Every June 5th we celebrate World Environment Day, a day that celebrates the environment and our capacity to contribute to the well-being of our planet. This year’s theme, “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care,” highlights the importance of responsible natural resource management and the impact of individual actions in creating a difference. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said, "Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common purpose, we can make a tremendous difference.”
At Symantec, we share this belief and understand the importance of environmental stewardship for our short and long-term business success. Our environmental strategy focuses on four key areas: green IT, resource conservation, travel and events, and responsible sourcing. In each area, Symantec has made strides to improve performance. We’re honored and proud that Symantec was recently announced as the winner of the IMEX 2015 Green Meeting Award!
The IMEX Green Meeting Award recognizes companies that demonstrate outstanding initiatives to reduce negative environmental and social impacts in travel and events. Symantec was acknowledged for its sustainability success in the organization and implementation of the Symantec EMEA Vision Symposium events. There were four events held in 2014 – Dubai, Munich, Paris, and London – and sustainability was incorporated from the onset of the event planning stages. All of the key suppliers had sustainability expectations in their contracts and were required to collect data for measurement of sustainability indicators. Each detail was considered, from the event locations (all were environmentally certified spaces) down to eliminating plastic badge holders and plastic cups. During the events, attendees were encouraged to participate in Plant-for-the-Planet initiative, garnering a total of 19,228 pledges to plant trees. Overall, the events succeeded in capturing a 88 percent reduction in waste and 67 percent reduction in CO2 emissions among other highly impressive numbers.
Read Claudia van 't Hullenaar’s Sustainability Spotlight and how she’s spearheading the integration of sustainability into Symantec’s corporate events.
We also realize the influence our individual employees can make. Last Earth Day, we launched the “One Mug, One Planet” campaign to inspire our employees to reduce waste in one simple way, by ditching the disposable coffee cup for a reusable mug. In just one year the “One Mug, One Planet” campaign received 2,647 pledges saving 208, 887 lbs of CO2 and 55, 223 lbs of waste!
With seventeen Green Teams across the globe, we’re excited to continue enaging our global teams on ways we can contribute to environmental awareness. Our most recent Green Talk was hosted in Syndey with speaker Tim Silverwood of Take 3 reminding us to keep our beaches and waterways clean. His simple message, take three pieces of trash away with you when you leave the beach, is another reminder of the simple actions we can all take to keep our planet healthy.
Watch Tim Silverwood’s TEDx Talk.
On this day of environmental awareness, share your dream for the planet!