Poor Economy Helps Xerox Advance on Sustainability Targets

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Xerox has released its  2010 Report on Global Citizenship Summary and 2010 Environmental Health & Safety Report, which together provide environmental overview and detail on strategic objectives and course of progress with data sets from 2006 through 2009.

Energy

Xerox targeted a GHG reduction goal of 25% total GHGs from 2002 to 2012. It has exceeded this, with GHG emissions down 31% since 2009. The company says it achieved these targets by reducing energy consumption in facilities, manufacturing operations and across its service and sales vehicle fleet.

But the company also points out that a portion of the GHG emission reduction is due to decreased production as a result of the downturns in the world’s economy. In 2009, Xerox's total revenue was $15.2 billion, down 14 percent from the previous year.

The stated long-term strategic goal is to become carbon-neutral, but no target date is given as the company announces a “process of reviewing our long-term objectives and path to progress to account for the addition of ACS people, facilities and work practices in our enterprise."

Additionally, Xerox exceeded an Energy Star compliance goal of 90%, with 92% of eligible new products launched met the 2009 ENERGY STAR (version 1.1) standard.

Water

Xerox reports water use down 7% from 2008 and down 26% from 2002; this is due to process improvements in manufacturing and facility maintenance, production decreases and seasonal variation at several sites. The environmental impacts of water use are monitored and managed throughout our worldwide operations. Specific areas of improvement were seen in toner manufacturing process to reduced water consumption.

Waste

Xerox aims to achieve a 97% reuse/recycle rate by 2012 as part of its “zero waste to landfill” for major facilities worldwide. In 2009, they achieved a 92% recycle rate, up 12% from 2008.

Worldwide hazardous waste volumes decreased 4% from 2008, primarily due to the economic downturn.

With regard the toxic footprint of its supply chain, Xerox intends to implement chemical-use standards for all suppliers and EICC requirements for its 50 key global suppliers, representing 90% of spend by 2012. Xerox reports to be “on track to completion of audits on major high- spend/strategic suppliers in high-risk regions; in conjunction, follow-up audits also conducted to ensure suppliers are working toward compliance with the EICC code.”

See last year's report here.

Environment + Energy Leader