Southwire Launches 2019 Sustainability Report
August 5, 2020
Southwire has long held a commitment to sustainability, dating back to its first official sustainability report in 2007. Reflecting that commitment, the company recently launched its 2019 sustainability report, prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, featuring an exciting new goal called Carbon Zero.
The 2019 report highlights all areas of sustainability at Southwire and showcases the company’s most significant impacts by focusing on its five key tenets – Growing Green, Living Well, Giving Back, Doing Right and Building Worth.
“At Southwire, we are committed to sustainability, and we work hard every day to discover, develop and distribute sustainable solutions that exceed the expectations of our stakeholders around the world,” said Rich Stinson, Southwire’s president and CEO. “As a private company, we proudly share our sustainability journey and progress in this report each year, and we will build upon last year’s success by creating new, exciting goals for the future.”
The report goes into full detail of Southwire’s sustainability successes and challenges from 2019, including record safety performance, strategy initiatives, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, community involvement and more.
Additionally, the report announces Carbon Zero, a new goal that the company is launching in connection with its Growing Green tenet. The goal states that the company will achieve 100% zero carbon energy for operations by 2025. This aggressive goal was created to showcase Southwire’s strong commitment to reduce its environmental footprint.
“We have been working to announce this goal for quite some time, so I am very excited to share it and look forward to our organization announcing its progress in the future,” said Burt Fealing, Southwire EVP and general counsel. “At Southwire, we strive to be best-in-class in everything we do, and this will get us one step closer in doing so for sustainability.”
So, what does Carbon Zero mean exactly? It means that, by 2025, Southwire will eliminate or offset all greenhouse gas (defined as carbon dioxide equivalents or carbon) associated with Scope 1 (direct fuel combustion) and Scope 2 (purchased electricity) emissions based on its 2018 baseline.
Additionally, the company is engaged and is building partnerships with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders to collaborate and reduce its entire carbon footprint and is internally managing efforts to reduce Scope 3 (upstream and downstream) emissions.
In the coming months and years, Southwire will transition to a Carbon Zero footprint through energy reduction efforts, installation of solar arrays, deployment of electric vehicle charging stations, pursuing green energy alternatives with utility providers and more.
