This is a very interesting study by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF). It shows the direct improvement in employee retention, boost in bottom line, when companies take efforts to educate and engage employees in company's environmental and sustainability activities. Following are some of the interesting facts:- Lockheed Martin “Green Teams” have improved energy efficiency at company sites nationwide.1 At one Arkansas facility, green teams have implemented software upgrades, reduced waste and improved plumbing. Better management of lighting and air conditioning led to more than $200,000 in savings — as well as reduced CO2 emissions by 2,332 metric tons.
- eBay’s “Green Team” encouraged the company to build San Jose, California’s largest commercial solar installation, reducing CO2 emissions by over one million pounds a year and saving $100,000 so far.
- McDonald‘s restaurants in Japan participates in the government‘s “Team Minus 6%” program to reduce CO2 emissions by 2.2 pounds per person, per day, by offering a discount to consumers who registered to participate in the program. During the 2007 campaign, McDonald‘s restaurants and their employees helped raise the number of participants from 40,000 to 380,000, resulting in a reduction of over 3 million pounds of CO2.
- Employees at Citigroup, along with retail clients around the world, are working to reduce paper waste by educating and encouraging customers to switch to electronic statements rather than mailed paper ones.
- Baxter’s participation in “World Environment Week” during early June 2009 proved successful in encouraging employee engagement and volunteerism. Employee-led projects in more than 70 locations included upgrading sales fleets to hybrid vehicles and visiting schools.
This white paper can be downloaded here.
