Though the spirit of Earth Day goes far beyond the actions of just publicly traded companies, they are one piece of the puzzle in helping us find sustainable ways to live. And because we here at the Fool focus primarily on publicly traded companies, I’ll briefly highlight five companies that deserve some recognition this year.
Here they are, in alphabetical order:
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)
Source: Courtesy of IBM. Unauthorized use not permitted.
Perhaps more than any other major U.S. corporation, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) has been putting environmental stewardship front and center for over 30 years now.
The company, which employs almost half a million people worldwide, naturally eats up a lot of energy to run its daily operations. But in 1990, leadership decided to do something about that, vowing to cut energy consumption substantially over the next 10 years. The plan succeeded, leading to a 5.1-billion-kilowatt-hour reduction companywide by 2009.
Today, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is also focusing on helping others reduce their consumption of resources through its Smarter Planet initiative. And the company’s Zurich Research Laboratory has figured out a way to use all the wasteful heat created by massive servers to heat the buildings they are attached to. In essence, it’s created a zero carbon emission data center.
Interface
Source: Interface Press Kit.
In 1994, founder and former CEO of Interface Ray Anderson was asked to give his company — a leader in carpet tile manufacturing –a vision for its environmental position. In his own words: “Frankly, I didn’t have a vision, except ‘comply, comply, comply.'”
Shortly thereafter, however, Anderson read two books that changed his outlook deeply: Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce, and Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael. Seeing much more clearly the direction he wanted to take his company, he started EcoSense. The program’s goal was not only to create a sustainable company, but a restorative one — one that helps mimic and restore balance with nature.
Since then, Interface has completely changed how it does business, and the entire carpet industry along with it. That means a lot, as the process of fabricating the carpet used to rely heavily on petrochemicals.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S)
It may be hard to see how one of the nation’s second-tier telecommunications companies ended up on this list, but a little digging reveals a lot of environmental effort on behalf of the company.
Used cellphones can be notoriously harmful to the environment. Realizing this, Sprint has established a goal to collect 90% of the phones it sells for reuse or recycling by 2017. By 2012, it was halfway to its target.
That alone goes a long way in helping the environment, but the company also offers a slew of green products in its stores, including solar-powered cellphone chargers and eco-friendly phone cases made from recyclable materials.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)
Source: Starbucks Press Kit.
