Industry Leaders Usher In Bold Sustainability Initiatives
Businesses look ahead to ‘zero-emissions future’
Sustainability is a defining issue of our time. As climate change pervades nearly every aspect of our lives — from catastrophic natural disasters to droughts destroying crops and raising food prices — governments and businesses across the 21 APEC economies are working to bridge the gap between sustainability policy and implementation.
The exchange of knowledge and experience between economies will go a long way toward accelerating much needed changes.
“The bottom line is, there is no option but to work together. Our greatest challenges can be our best opportunities, and none of us is alone in this fight to save the planet,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said at the 13th APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting in Seattle.
The National Center for APEC held the Sustainable Future Forum (SFF) on the margins of the 2023 APEC Leaders’ Meeting, convening public and private sector stakeholders to share perspectives on the technologies, practices, and policies necessary to advance the Bangkok Goals on the Bio-Circular-Green Economy.
The following perspectives come from a roundtable organized by the CEO Summit Journal with executives from three companies participating at SFF.
Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.
LAURA LANE: Through credible and purpose-driven steps working alongside government, industry, and civil-society partners, we know we can accomplish outcomes that make a real and lasting impact. That’s why
UPS is implementing environmental solutions that help build stronger communities and a healthier environment.
We are exploring ways to reduce emissions across our operations through collaboration with public and private partners to advance new sustainable technologies. And we’re reimagining our network with innovation-driven investments, including electric vehicles and energy efficient facilities.
In Singapore, for example, our regional headquarters building now runs on 100 percent renewable electricity. And in China, we started deploying electric vehicles in our delivery operations in 2017. Fast-forward to today, almost all of our vehicles driving in downtown Beijing and Xi’an are fully electrified. We’ve also installed solar panels on the rooftop of our Supply Chain Solutions facility in Shenzhen. The project generates nearly 395,000 kilowatt hours of solar electricity annually. That’s enough to supply 100 percent of the facility’s daytime energy consumption, with excess solar energy going to the grid to benefit the community.
KRISTEN SIEMEN: At GM, we know that it will take millions of new EVs hitting the road every year to reach the zero-emissions future we’re striving for, and we’re moving faster than ever. We are rapidly building out our own battery, software, manufacturing, and customer experience capabilities to help make that a reality, while also laying the critical foundations for customer EV education and charging infrastructure.
At the same time, we’re moving forward with our bold sustainability goals that are rooted in climate science, and we have set science- based targets to track our progress. In 2022, we announced that we’ve secured 100 percent of the renewable energy needed to power our U.S. sites by 2025 and we continue to make progress on our plan to do so globally by 2035 – both of which are important steps toward making our business carbon neutral by 2040. Additionally, we joined the First Movers Coalition through commitments to low-carbon concrete, cement, aluminum, and steel, signaling a firm market demand for a net-zero transition and our dedication to a more resilient and sustainable supply chain.
KWASI MITCHELL: We all should aspire to proactively address climate change and ensure that as we do, we don’t leave anyone behind. The challenges and disruptions caused by climate change can deepen societal inequities, so we fully support APEC’s theme of “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All.”
In a recent Deloitte survey, nearly all C-suite leaders noted that they expect climate change to negatively impact their business. Sustainability influences national security and economic growth. For businesses, proactive sustainability strategies and planning offers both opportunities and risks; however, tackling the near and long-term implications of climate change significantly enhances competitive positioning. Businesses have the opportunity to lead the change necessary to move with the necessary speed and scale to meet the moment.
LAURA LANE: Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is important to UPS, especially as we look to grow our footprint sustainably in the APEC region. Our company’s purpose statement guides everything we do: “Moving our world forward by delivering what matters.” This is the focus of our work around the world. With customers in more than 200 countries and territories, we’ve seen firsthand how climate change and socioeconomic challenges are impacting the communities we serve, and we share the responsibility to find solutions. That’s why we’ve set clear goals and established a credible path to lower our carbon footprint in a financially and socially responsible way.
Innovation is critical to developing the solutions we need to meet our sustainability goals. Efficiency is core to that effort: the greenest mile is the one not driven or flown. An example of how innovation drives that efficiency is our award-winning On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation (ORION) platform, which recalculates individual package delivery routes throughout the day as conditions change for our service providers. Cutting two to four miles driven daily, per driver, represents a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
KRISTEN SIEMEN: GM recognizes that secure, sustainable, scalable, and cost- competitive supply chains are key to fulfilling the sustainability potential of the all-electric future. Our strategy is to work with our suppliers to integrate sustainability into all aspects of our supply chain. We continue to localize our battery raw material supply chain and work with our direct materials suppliers to advance innovative solutions. As part of our broader strategy, we continue to explore new innovations, like the use of recycled materials and carbon capture technology. We are pursuing responsibly sourced materials at strategic tiers of the supply chain and exploring where investments and partnerships can yield sustainability benefits and lower costs.
We want to lead with our strengths and be both an example and an ally to our suppliers and all in the industry, to identify opportunities to reduce emissions and set bold goals. In fact, we have invited all Tier I suppliers to sign our Environmental, Social and Governance Partnership Pledge to embrace sustainability in a holistic manner, focusing on ESG practices, because we know that a shift this massive truly requires everybody in, working together toward a single goal – an all-electric, zero emissions future.
KWASI MITCHELL: For Deloitte, sustainability is a core focus of
our purpose – to make an impact that matters by creating trust and confidence in a more equitable society. Deloitte is investing in our own sustainability practices, as well as those of our suppliers. We are advising clients on their own decarbonization and equity efforts and driving change more broadly, collaborating closely with an ecosystem of alliances. In 2022, Deloitte committed to investing $1.5 billion USD over 10 years to support communities facing the greatest barriers to equity. This includes our work with Yes SF, Urban Sustainability Challenge, aimed at bringing innovation to move the city towards a more sustainable future. As it relates to our own sustainability targets, Deloitte has set near- term (2030) greenhouse gas reduction goals validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as 1.5°C-aligned, and we are committed to setting longer-term SBTi emissions reduction targets.
LAURA LANE: UPS is reimagining its network with innovation-driven investments, including electric vehicles and energy efficient facilities. Important bridging fuels like renewable natural gas play a big role in UPS’s decarbonization efforts and will be key to reaching our target of using 40 percent alternative fuel in our ground operations by 2025. To date, our global fleet includes over 18,000 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles, including more than 1,000 electric and plugin hybrid vehicles on the road. We continue to reduce energy consumption in other ways, such as switching to LED lighting, using more efficient conveyor systems in our operations and using solar panels on our buildings for renewable power generation.
Additionally, as one of the largest airlines in the world, we remain committed to sourcing 30 percent aviation fuel from sustainable sources by 2035. Currently, the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) remains limited and has not reached economies of scale, making it cost prohibitive for wide adoption. Over the next several years, UPS will continue to work within the industry, including with fuel producers, customers, and peers to accelerate the commercial availability, scale, cost effectiveness, and competitiveness of SAF.
KRISTEN SIEMEN: What is important to remember is that sustainability can be the right thing for the planet and for the business. That is why it is important CSOs work to fully integrate sustainability into every aspect of an organization. It is less about getting buy-in to reach a perfect goal and more about making widespread progress and better strides on sustainability journey.
LAURA LANE: Advocacy also plays a key role in raising awareness of the challenges faced by businesses and communities, and identifying opportunities for collaboration to achieve shared sustainability objectives. As business leaders, we must encourage governments to make sustainable solutions more commercially viable through incentives, research and development credits, especially in hard to decarbonize sectors, such as aviation. Businesses, in turn, must leverage those incentives to accelerate the development of new technologies.
In addition to government and businesses’ individual actions, we also urge the two to work together to advance sustainability goals. Effective partnerships will support the establishment of commercially viable green solutions and ensure that the economic and social benefits of sustainable development are extended to everyone, everywhere.
