"RE100 sends a signal to market that there is new business in town, that rapidly transitioning to 100% renewables is good business for a lot of people," saidHannah Jones, Chief Sustainability Officer at Nike, Inc., speaking on a RE100 discussion panel yesterday on the final day of Climate Week NYC.
Also speaking on the panel was Anthony Cammarata, Managing Director, Global Head of Facilities Management at Goldman Sachs and Len Sauers, Vice President for Global Sustainability at Procter & Gamble.
Launched a year ago, at Climate Week NYC in 2014, the RE100 campaign is a global initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP to engage, support and showcase innovative businesses committed to becoming 100% powered by renewable electricity.
Pamela Mars-Wright - Credit: Don Pollard
Before the panel Pamela Mars-Wright, Member of the Board of Directors and fourth generation Mars family, made opening remarks about Mars’ commitment to being 100% renewable by 2040. Mars was among the 13 original corporate partners of RE100.
The panel was moderated by the Director General of IRENA, Adnan Amin, who noted the increasing support for renewable energy and commended businesses like Nike, Inc., Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble for "driving the consciousness of global decision makers."
Procter & Gamble has a long-term vision to be ‘100% renewable’ with an interim target to be 30% powered by renewable electricity by 2020. Len Sauers said "RE100 is important as it brings together like-minded companies… and creates opportunities."
From the left: Len Sauers, Vice President for Global Sustainability at Procter & Gamble, Hannah Jones, Chief Sustainability Officer at Nike, Inc., Adnan Amin, Director General of IRENA and Anthony Cammarata, Managing Director, Global Head of Facilities Management at Goldman Sachs - Credit: Don Pollard
Nike, Inc., Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble are among nine major US companies that joined RE100 this week during Climate Week NYC and that have publically committed to becoming 100% powered by renewable energy. Nike, Inc. has committed to be 100% powered by renewables by 2025 and Goldman Sachs aims to be renewable by 2020.
The announcement of these new additions to the campaign, taking the total number of corporate members to 36, has caused a media stir with some fantastic coverage in a wide range of external outlets, including New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, Fortune, TIME Magazine, Business Reporter and Politico to name a few.
There are now 36 members of RE100 including Alstria, Autodesk, BT Group, Commerzbank, DSM, Elion Resources Group, Formula E, Givaudan, Goldman Sachs, H&M, IKEA Group, Infosys, J. Safra Sarasin, Johnson & Johnson, Kingspan, KPN, Marks & Spencer, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, Nike, Inc., Philips, Procter & Gamble, Proximus, RELX Group, Salesforce, SAP, SGS, Starbucks, Steelcase, Swiss RE, UBS, Unilever, Vaisala, Voya Financial, Walmart and YOOX Group.
By Jessy Field