Those were the closing words of the WWF Climate Savers briefing held on Friday, March 27, 2009 at the U.S. Senate. The event was a 2-hour program filled with testimonials from more than a dozen multinational corporations including Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, HP, Sony, Nokia Siemens, Johnson Diversey, IBM and Lafarge.

The announcements and results of their collaboration and respective efforts were remarkably striking, including:

• The 21 WWF Climate Savers member companies project a combined reduction in emissions of an estimated 50 million tons by 2010 (since the program’s inception in 1999);
• Several companies have incorporated climate change considerations into the formal review and assessment (and compensation) of their employees, thus providing incentives to all employees to develop innovative ways to reduce emissions; and
• All of the companies involved indicated that “it made good business sense” (both short-term and long-term) to focus on energy efficiency and implementation of renewable energy projects, and then identified numerous examples where costs had been reduced, profitability improved and GHG emissions reduced.

During the first Q&A session, I asked:

“What steps can industry take to improve the skills and knowledge of individuals tasked with addressing GHG emissions and energy consumption?”

The consensus response amongst the panelists was that education and training were paramount, and it was clear that these organizations have been working together to collaborate on efforts to reduce their respective GHG emissions. Bryan Jacob, Environmental Technologies Manager at The Coca-Cola Company indicated that organizations such as WWF Climate Savers played a key role in this effort, enabling the member companies to learn from each other.

Other noteworthy comments made during the program included:

• Sound supply chain management and incentivizing employees are crucial cornerstones to successful greenhouse gas management;
• Greener buildings and workspace are cheaper to run, have more value, are appreciated by employees and are considered strengths by recruits assessing prospective employers;
• Over the past 3 years, the companies found that their customers’ perspectives on and appreciation of greener products had changed significantly resulting in a more rewarding environment for their efforts;
• Johnson Diversey President and CEO Ed Lonergan commented that $19 million invested in energy efficiency initiatives would lead to a $36 million return on that investment to its shareholders;
• Juha-Erkki Mantyniemi of Nokia Siemens commented that industry has not properly leveraged international connectivity to enable exchange of best practices, information resources and tools (I’ll be writing a subsequent blog on this as ACCO is launching a member service program that addresses this particular issue); and
• Recognition that no company can “do everything” by itself — partnerships are key tools to obtaining the support, expertise and resources necessary to implement GHG reduction programs.