More than 80 companies have joined the American Business Act on Climate Pledge to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to sustainability.
Companies like Schneider Electric, Cox Enterprises, Tri Global Energy, Ricoh, Royal DSM, Mars, and others have issued statements in support of the American Business Act on Climate Pledge.
Cox Enterprises pledged to send zero waste to landfill by 2024 and become both carbon and water neutral by 2044. The company plans to accomplish these goals through a number of measures like waste reduction, carbon reduction, renewable energy, water conservation and sustainable supply chain.
Building on the 6,200 megawatts of wind power projects that are now under development, under construction or in operation, Tri Global Energy is investing in renewable power diversification with the addition of a solar division and the acquisition of a solar energy company.
Tri Global Energy will focus on the following:
- Initiate development of an additional 600-900 megawatts of new utility-scale wind generation projects annually through 2018
- Transition more than 500 megawatts of additional wind capacity into the construction and operations phase annually through 2018
- Install solar photovoltaic systems on 1,000 commercial and 8,000 residential roof-tops over the next five years for homeowners, non-profit groups and other entities.
Schneider Electric’s climate commitment pledge is as follows:
- Achieve 10 percent energy savings by the end of 2017 by reducing the company’s energy intensity
- 120,000 tons of CO2 avoided through end-of-life products by the end of 2017
- 75 percent of products in R&D to be designed as Green Premium, with an ecolabel, and 75 percent of product revenue to come from Green Premium by the end of 2017
- Zero waste to landfill in 100 industrial sites by the end of 2017
- 50 million underprivileged people obtaining lighting and communication systems with low carbon solutions by 2025 through the Access to Energy program
- Invest over $11 billion over 10 years on R&D innovation in sustainability
Ricoh, meanwhile, has established mid- and long-term environmental impact reduction goals for three key areas: energy conservation, resource conservation, and pollution prevention. Ricoh sets the target to reduce the company’s total lifecycle of CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2020 and by 87.5 percent by 2050 from the 2000 level.
Ricoh’s goal is to reduce the new input of resources by 25 percent by 2020 and by 87.5 percent by 2050 from the 2007 level.
DSM has made the following pledges:
- Move global operations to 100 percent renewable electricity—50 percent by 2025
- Maintain an internal carbon price of €50/ton for investment decisions
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent by 2025 against a 2014 baseline
- Tie executive compensation to meeting sustainability targets
Mars, on the other hand, pledged it will reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and eliminate 100 percent of GHG emissions from their operations by 2040. They are on track to reduce our 2015 GHG emissions by 25 percent (from a 2007 baseline);
Mars also agreed to pursue renewable energy projects around the world that are modeled after the 118-turbine, 200mw wind farm the company brought online in 2015 and which now provides the equivalent of 12 percent of our global energy requirements,
Further, the company will strive to achieve zero waste to landfill across all of its facilities globally by the end of 2015.
Rajani Baburajan
editor@greentechlead.com