Page 19 - Green Builder July-August 2019 Issue

bold carbon neutrality commitments, and exploring the business generated electricity, supporting communities throughout the globe
opportunities that come with a warming planet. where employees live, and working to eliminate jobsite injuries and
lifestyle-induced disease.
AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN WITHOUT ALTERNATIVES In the furniture sector, Room & Board is expanding its use of
Companies across the sector are embracing renewable energy. reclaimed wood, planting self-sustaining urban meadows, and
Schneider Electric, for example, has committed to power its supporting American artisans to reduce the environmental impact
operations with 80 percent renewables by 2020, and Target has of overseas shipping and transportation.
pledged to become 100 percent renewable by 2030. Even fossil fuel companies are getting in on the action. Oil
Other corporations are behemoth Royal Dutch Shell
making big investments in and mining giant Glencore
enabling technologies that solve have recently invested in
for the risks associated with new energy divisions and set
climate change. For example, environmental targets for the
Uponor and Belkin have •rst time in their operating
joined forces to create Phyn, an histories.
advanced water monitoring and
leak detection system, to address DEAD END AHEAD?
our growing water availability Companies aren’t embracing
challenges. sustainability simply because
Consumer goods companies they feel philanthropic.
are taking a hard look at ways Rather, they see the writing
we can tackle our global plastic on the wall: At some point,
waste plague. Procter & Gamble, they will need to shift their
for example, is developing business models, strand their
shampoo bottles that utilize fossil fuel assets and make a
recycled plastic harvested from serious course correction in
beaches littered with waste. order to remain in business,
The building sector boasts as governments around the
plenty of Eco-Leaders. Ingersoll world set ever-ratcheting
Rand—one of our perennial policy to cut greenhouse gas
Eco-Leader selections—has emissions.
shown the industry how to Furthermore, regulators
optimize sustainable operations and shareholders alike are
and supply chain management. demanding that companies
The company is now leading reveal climate change-related
the charge with respect to the risks. A recent wave of
circular economy. Ingersoll CREDIT: PIJAMA61žISTOCK corporate disclosures con•rm
Rand has reduced greenhouse that companies in all sectors
gas emissions by 45 percent of the economy are bracing
since 2013—two years earlier than its originally stated goal—and for impact, acknowledging that climate change could substantially
increased energy eŽciency by 23 percent, water conservation by 38 alter their business operations and negatively a—ect their pro•tability.
percent, and renewable energy use by 32 percent. Disruption of supply chains due to extreme weather and operating
Owens Corning recently adopted a revised definition of restrictions resulting from water shortages are the two concerns
sustainability: meeting the needs of the present while leaving the that top the list.
world a better place for the future. After attaining a 49 percent Let’s hope that the heavy lifting currently being done by
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the company is developing corporations today will provide the baseline that we need to bolster
a plan to become net-positive by 2030 through a number of science- our economy and prepare us for the inevitable changes that will
based initiatives, including utilizing 100 percent wind-power- come as planet continues to transform. GB

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