Fortune 100 Companies Find Savings With Renewables | National Association of Distinguished Professionals

1. Fortune 100 Companies Find Savings With Renewables
In the world of business, clean energy is moving
out of the ‘alternative’ category, and into the ‘best
practices’ category. Aside from the good PR and
customer goodwill the switch to renewables buys
a company, ​Computerworld​ reports on a new
study that showed that 53 Fortune 100
companies saved a combined total of $1.1 billion
last year by implementing green energy
programs.
The information was self­reported by the
companies and published in the report "​Power Forward 2.0​," created by Ceres, David
Gardiner & Associates, Calvert Investments and the World Wildlife Fund.
The report found that 43 percent of Fortune 500 companies had clean energy goals, but when
limited to the top 100, that percentage jumped to 60%. The companies collected reported
savings of over a billion dollars, including $200 million at UPS and $151 million at Cisco
Systems.
The 53 participating Fortune 100 companies reduced emissions by 58.3 million metric tons of
CO​2 ​in 2012. This would be equal to 15 coal plants, with company saving about $19 on carbon
dioxide emissions.
"The trends are clear: Leading companies are capturing business value by executing effective
clean energy strategies, and with proven results, more are sure to join the pursuit," the report
states.
Despite the success that the most profitable companies are finding with renewable energy,
the report finds that small businesses and even entire sectors of the economy have no energy
efficiency plan in place. The report found that only 30% of the companies in the lower 250 of
the Fortune 500 had a green energy in place. Perhaps not shockingly, less that a third of firms
in the energy or financial sectors are lagging behind in energy efficiency.
"Collectively, the failure of these companies to follow what has become best practice also
means that the corporate response to climate change is insufficient," the report states.
Read more at Computerworld.