Cisco Aims to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions 25% by 2012

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As part of an ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility,Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced that it has set a goal ofreducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its worldwideoperations by 25 percent over the next four years, reaching itsgoal in absolute terms by 2012. The company will deploy a uniquemultiprong approach focused on the power of technology to meet itsobjectives and to demonstrate how customers can do the same.
Cisco® Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambersoutlined the plan at Cisco Live!, the company's annual informationtechnology (IT) and communications conference. In his keynotespeech, Chambers discussed the transformative effect that IT canhave on the world's environmental challenges and demonstratedCisco's commitment to sustainability in its operations, culture,products and customer solutions.
"Every corporation has a responsibility to help address climatechange and to minimize the impact of its operations on theenvironment," Chambers said. "Cisco is approaching this challengenot only by curbing our own company's greenhouse gas emissions butalso by taking advantage of the power of networking technology tobetter manage our environmental concerns. By deploying innovativeinformation technology solutions and using the network as aplatform for 21st-century environmental management, we believe wecan significantly alter our greenhouse gas footprint and help ourcustomers meet their sustainability goals."
Cisco is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program, an industry-government partnership that works withcompanies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies. Overthe last six months, Cisco has worked with the EPA as well as otherparties such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and sustainability consulting firm DOMANI to assess its worldwide GHG footprint, validate its metrics andestablish aggressive, achievable goals. In calendar year 2007,Cisco's gross GHG footprint was 832,000 metric tons of CO2equivalents (CO2e). This footprint includes emissions from Cisco'sglobally owned and leased facilities, vehicles and its airlinetravel. Based upon the EPA Climate Leaders protocol, this figurebecomes net 724,000 metric tons of CO2e. With today's announcement,Cisco aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 2012 to a net footprintof 543,000 metric tons of CO2e.
"By setting a long-term greenhouse gas reduction goal andcommitting to reducing its footprint, Cisco is demonstratingcorporate climate change leadership," said Robert J. Meyers,principal deputy assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Air andRadiation.
Reducing the Impact of Operations
In his speech today, Chambers outlined Cisco's approach forachieving a 25 percent absolute reduction in GHG emissions by 2012.In its labs and data centers, which account for a significantpercentage of Cisco's energy use, the company will deploy a varietyof techniques. These include taking detailed measurements of energyflows, utilizing more efficient lab equipment, using the "virtualnetwork" to store data, adding smart power-distribution units thatautomatically shut down machines not in use, and upgrading buildingmechanical and electrical systems. Cisco will also increase its useof collaboration technologies such as Cisco TelePresence and theCisco WebEx suite of tools to reduce the need for business travel,which accounts for 27 percent of Cisco's GHG footprint. As part ofits commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative , Cisco has already decreased emissions from air travel by at least10 percent per employee. Finally, Cisco will deploy its Cisco Connected Workspace solution in additional locations. This unique hybrid officeenvironment is up and running at sites around the world, includingCisco's San Jose, Calif. headquarters, where it has significantlyreduced electrical demand per employee in the impacted areas.
Cisco will also use network-based IT to reduce energy use in itsfacilities and operate its owned and leased space more efficiently.Cisco is currently piloting a software solution in the UnitedStates to model the impact of various factors on carbon footprint,waste reduction targets and other goals. This tool is allowingCisco to take into account the rising cost of energy and toforecast how it will affect operations and expenditures, as well asto model how certain practices can reduce energy use.
"By employing an intelligent, Internet protocol-enabled buildingmanagement system, Cisco is creating a model of 21st-century,network-based environmental accounting that will allow us to bettermanage and report progress on our commitment," said Laura Ipsen,co-chair of Cisco's EcoBoard and Senior Vice President of CiscoGlobal Policy and Government Affairs.
Finally, Cisco is incorporating environmental standards into newsite design and existing site retrofits and purchasing variableamounts of renewable energy to supplement its operational efforts.In 2008, Cisco is expected to acquire approximately 460 million kWhof renewable energy worldwide. Cisco is also part of the EPA's Green Power Partnership , which ranks Cisco as No. 8 on its list of top 25 nationalpurchasers of green power.
Cisco will report on its progress toward meeting these reductiongoals each year to the EPA, among other organizations, and by wayof its annual Corporate Citizenship report .
Helping Customers Meet Their Environmental Goals
By using networking technology to reduce its own impact on theenvironment, Cisco is demonstrating its vision of helping customersdo the same. As Cisco improves upon the efficiency of its ownproducts and uses technology to reduce its own GHG emissions, itwill create IP-enabled best practices and solutions to share withcustomers.
To help customers manage their energy-consumption challenges,primarily in the data center, Cisco also today announced a publicbeta launch of a portal called the Efficiency Assurance Program (EAP). This centralized web-based tool will help Cisco customersbetter analyze power use and establish efficiency benchmarks acrossfacilities and the data center infrastructure. This program will,for the first time, allow users to determine a power cost,utilization rate and CO2 emissions related to their IT operations.Additionally, Cisco's Data Center Efficiency Services helpcustomers identify the appropriate power and cooling infrastructureto support a highly reliable network, while identifying steps tomake the infrastructure more accessible, efficient and sustainable.
Cisco expects these and other innovations to exponentially increasethe impact of its own GHG-management efforts as new and existingcustomers use technology as a means by which to manage theirenvironmental footprint.