We drink it. We swim in it. We’re made of it.Today is World Water Day, an annual day to focus on the importance of freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. At large companies – including Intel – water conservation is essential. In fact, since 1998, Intel’s efforts have saved more than 40 billion gallons of water, which is enough for roughly 400,000 U.S. homes for an entire year. We’ve also collaborated with others on how to help other companies conserve and reuse water, including our recent work with CH2M Hill and Arizona State University on the Water Match project.
To maximize our conservation efforts, Intel engages its employees through various sustainability programs. For example, since 2000, Intel has presented the Environmental Excellence Awards to employees who help reduce Intel’s overall environmental impact.
Each year, winning projects span a wide array of green topics, such as promoting recycling or waste reduction, lowering the environmental impact of Intel’s products and processes, and creating sustainability education programs within Intel’s communities.
In 2012, water conservation was a big theme in the Environmental Excellence Awards. In fact, two of the top three awards went to Intel employees working on water conservation projects, including a team who redesigned processes to reduce the water required for our next two generations of manufacturing processes without compromising product quality, and an employee who initiated a multi-year project to reduce the water used in the equipment that cools Intel factories worldwide (reducing water needed by more than 1 billion gallons of water across our operations over the past five years).
So, how are you celebrating World Water Day? What kinds of employee engagement and sustainability initiatives are working well at your organization? Share your ideas in the comments section below.
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.