycled PET bottles retain exceptional clarity and strength, proving that sustainability can integrate seamlessly with product quality and good design.
Next Page: 2011 sustainability accomplishments by Molson Coors, The North Face, Siemens and more.
