2Sustain

The past few weeks have been chock full of news about successful sustainability initiatives at global corporations. (For a few examples, see previous posts about  Unilever and MillerCoors.)

Now, Best Buy Co., Inc., is joining in, too, with the release of its 68-page 2010 Sustainability Report, which according to the company, underscores a year of “remarkable success” in implementing sustainability initiatives that emphasize two primary areas of focus: people and power.

For example, Best Buy announced that it has:

• established an ambitious e-waste target to collect 1 billion pounds of old or obsolete technology over the next five years. The company already has developed a comprehensive U.S. recycling program, with in-store recycling kiosks, online trade-in and home pickup options for all unused electronic items, and in fiscal year 2010, it helped to prevent more than 140 million pounds of appliances and electronics from ending up in landfills around the world.

• partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) through the ENERGY STAR program. Best Buy says this partnership will help its customers realize utility bill savings of $91 million, and save 796 kWh of electricity, plus 1.6 billion pounds of CO2.

• initiated a pilot-program for home energy management services that enable interaction between customers and utility companies, allowing consumers to monitor and control energy use and costs in their own homes.

• contributed $25.2 million in philanthropic donations. More than 21,000 Best Buy employees volunteered over 125,000 hours of their own time in fiscal 2010 in the communities across the US where the company operates – and they directed more than $5 million to their local nonprofits as part of the corporate total.

Clearly, business sustainability plans are not just “feel good” activities anymore. Over the past few years, they have become standard practice –and they’ve become critical to long-term business success, as well.

These days, investors, customers, and regulators are expecting to see credible progress on issues regarding sustainability, and more and more companies are realizing that a comprehensive sustainability plan can help lower costs and significantly mitigate business risks. For months now, the nation’s attention has been focused on BP and the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s refreshing to be reminded that there are corporations working responsibly to respond to the risks –and the opportunities –presented by resource scarcity and climate change.