This is the first post in our "Bite-sized CSR" blog series surrounding our 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report, where we'll pull out little snippets and case studies from across the 100+ pages of our new report.One of the goals in the Corporate Responsibility Office here at Intel is to increase employee awareness about the business value of CSR and encourage people to initiate and further incorporate CSR and sustainability values into their own groups' planning and strategies. One great example of this is a team of employees who have taken action to rethink the way we plan events at Intel, including the Intel Development Forum (IDF), which won an IMEX Green Meetings Silveraward, and our Intel Manufacturing Excellence conference (IMEC).
Each year Intel sponsors or holds more than 1,000 events--from small department meetings to large-scale customer events. Over the past few years, a team comprised of employees from our corporate events marketing group and our corporate strategic purchasing group launched a concerted effort to improve the design and planning of these events to reduce their environmental impact. For example, for the 2009 Intel Developer Forum (IDF), we selected hotels that would reduce the need for ground transportation, designed more efficient lighting, procured food through local sources, and used more recycled materials. We employed similar strategies and practices at four major Intel-sponsored events in 2010. At just one of these events, IDF in Beijing, China, we estimate that our new sustainability initiatives enabled us to avoid the equivalent of 6,900 tons of CO2 emissions.Based on the learings from the IDF and IMEC events, the team also developed a Green Events Handbook that covers best practices to improve environmental aspects in event planning. The handbook will be piloted with 15 of our largest U.S. events, and has the potential to eventually impact the planning of some 1,200 Intel events each year.
My colleagues who were responsible for driving the initiative, Lou Cozzo (Corporate Event Marketing) & Regan Rhodes (Global Strategic Sourcing Manager), commented:
"Since 2007, IDF has saved 8.25 tons of paper or 141 trees. In 2010, IDF and IMEC alone reduced our carbon footprint by 9,000 metric tons. In 2008, these efforts at IDF saved $200,000 in costs by eliminating bottled water and food waste. These are triple bottom line benefits being realized today - and that's just the results of a handful of events. Just imagine the positive impacts that could be realized if we applied these principles to the 1000+ events that Intel supports globally, on an annual basis."
At the end of the day, to realize the full value that CSR and sustainability can bring to our business, we need to tap into the expertise of our employees in many different groups and I continue to be impressed with the opportunities that are being uncovered by my colleagues. For other sustainable purchasing projects, please see page 90 of our 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report.
Suzanne Fallender is Intel’s Director of Corporate Responsibility. In this role, she collaborates with key stakeholders across the company to integrate corporate responsibility concepts into company strategies, policies, public reporting, and stakeholder engagement activities to advance Intel’s corporate responsibility leadership and create positive social impact and business value. Suzanne leads a team of experienced professionals who engage with internal and external groups to review Intel’s corporate responsibility performance and to identify new opportunities to apply Intel’s technology and expertise to address social and environmental challenges. The team also works closely with Intel’s investor relations and corporate governance groups to drive an integrated outreach strategy with investors on governance and corporate responsibility issues. Suzanne has more than 20 years of experience in the field of corporate responsibility and socially responsible investment. During her time at Intel, Suzanne has held a number of corporate responsibility-related roles, including leading programs empowering girls and women through technology. Prior to Intel, Suzanne served as Vice President at Institutional Shareholder Services where she managed the firm’s socially responsible investing division. Suzanne holds an M.B.A. from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and a B.A. from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She has served on a number of leading industry advisory boards and committees on sustainability and corporate responsibility over the past decade and currently is a member of the Net Impact Board of Directors. Follow Suzanne on Twitter at @sfallender.