The seven habits of highly efficient companies

Leading firms that give greater attention to energy efficiency report billions of dollars in savings and millions of tons of avoided greenhouse gas emissions, according to the new report 'From Shop Floor to Top Floor: Best Business Practices in Energy Efficiency' from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

This report stems from a historic shift in business leaders' perceptions of energy and climate change
issues. In the last decade, rising and volatile energy prices have converged with increasing concern about climate change and growing consumer support for action on energy and environmental issues to drive a surge of corporate environmental commitments. As companies have begun to act on these commitments, energy efficiency has emerged as a first-priority strategy. Accordingly, many companies have launched aggressive efficiency strategies, in many cases well beyond the scope and reach of earlier efforts.

This report documents these leading-edge energy efficiency strategies, distilling the best practices and providing guidance and resources for other businesses choosing this path. It was developed over nearly two years of effort from Pew Center on Global Climate Change staff, a project advisory committee, members of the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC),1 project consultants, and report authors.

The project encompassed a detailed survey of BELC members and other leading companies, in-depth case studies of six companies, a series of workshops on key energy efficiency topics, broader research in the corporate energy field, and development of a full-featured web portal to provide a platform for highlighting and updating key findings from the project as well as providing tools, resources, and other important information. The report covers efficiency strategies encompassing internal operations, supply chains, products and services, and cross-cutting issues.

A key finding from this report is that climate change has reframed corporate energy strategies. Companies that take on carbon footp inting and reduction strategies quickly come to see their energy use in a whole new light. On average, companies surveyed for this study reported spending less than five percent of total revenues on energy-even in today's relatively high cost energy environment.

But when these companies calculate their carbon footprint, they typically find that their energy consumption accounts for the great majority of their directly measurable emissions impact. Suddenly, energy shifts from a small cost item to the biggest piece of their carbon footprint. Viewed from this perspective, energy efficiency becomes a sustainability2 imperative.

The report was released at the energy efficiency conference in Chicago, which addressed key report findings, including The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient Companies.

These seven habits distill the elements of an exemplary corporate energy efficiency strategy into a set of core practices and principles. These are:

1. Efficiency is a core strategy, and not just another sustainability 'box' to check;
2. Leadership and organizational support is real and sustained, all the way up to the CEO;
3. The company sets ambitious energy savings goals, and has a clear plan for how to meet them;
4. The strategy runs on a robust tracking and performance measurement system that allows decision makers to quickly identify problem areas and take corrective action;
5. The organization puts substantial and sustained resources into efficiency;
6. The energy efficiency strategy shows demonstrated results, meeting or beating prescribed energy savings targets;
7. The company communicates energy efficiency results as part of the core 'stories' the company tells.

To read the full report and six in-depth case studies, visit here.