Learn more about how we are growing our business on an environmentally sustainable basis.
We run and grow our business on an environmentally sustainable basis, cultivating eco-efficient practices that include energy management and resource conservation.
Our environmental footprint consists primarily of carbon emissions generated from business travel and office energy use, and we are committed to addressing both of these as we work to improve our environmental performance. We achieved our fiscal 2009 target of a 25 percent reduction of per employee emissions over fiscal 2007 baseline and continue to make significant strides.
In fiscal 2011, we reduced our per employee emissions approximately 30 percent from our fiscal 2007 baseline—but we recognize challenges to meet our robust environmental objectives. The strong increase in demand for our services and our expansion into emerging growth markets over the past year resulted in an associated increase in air travel, which has slowed our progress toward our goal of reducing per employee carbon emissions 40 percent by 2012 from our fiscal 2007 baseline. As a result, we are updating our fiscal 2012 goal: we will continue to maintain a per employee carbon reduction of approximately 30 percent against our fiscal 2007 baseline.
Because more than 80 percent of our overall carbon emissions is derived from electricity for our office locations and air travel, in fiscal 2010 we focused on applying technologies and implementing actions to improve our performance in these areas.
For example, we have increased our use of Telepresence next-generation video conferencing technology. Now implemented in more than 85 Accenture locations worldwide, including at a number of client sites, the technology connects our people and our clients. Our adoption of collaboration technology also includes the installation of more than 50 personal Telepresence units, which expands our number of Telepresence facilities to more than 135.
Energy management
As part of our commitment to lower our carbon footprint, we adopt "green" building techniques and operations around the world. For example, we have installed smart building technology in our facilities in Paris, and, over a period of six months in 2011, we saved the equivalent of 620 trees by reducing our energy usage by 14 percent over 2010.
Initiatives like these have helped us achieve global ISO 14001 certification, and in fiscal 2010 and 2011 successful audits of our ISO 14001 locations resulted in renewal of our global certificate. Additionally, many Accenture offices around the world hold green building certifications, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and Green Star 6.
To reduce our use of office electricity, in fiscal 2010 we implemented new Remote Energy Monitoring (REM) technologies. We now have connected more than 150 smart meters in 20 locations in 10 countries, and, in our Johannesburg, South Africa, location, REM technologies yielded a 10 percent efficiency improvement in only four weeks.
We have also improved our energy efficiency over the last two years. In fiscal 2010, our collective efficiency activities helped us save approximately 36,400,000 kWh compared with our fiscal 2007 baseline. These activities allowed us to avoid 21,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and approximately US$4.1 million. In fiscal 2011, our collective efficiency activities helped us save approximately 63,400,000 kWh compared with our fiscal 2007 baseline, thereby avoiding 44,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and approximately US$7.8 million.
We also procure more than 10 percent of our office electricity from renewable sources. Based on our ability to replace nonrenewable with renewable energy in several of our locations, we have developed a global energy procurement strategy that we plan to execute in additional locations over the next two years.
Water and waste management
Although our operations are not water intensive, we recognize the increasing importance of water scarcity and availability. In fiscal 2011, using the Global Water Tool provided by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, we performed an analysis of water consumption in our offices located in areas of water scarcity. We estimate that our per-workstation consumption in these locations is less than 10 meters³ annually. We will continue to work with our building-management companies to promote the careful use of water, implementing improvements where practical.
We manage electronic waste (e-waste) across our company through a global tracking application and established relationships with disposal vendors. In fiscal 2011, we tracked the disposal of more than 38,000 laptops and desktop computers comprising more than 173 metric tons of equipment. Approximately 99 percent of these were disposed in a method avoiding a landfill, primarily through management by responsible disposal vendors.
Learn more about Accenture's environmental performance.