General Mills, IKEA and Best Buy are among the 81 companies to recently join the White House-led American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which sets significant greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy sourcing goals for 2020 and beyond.The pledges focus on increasing energy efficiency, boosting low-carbon investing and making sustainability more accessible to low-income Americans.
General Mills, IKEA and Best Buy are among the 81 companies to recently join the White House-led American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which sets significant greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy sourcing goals for 2020 and beyond.
The pledges focus on increasing energy efficiency, boosting low-carbon investing and making sustainability more accessible to low-income Americans.
Autodesk, Bloomberg, CA Technologies, Dell, eBay, EMC, Kellogg’s, Levi Strauss & Co., L’Oréal, Mars, Nestlé, Nike, PG&E, Starbucks, Unilever and The Walt Disney Company also recently signed on to the climate action pledge. This brings up to 19 the total number of business to join the White House pledge that work directly with Ceres, a sustainability advocacy group, or its climate policy coalition, Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP).
By signing the pledge, companies are:
- Voicing support for a strong outcome at the COP21 climate talks in Paris.
- Demonstrating an ongoing commitment to climate action by announcing significant new pledges to reduce their emissions, increase low-carbon investments, deploy more clean energy and take other actions to build more sustainable businesses and tackle climate change.
- Setting an example for their peers by mobilizing for leadership and action on climate change challenges and goals.
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IKEA, for example, is committing to produce as much renewable energy as the total energy consumed in global operations by 2020. This goal has already been met in the U.S. due to the IKEA Group’s major wind farm in Illinois.
Best Buy is committing to reduce carbon emissions at its North American facilities by 45 percent by 2020, from 2009 levels. Its new commitment is more than double its previous goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2020.
PG&E is pledging to invest about $3 billion a year to modernize the electric grid so it can better integrate distributed solar, energy storage, electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies. It also is committing to support implementation of EPA’s Clean Power Plan and provide customers with electricity that is more than 60 percent carbon-free by 2020.
Kellogg’s has set the goal of cutting energy and greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 15 percent from its 2015 performance. The company joined BICEP in 2014.
Published Oct 21, 2015 9am EDT / 6am PDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST
Managing Director, Sustainability & Social Impact
Deutsche Bank
Mike Hower is a sustainability communicator and connector committed to helping purpose-driven businesses and people unlock their full potential for positive impact. As founder and principal consultant at Hower Impact, he works with companies to translate sustainability strategy into stories that inform, engage and inspire investors, customers, employees, regulators and other stakeholders in the service of social, environmental and business goals. Through his Impact Hired initiative, he works to connect and engage corporate sustainability professionals at all stages of their careers.
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