by Shane Henson — June 29, 2011—IBM’s Corporate Responsibility Report for 2010 shows how the company’s socially responsible behavior last year yielded a range of benefits: reductions in energy use, more women in management roles, and smarter cities. According to the report, IBM employees were also healthier and safer on the job, received greater skills training, and joined with the company in donating more money and expertise to social causes through community partnerships.
According to the report, through an ongoing program involving 3,100 energy conservation projects at more than 350 IBM facilities in 49 countries, IBM achieved strong results in sustainability, energy conservation and environmental responsibility last year. For instance, IBM saved over $50 million in electricity expenses and conserved 523,000 megawatt hours of electricity since 2008, enough to power 47,000 average U.S. homes for a year.
The report also highlighted that IBM is saving energy across its data centers and real estate portfolio through a global strategy that taps into the company’s R&D expertise and technologies. It includes a technology developed by IBM Research that produces real-time, 3D images to pinpoint so-called “heat sinks” and cooling leaks; virtualization technology to ensure that energy-hungry servers are operating at peak efficiency; and analytics software that manages electricity consumption across data centers, much as a conductor tunes up an orchestra. Such innovations make their way into IBM Smarter Buildings technology sold to clients, the report notes.
Also in 2010, according to the report, the company recycled 79 percent of the nonhazardous waste it generated; reduced water use in the manufacturing process by nearly two percent; and successfully completed a multi-year program to eliminate perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid compounds from its chip manufacturing processes—winning recognition from the U.S.’ National Pollution Prevention Roundtable.
These and other accomplishments were detailed in IBM’s report, a year-to-year comparison of the company’s citizenship and philanthropic projects, community partnerships, environmental stewardship, and employment policies and practices.
