IBM released its ninth annual Corporate Responsibility Report today. Corporate responsibility is an integral part of IBM’s corporate culture and drives how the company engages with clients, employees, shareholders and communities.
According to the company’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report, which is now available at IBM Responsibility, commitment to socially and environmentally responsible behavior yielded a broad range of benefits: reducing energy usage, creating a new model for secondary education, and using technology and expertise to help small businesses grow.
These and other accomplishments are detailed in IBM’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report, a year-to-year comparison of the company’s citizenship and philanthropic projects, community partnerships, environmental stewardship, and employment policies and practices.
Sustainable Practices are Good for Business
IBM achieved strong sustainability results in energy conservation, data center energy efficiency and environmental responsibility last year. The company saved more than US$43 million in electricity expenses and conserved 378,000 megawatt hours of electricity last year, enough to power almost 34,000 average U.S. homes for a year. IBM’s energy conservation projects delivered savings equal to 7.4 percent of the company’s total energy use, significantly exceeding the annual goal of 3.5 percent. This was the result of an ambitious ongoing program involving 2,300 conservation projects at more than 364 IBM facilities around the world. Building on decades of environmental leadership, IBM will continue these conservation efforts and aim to eliminate 1.1 million megawatt hours of energy consumption by the end of 2012.
In 2011, IBM and the World Environment Center formed the Innovation in Environmental Sustainability Council to explore how innovation in business process and technology can enable strategic solutions to major challenges involving energy, materials, water, infrastructure and logistics. Charter members also include Boeing, CH2M HILL, The Coca-Cola Company, The Dow Chemical Company, F. Hoffman-La Roche AG, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, and The Walt Disney Company.
IBM’s long-term sustainability policies are paying off, literally. From 1990-2011, the company’s energy conservation efforts have avoided 5.8 billion kWh of electricity consumption, nearly 3.8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, and saved the company $442 million.
“In order for sustainability to be more than a passing fad, it must be sustained over the long term,” said Wayne Balta, vice president of Environmental Affairs and Product Safety at IBM. “At IBM, environmental leadership is at the heart of our corporate values, and it shows in how we engage with clients, employees and communities in our efforts to make the planet smarter. From the impact of our operations and products on the environment, to how we manage our global supply chain, environmental leadership is a strategic imperative, backed by the conviction that good environmental management makes good business sense.”
via IBM
