“Moving towards energy efficiency and renewable energy powered solutions and factories – it just makes plain economic sense.” So says Harry Verhaar, Head of Global Public & Government Affairs at Philips, in an interview for Climate TV on why the technology company joined RE100.
“We are reducing our footprint, powering more of our factories with solar and wind energy, lowering our overall energy bill, and it makes our products more competitive,” he says, outlining the business benefits of moving towards renewable electricity.
Philips was one of the first companies to join RE100 and has a target to be 100% powered by renewable electricity by 2020. The company is currently 55% of the way there.
Philips has gone far beyond reducing the carbon footprint of its own operations. The company has been addressing the issue of energy poverty by increasing efforts to provide clean and renewable energy to those that do not have it.
The business has a 2030 vision to eradicate light poverty and help countries move away from the kerosene and fossil fuel lighting that results in 1.5 million casualties a year.
Philips’ smart green technology products offer better environmental performance, making it easier for consumers in all markets to reduce costs, energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Additionally, at Climate Week NYC this year, Philips joined The Climate Group in calling for every single city and utility around the world to schedule the switch of their street lighting to LED by 2025, as part of a major global campaign LED = Lower Emissions Delivered.
Read our full case study about Philips.