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U.S. EPA Honors Cisco Systems for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is honoring Cisco Systems, headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with a 2016 Climate Leadership Award for its innovation in helping fight climate change. Cisco—one of just three awardees in California—received a Supply Chain Leadership Award for encouraging all of its suppliers to have strong sustainability programs.

“This year’s Climate Leadership Award winners are setting a high bar for organizations across the country,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “They are proving that climate action isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also the profitable thing to do.”

Published 8 years ago | About a 3 minute read

This is the fifth year of the annual Climate Leadership Awards, a partnership between the EPA’s Center for Corporate Climate Leadership, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and The Climate Registry. Seventeen awardees were recognized for managing and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in internal operations and throughout the supply chain, as well as integrating climate resilience into their operating strategies.

Cisco Systems designs, manufactures, and sells internet protocol-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry, and provides services associated with these products and their use.

Cisco is being recognized by EPA for accomplishments that include:

· Setting a GHG emissions reduction goal of 40 percent by 2017 from 2007 levels; building on a reduction of 38.7 percent between 2007 and 2012.
· Encouraging its suppliers to have strong sustainability programs, with a focus on 130 key suppliers that account for more than 80 percent of its supply chain expenditure. By the end of 2016, Cisco aims to have 100 percent of its key suppliers report their GHG emissions and 75 percent of them set GHG emissions reduction goals.
· Using a management system to set targets, plan and prioritize actions, monitor progress, and continuously improve on GHG emissions through its Supply Chain Sustainability Program.
· Launching a GHG reduction program in 2015 to refine and accelerate the company’s emissions prioritization, reduction, and reporting efforts. In total, approximately 413 metric tons of material (corrugated board, plastic, wood, and other packaging materials) and 6,402 metric tons of CO2e were avoided in FY15.
· Installing sensors in a manufacturing partner’s plant in Malaysia to see how monitoring energy consumption can inform decision making and drive energy efficiency.

Cisco was previously recognized with Climate Leadership Awards for Supply Chain Leadership in 2013 and Goal Achievement in 2014.

There are two additional winners in California for 2016:

· The California Department of Water Resources (Sacramento) received the Organizational Leadership Award for protecting California’s water supply.
· The Government Authorities for the Home Energy Renovation Opportunity (HERO) Program (San Diego) was awarded the Innovative Partnerships Certificate for helping to increase the mass adoption of home energy and water efficiency across California.

The awards were presented at the 2016 Climate Leadership Conference in Seattle, Washington.

EPA's Center for Corporate Climate Leadership establishes standards of climate leadership by encouraging organizations with emerging climate objectives to identify and achieve cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions, while helping more advanced organizations drive innovations in reducing their greenhouse gas impacts in their supply chains and beyond. The Center provides technical tools, guidance, educational resources, and opportunities for information sharing and peer exchange among organizations interested in reducing the environmental impacts associated with climate change.