Earth Day Activities: Best Practices

Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable Enterprise Leadership Council Member Advisory: Earth Day Activities: Best Practices

Table of Contents

Secondary Case Studies 3 Alcoa Foundation 3 Sprint 3 Microsoft 3 Walmart 3 Wells Fargo 4 GPT 4 CBRE 4

SBER Member-Client Case Studies 4 Cisco 4 SAP 5 National Grid 5 AAA 5 Levi Strauss & Co 5 IBM 5 EMC Corporation 6 Clarion Partners 6 Intuit 7 Unum 7 U.S. General Services Administration 7

Conclusion 8

April 22, 2012 will mark the 42nd annual Earth Day. Intended to celebrate the Earth and raise awareness about sustainability, it is now celebrated in 175 countries. Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. began operations on Earth Day 2008, and, to help Member-Clients prepare for this important day, SR, Inc. has prepared an update to this advisory, first published in 2011.

The Earth Day Network, a not-for-profit, coordinates Earth Day events worldwide, promotes various Earth Day programs, and encourages individuals, organizations, and businesses to register their Earth Day activities as part of the “Billion Acts of Green” campaign. Currently over 40 million acts have been registered since the campaign launched in 2011.

Secondary Case Studies Alcoa Foundation Alcoa has established a Green Works employee volunteer program. In celebration of Earth Day, World Environment Day and Arbor Day, thousands of Alcoa employees worldwide volunteer to reduce their carbon footprint, recycle to save energy, and plant trees to replenish the environment. Projects vary by geographic location, based on local priorities. Source: http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/community/foundation/info_page/green_works.asp

Sprint Sprint hosts Earth Day events for the past five years on its major sites, with more than ten sites participating in 2011. The Overland Park campus, which houses the largest population of Sprint employees, holds the largest celebration and typically hosts more than 50 exhibitors, both internal and external, who display green vehicles, give away tree kits, and more. The event also includes more than 50 Sprint volunteers, features an executive guest speaker talking about Sprint’s environmental priorities and progress and offers food, games and live entertainment.T he Earth Day festivities are very popular with employees, typically drawing over 1,000 attendees. Sprint is expanding the effort to have much smaller events at an additional 14 sites.T o that end, the company is also expanding some of its environmental employee-oriented programs, such as green parking, better fitness centers, and increased benefits for employees who use their bicycle to get to work. Source: http://www.sprint.com/responsibility/ourpeople/worklife/engagement.html

Microsoft Microsoft takes the occasion of Earth Day as an opportunity to publicize and celebrate its various sustainability-focused initiatives, from increasing data center efficiency and supply chain to operation to partnering with the European Environment Agency on the development of an online portal for air and water quality awareness. In 2011, Microsoft also held a highly-publicized photo contest for US students to find a photo for the homepage of the Bing search engine, with prizes including $70,000 for the student’s school. Source: http://www.microsoft.eu/innovation-in-society/posts/why-are-we-passionate-about-earth-day.aspx

Walmart Walmart regularly conducts product demonstrations and education campaigns around sustainable products and home energy improvements in its stores, with an annual Earth Week coordinated by associates at each of its stores worldwide. The company features “Live Green” and “Eat Green” categories on its online shopping interface, encouraging shoppers to choose green products when making household decisions. Finally, many local Walmart stores promote Earth Week volunteering events, coordinating community volunteering events for their employees. http://instoresnow.walmart.com/Sustainability.aspx

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo highlighted its sustainability efforts by engaging its customers through a “Go Paperless” campaign. Information about how customers can go paperless—not only in banking but in their daily lives—is provided through its Environmental Forum (blog.wellsfargo.com/ environment) and a “Financial Footprint Calculator.” In 2011, the company also held an Online Statement Sweepstakes (for customers who sign up to receive statements online only) with a grand prize of a 2011 Nissan Leaf. Martha Smolen, SVP at Wells Fargo Internet Group, says “Wells Fargo is committed to showing customers how they can reduce or eliminate paper in banking. By opting for online statement delivery, customers can join Wells Fargo in protecting our environment.” Source: https://www.wellsfargo.com/press/2011/20110421_EarthDay

GPT GPT’s employees selected a nationwide series of events for the company’s retail and office tenants across Australia during the company’s Earth Week observations and year-round sustainability events. GPT highlights seven major events that will take place throughout the year, including Earth Hour (96% of properties, or 508 office floors, turned off their lights in support of this World Wildlife Foundation campaign), National Recycling Week, and National Volunteer Week. Each of GPT’s retail centers also runs its own events and community-based programs, including annual observation of Earth Day through product displays, education and awareness events, and local volunteering. Source: http://cr2009.gpt.com.au/content.aspx?urlkey=oc_ci

CBRE To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2010, CBRE released its “My Standards for Sustainability” guidelines for clients and occupants of its managed buildings, encouraging each individual to make a commitment through an online portal. CBRE provides a framework document with seven actions (e.g. unplugging electronics when not in use, replacing bulbs with CFLs, choosing alternative transportation options, etc.) and space for employees to add up to three more. Source: http://www.cbre.com/USA/Sustainability/earthday

SBER Member-Client Cisco Case Studies SBER Member-Client Cisco organizes a Virtual Earth Day that companies and organizations can register for and attend. The 3-day event features presentations from experts across the industry, non-profits, government agencies and academia. Participation is possible from any geographic location, saving a lot of GHG emissions related to commuting or material use. Recordings from major locations are also available after the event. For 2010, Cisco partnered with experts to share ideas in solving some of the world’s most challenging environmental problems. Session topics include: •• Making the Case for Sustainability in a Downturn •• Lessons Learned from Copenhagen •• Sustainability as a Driver for Innovation •• Green Electronics: Regulations, Trends, and Impacts Source: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/environment/earthday2010.html#~two

SAP SBER Member-Client SAP hosts an international series of events over multiple days to engage employees deeper in Earth Day events. The 2011 events included daily themes at each location, demos of innovative product, information booths, “lunch and learn” sessions, and changing content on cafeteria screens. The focus of SAP’s Earth Day events have shifted from a focus only on reducing the carbon footprint to expanding awareness of issues concerning overall climate change and global environmental health. Each year the company seeks to improve the “reach and frequency” of its engagement activities around Earth Day, aspiring to a higher level of attention and engagement around the topic.

Source: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/04/22/at-41-earth-days-maturity-varies-by-company#ixzz1KXVt0HGE

National Grid SBER Member-Client National Grid sponsors a student art contest for kindergarten to 12th grade to design t-shirts based on original artwork that answers the question: “How can people work together to protect our planet?” National Grid employees vote to select the winners, and two finalists, one from New York and one from New England, will be chosen to win a $250 prize each. On Earth Day, National Grid employees will wear t-shirts with the winning designs. Source: Member-Client interviews with SR, Inc. Research.

AAA Every year in conjunction with Earth Day, SBER Member-Client AAA hosts the Great Battery Roundup as a way to recycle old car batteries and provides free battery checks at AAA offices. Annually, car batteries that are not recycled amount to millions of pounds of lead and gallons of sulfuric acid. If these are discharged into the environment, they create health and safety hazards. AAA also donates a portion of the recycling proceeds to various environmental groups and other charities. Source: http://www.aaapublicaffairs.com/main/Default.asp?CategoryID=8&SubCategoryID=28&ContentID=82

Levi Strauss & Co Member-Client Levi Strauss & Company launched a pilot program Earth Day at their San Francisco headquarters in 2011 that builds sustainability into the way the company handles sample garments and fabrics. As part of the sample garments recycling program, Levi Strauss and Co installs donation bins to collect wearable apparel accumulated during the design process. The wearable donations are sold or distributed to the people in the community who need it most. The company has a long-standing relationship with the San Francisco Goodwill and have partnered together again on this project to make the bins available year-round at its headquarters. Sources: http://levistrauss.com/blogs/evolution-earth-day http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/04/21/what-is-your-company-doing-earth-day-2011

IBM SBER Member-Client IBM has used Earth Day to announce large sustainability initiatives. For instance, on Earth Day 2010, IBM announced a new partnership with Columbia University. The initiative built upon Columbia’s existing research efforts on sustainability issues, and granted Columbia faculty no-charge access to IBM software, technical support for green technology courses, and energy efficiency and open standards software development tools from IBM. It also connected students and faculty with 100,000 global business partners and academic communities through 40 IBM Innovation Centers in 30 countries to fuel collaboration on smarter cities projects. Source: Member-Client interviews with SR, Inc. Research.

EMC Corporation SBER Member-Client EMC hosts local but connected events around the world to celebrate Earth Day as well as organizes Earth Hours. The events, hosted by EMC’s Green Champions, offer a range of experiences that inform, excite, inspire and energize employees. On-site events are held to showcase education, volunteer opportunities and company actions that will positively affect the environment and inspire employees to make environmentally responsible decisions. Vendors and local companies are invited to come in and demonstrate their green products and services. Some activities take place throughout the Earth Day week, such as electronics and PC collection, organic menu options, etc. At a global level, virtual events were held to bring employees together to learn about EMC’s sustainability stories, and new initiatives were launched to boost employee engagement. Sources: http://www.emc.com/about/sustainability/environment/collaboration-engagement/employee- engagement.htm http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/04/21/what-is-your-company-doing-earth-day-2011

Clarion Partners SBER Member-Client Clarion Partners has office, industrial, residential, retail, and hotel properties within its portfolio. As a result of the large scale and diversity of Clarion’s real estate operations, it is difficult to have one all-encompassing Earth Day event. Clarion intends to promote Earth Day via branded signage and emails at each type of property and will have additional activities as follows: •• Employees at the Clarion corporate headquarters always have the option of making a donation in exchange for being allowed to wear jeans on Friday. In April, in honor of Earth Day, donations will go to an environmental charity. •• Office properties will distribute green gifts for tenants such as reusable water bottles and host events that allow tenants to highlight sustainability initiatives. Some properties will host a “turn over a new leaf” program, which asks them to commit to various sustainability activities. •• Where feasible, industrial tenants will take part in Earth Day activities similar to those of office properties. •• Residential communities will hold a contest that invites “green ideas” from residents. The resident with the best green idea will be given one month free rent. Clarion also encourages each residential community to host an Earth Day event of their choosing. Event ideas include recycling drives, park/beach cleanup, or powering down at a designated time, among others. •• Hotel operators are marking Earth Day in various ways. Different strategies include cus- tomizing reception areas, hosting recycled art exhibits and sustainable vendor showcases, and cleanups at local sites. Various operators are incorporating seed packet/recycling bag giveaways, organic food menus/dining by candlelight, wooden guest room keys, and free valet parking for hybrids. •• Retail properties will highlight tenants that routinely implement green initiatives.

Clarion will solicit feedback from properties after Earth Day. It will report on events in their summer “green” newsletter. Source: Member-Client interviews with SR, Inc. Research.

Intuit SBER Member-Client Intuit considers Earth Day to be one of the biggest annual events hosted throughout its global sites for the past several years. The Earth Day events are an opportunity for employees as well as community businesses and organizations to share ideas around sustainability. For example, the 2010 event at Intuit’s Mountain View and Menlo Park, CA, sites enabled employees to host tables showcasing topics such as biodiesel cars, line-drying clothes, composting, and biking to work. Since 2008, Intuit has also partnered with the Freecycle Network, and in 2010 created FreeCycle@Work, which leverages Intuit’s QuickBase online database technology, so employees can give away or share with each other re-usable items from their home or office. In April 2011 Intuit continued this commitment to reducing waste, deploying the employee intranet-based Waste Watch program, which awarded prizes to the top ten employee submissions on how to reduce wasteful company practices. Last year, about 4,000 employees (roughly half of the total workforce), took part in one of 20 different Earth Day events at Intuit facilities around the world. Sources: http://http-download.intuit.com/http.intuit/CMO/intuit/philanthropy/intuit_2011_sustainability_ report.pdf http://onemillionlights.org/2010/05/intuit/

Unum SBER Member-Client Unum, headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, is observing Earth Day in various offices starting on April 15. There is a program of events coordinated by the Green Committee and corporate communications that includes: •• Distribution of Earth Day seed cards, Evergreen seedlings, and t-shirts. •• Two scheduled lunchtime bike rides in Chattanooga •• Launch of newly implemented Recycling Centers as well as additional workplace posters to increase awareness of recycling protocols •• Pilot program of compostable flatware and cups in cafeterias for one month, with accom- panying signage •• A poster campaign to encourage employees to save energy and improve health by taking the stairs •• Re-Launch of new & improved RideShare program with a booth for sign-ups and information •• Campaign to increase recycled content of office paper •• Community outreach activity to plant trees

Beginning the week of April 18, various offices will begin displaying Earth Day artwork from children of Unum employees, and the Green Committee will select a winner for 2012 t-shirts. Source: Member-Client interviews with SR, Inc. Research.

U.S. General Services Administration SBER Member-Client U.S. GSA hosts informational fairs in various locations across the country in observation of Earth Day. In Dallas/Fort Worth, GSA is teaming up with other tenants at Fritz G. Lanham Federal Building to provide a special exhibition program that highlights several sustainability initiatives. The exhibition features an alternative fuel vehicle, a tour to a USGBC LEED Building in Fort Worth, and a display from the EPA on stormwater, wastewater, and water conservation. There will also be artwork and sustainable clothing displays as employees ask tenants for pledges and distribute GSA Zero Environmental Footprint coins. In New York, the event begins with a tree planting in the morning followed by the distribution of information about environmentally sustainable goods and services. Source: http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/113244

Conclusion Earth Day activities usually involve minimal expenditures or resources, and can be organized by volunteers or appointed “green teams.” Leading SBER executives take advantage of Earth Day as a way to engage their employees and communities, partner with not-for-profit organizations and increase their brand visibility with special events and activities. Earth Day is also a suitable opportunity for companies to showcase their initiatives and accomplishments towards greater sustainability in real estate.

SR Inc Authors:

Andrew Reovan, Sustainability Analyst Irina Mladenova, VP Research and Consulting Michael Gresty, EVP Research and Consulting One Broadway, 14th Floor

Cambridge, MA 02142 Member-Clients should contact SR Inc with any questions or comments. Member-Clients with 617.682.3632 Earth Day best practices that they wish to share with other Member-Clients are encouraged to www.sustainround.com do so for inclusion in future updates of this advisory.