“Each of us can make a difference, and together accomplish what might seem impossible."
- Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Last week, Cecily Joseph, Symantec's Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, authored an article on the Huffington Post “From Me to We: In Today’s World, What Does it Mean to Be a Responsible Corporate Citizen and Leader?” that emphasized the transition of corporate responsibility from focusing solely on a company’s impact to the opportunities and responsibility to impact the world on a global scale. Within this, Cecily spoke about the importance of collective action to achieve broader impacts. Today collective action can stem from passionate employees, companies and peers, an entire industry, multi-stakeholder groups, or a combination of all to address issues critical to the livelihood of our planet and communities.
As millions across the world celebrate Earth Day this weekend, the importance of collective action is top of mind. In 2020, Earth Day will celebrate its 20th anniversary as one of the world’s largest advocacy efforts for the environment that has grown from a movement of 20 million people to engaging 200 million people in 141 countries. Through the Earth Day Network’s Billion Acts of Green, over two billion acts for the environment have been logged, with the goal to reach three billion by 2020.
It is easy to overlook the impact that individual actions have, however, imagine if these two billion people overlooked their contributions? What if Wangari Maathai never believed in her power to make a difference? Individual actions contributed to the 899 thousand tons of PET plastic bottles recycled in the US in 2013, however, at the same time, individual actions contributed to more than two times this being wasted (2 million tons)[1]. From our diets to transportation to our consumption patterns, as humans we are the driving force, on both a collective and individual scale, to influencing the future of our planet.
At Symantec, we recognize the impact our business has on the environment and are focused on developing more sustainable products, reducing energy consumption and our carbon footprint, meeting and exceeding compliance regulations and serving as stewards of our environment.
We also believe every individual can make a difference and together our actions empower each other and communities in new and innovative ways. Therefore, a key component of our environmental strategy includes engaging employees in the environment. From our Green Teams to community relations committees to local volunteer programs, we are empowering our individuals to maximize the positive benefits we collectively have as a business and a global community.
Symantec’s 16 global Green Teams hold events throughout the year to support environmental sustainability such as this Beach Clean-up in Cape Town, South Africa with partner CleanC.
We currently have 16 green teams globally, with 22 leaders and over 90 employees participating. Each Green Team develops its own initiatives based on the particular environmental needs of its site, region, and country, with support from Global Green Team regional leads, our Global Coordinator, Amanda Davis, Senior Manager, CR and the Environment, and Global Green Team Executive Sponsor Chris Abess, VP, Pricing Strategy and Operations.
Our Green Teams continue to have a pivotal impact on our environmental strategy and goals, such as our newly stated goal to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2025 (compared with FY15). They have helped us achieve a five-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the first year since launching our emissions goal and in FY18, we are launching a global Green Team strategy and campaign to improve energy efficiency in further support of this.
Additionally, Green Teams contribute to reducing waste through campaigns such as “One Mug, One Planet”, identify opportunities for the Facilities and IT teams to implement changes in Symantec's buildings, educate fellow employees about personal behavior changes they can make, inspire and engage fellow employees through initiatives such as the “Green Talks” environmental lecture series, and every year lead Earth Day activities across the world. Examples of this year’s Earth Day celebrations include:
- Mountain View’s 8th Annual Earth Day Green Fair with 27+ exhibitors across the areas of Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, Waste Reduction, Commute Alternatives, Healthy Homes, and Healthy Living
- Dublin’s Grow it Yourself Garden workshop that fuels the corporate cafeteria
- Pune will partner with nonprofit Youth for Seva to educate youth on the impacts of plastic waste
- Reading, UK is organizing two-days of volunteering with various charities
- Cape Town will partner with our community relations and Symantec Women’s Action Network (SWAN) to develop a community garden enabling the low-income area to become more self-sufficient
Outside of our Green Teams, we aim to influence the environmental impacts of our employees both within and outside the office:
- For example, through SymFit, our fitness center and health/wellness benefits for employees, we are offering cruiser bicycles for employees to rent and ride around campus as well as exercise machines, both telling users how much energy they have saved.
- In February our Mountain View headquarters expanded the company’s centralized waste collection program, by eliminating all individual trash and recycling bins on newly designed and refreshed floors. The initiative eliminates use of over 1,000 plastic trash liners changed regularly, encourages employees to move from their desks consistently, and is also increasing individual awareness of what we dispose of.
- In August 2016, Symantec began a partnership with Scoop, an application that connects commuters and carpoolers. Membership and interest has continued to increase from employees looking to reduce their footprint, those simply looking to streamline their commute, and those looking to do both. Currently, 412 Symantec employees are using the service, avoiding an average of 29 cars from the parking lot in Mountain View each day, and saving 90K miles of driving equating to over 81K pounds of CO2 (or 40.2 tons).
“I use Scoop to do my part in helping to reduce pollution and traffic. My commute has gotten a lot better since I can use the carpool lanes and my commute time has been reduced!” - Suryakanth, Software Engineer, Symantec Inc.
Changing people, changing communities and changing the world continues to be at the heart of our corporate responsibility. As individuals, Earth Day provides us a chance to join others, but also to ask ourselves the challenging question – what changes can we make, what impact can we have and how can we ensure a positive future for our planet?