Emerson Finds Energy in Sustainability
When Emersons first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer Mike Train talks about his company, his enthusiasm shines through.
- What we do to enable our customers is huge, said Train. We have an important role to playand I get a lot of energy out of that.
An aggressive push: The technology and engineering company, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, has been making big moves in sustainability over the past few yearsbeginning with a goal in 2018 to reduce some of its greenhouse gas intensity by 20% over 10 years.
- At the time, the goal was ambitious, and the company wasnt quite sure how it would achieve it. But employees banded together and pulled it off.
- We actually achieved the goal in 2022six years early, said Train. But the act of putting out a goal and not knowing exactly how wed solve for it has been driving the culture of our company. Our employees are proud we put it out there, proud to have participated, and its activated thousands of people to get excited about what were doing.
An inclusive approach: Since then, the company has applied a range of tactics. From energy treasure hunts, in which teams search for energy waste in facilities, to renewable energy procurement and collaborations with supply chain partners, Emerson is finding interesting and inclusive ways to make an impact.
- The company has gone from getting 3% of its power from renewables to getting to 49% from those sources. And it now has a commitment to use 100% renewable energy by 2030.
- Emerson is setting other big goals, too, from net-zero operations by 2030 to a zero-waste-to-landfill pledge, along with other water and biodiversity actions.
An effective framework: The company has a three-part approach to its sustainability practices.
- Greening Of Emerson involves the actions Emerson is taking to reduce its own footprint by minimizing waste and engaging its supply chain.
- Greening By Emerson involves the companys activities to help a wide range of manufacturing customers improve their own sustainability, often through Emersons automation portfolio and expertise. This, according to Train, is where Emerson has its biggest opportunity for impact.
- Greening With Emerson refers to the companys work with government and research organizations on policy and innovation, offering technical expertise and manufacturing perspective to help drive action.
A group effort: Train has seen the company coalesce around these goalsfrom the sustainability team he works with every day (they bring a lot of energy and passion to what were doing) to the rest of the companys 74,000-person workforce.
- The fun part of sustainability is everyone is learning it together, Train continued. Youre allowed and encouraged to borrow ideas from each other, so the collaborative part of sustainability is an awful lot of fun.
