Honeywell’s Youssef Mestari: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become More Sustainable
Lead by example. You’ll hear this a lot as a parent when it comes to teaching your kids. Kids learn a lot by watching, maybe even more than we realize. So, it’s important to talk about what changes can be done but also put them into practice. Approach helping the environment as a family and work together to reduce your family’s footprint.
As part of my series about companies who are helping to battle climate change, I had the pleasure of interviewing Youssef Mestari.
Youssef Mestari is the General Manager of sustainability for Honeywell Building Technologies. He currently resides in Atlanta, GA.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
When I first joined Honeywell, I was actually in a marketing position. One of my responsibilities was to always be thinking about what’s next — how to figure out the next sector of growth. Sustainability was one of those areas that stood out to me. I took the opportunity to transition to my current role and really help grow the business from the early stages. I was excited about the chance to not only build something from scratch but also work on something with a larger purpose and impact. Every day, I get to work on something that helps our customers lessen their impact on the environment and the surrounding communities.
What is the mission of your company? What problems are you aiming to solve?
Honeywell Building Technologies is transforming the way every building operates to improve the quality of life. We currently operate in more than 75 countries and serve 10 million buildings worldwide. Our hardware, software, and analytics help building owners and operators create safer and more efficient and productive commercial facilities that includes buildings from schools and hospitals to stadiums and airports, or anything in between.
Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?
Earlier this year, Honeywell pledged to be carbon neutral in its facilities and operations by 2035. To achieve this, Honeywell plans to complete more energy savings projects over the next 14 years, including converting to renewable energy sources, completing capital improvement projects at its sites, electrifying its fleet of company vehicles, and using credible carbon offsets.
An example of an initiative that addresses both sustainability and climate change is Honeywell’s Solstice® line of low-global-warming-potential refrigerants. Solstice materials eliminate millions of metric tons of CO₂ equivalent every year. The CO2e saved by replacing HFCs and HCFCs with Solstice® products throughout 2020 translates to the CO2 emissions from the energy used by 24.2 million homes, roughly the number of homes in California, Texas and Colorado combined.
In addition, we’re working with our customers to help them better meet their sustainability goals. Our work with Kunsan Air Base in South Korea will reduce energy use by more than 58,700 MMBtus each year, while technology deployed at Port Esbjerg will help reduce carbon emissions at the Danish port by 70% by 2030.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Honeywell has a long history of improving its own environmental and sustainability profile, but the difference is that we do this while also providing innovative products and services that address our customers’ needs and help lower their carbon footprints as well.
Honeywell’s partnership with Sydney Opera House, one of the world’s most famous performing arts centers and iconic buildings, is an example of how sustainability impacts profitability. We’ve committed to helping the Opera House become climate-positive by 2023. The facility uses Honeywell’s building management control system, allowing for more visibility into the building’s available level of energy and predicted use of electricity. This not only benefits the Opera House with energy cost savings but also helps it decrease its own carbon emissions.
The youth led climate strikes of September 2019 showed an impressive degree of activism and initiative by young people on behalf of climate change. This was great, and there is still plenty that needs to be done. In your opinion what are 5 things parents should do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement? Please give a story or an example for each.
Lead by example. You’ll hear this a lot as a parent when it comes to teaching your kids. Kids learn a lot by watching, maybe even more than we realize. So, it’s important to talk about what changes can be done but also put them into practice. Approach helping the environment as a family and work together to reduce your family’s footprint.
Be cautious about the amount of energy consumed in your household. This can be as simple as reducing energy use by turning off lights when not in use, installing motion sensor lights throughout the house or fully turning off devices when done using them, or to a more specialized approach of selecting a more eco-friendly energy provider or installing solar panels.
Pay close attention to what the household spends money on. From furniture to clothes, parents can start paying attention to where items they spend money on are coming from and making a point to buy from more sustainable sources.
Watch water use. Again, something as simple as turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth or taking a five-minute shower versus a 20-minute shower can add up over time, especially if all households were working on this.
Educate on recycling vs. waste. Take steps to educate everyone in the house what can be recycled and what cannot. Then making active steps to reduce the overall amount of waste.
When parents are able, it’s important to start these steps early, so kids grow up understanding these actions as normal. I also think it’s important to show kids how changes, even small ones, can make a positive impact. One interesting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the positive change on the environment. An example was with less cars on the road, we saw an improvement in the overall levels of pollution. Now it’s important for us to continue those conversations and see how we can continue this momentum but without the lockdowns.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
There isn’t a one size fits all path to sustainability. Helping our customers on their sustainability journey is just that, a journey. We work with a large spectrum of partners to achieve the desired outcomes. Working with other experts is a strength of Honeywell’s.
Sustainability is more than just energy reduction or being more “green.” While we know it’s a process and there are many different layers, many people are still learning about what it means to be sustainable and often think only about their energy usage. The United Nations 17 Goals for Sustainable Development are a great way to highlight all the areas that we can improve. From diversity and access to clean water to cleaner energy and better building practices, there’s a lot under the sustainability umbrella to consider.
We’ve certainly seen a lot of companies make carbon neutrality pledges (Honeywell is one of those) but many don’t have a path to that goal. It’s easy to say you are working on becoming more carbon neutral but many companies only achieving this by buying carbon offset credits. Where we need to continue to work and challenge each other to make real, substantive changes.
When companies make a pledge to a more sustainable future, you have to look at the sum of its elements. For some, not all the pieces will be able to be “green” or carbon neutral. For example, if your company has a significant fleet of trucks and planes and commercial office spaces — you may look to use more energy efficient cars or biofuels for the transportation fleet and work to make your buildings carbon negative to offset the other assets. Essentially, you may have assets that are neutral, negative and positive to get closer to that carbon neutral status.
There’s more to carbon neutral than carbon emissions reductions from say gas or electricity. There are six ways to achieve the carbon neutral status and it’s a different combination and approach for every company.
Reducing energy consumption (HVAC, lighting, etc.)
a. Changing energy supply (creating your own energy via solar panels or battery storage)
b. Sourcing energy in a more sustainable way — purchasing from more eco-friendly suppliers
c. Switching fuel such as replacing diesel-run backup generators to ones that use biodiesel or batteries.
d. Controlling chemical discharge — waste, chemical and gas discharge into water or the environment
e. Buying carbon offset credits
