Reduce Your Carbon Impact with Renewable Energy Certificates
We’re committed to renewable electricity and reducing carbon emissions!
Here’s how it works.
- Reducing our direct and supply chain carbon emissions by 34% by 2025.
- Working with our clients to reduce our carbon emissions at their sites by 34% by 2025.
- Supporting renewable electricity infrastructure by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to cover electricity usage at 100% of our directly operated sites.
These are just a few ways Sodexo USA is partnering with other responsible companies around the globe to combat climate change and protect the health of our planet and people.
But how does it work? What does it mean to source renewable electricity and purchase certificates? And how do these actions benefit our clients?
It’s complicated, says Katherine Walker, Senior Manager of Sustainability and CSR Performance for Sodexo North America.
Carbon reduction is something a lot of companies talk about, but it’s unclear how they’re taking action and how they’re measuring the impact of those actions. It can be confusing and hard to translate.
So, we need to talk about it correctly, in a way that educates, engages and inspires personal action.
For example, Sodexo USA recently announced that we will purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to cover 50% of our electricity consumption at our directly operated sites by the end of fiscal year 2022. By the end of fiscal year 2023, we’re aiming for 100%.
The pledge fulfills our U.S. commitment to RE100, a group of influential global businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. We were the first food services and facilities management company to join the group in 2021.
The goal is to purchase RECs that equal our on-site electricity use. We purchase the certificates because converting to renewable electricity is not fully within our control, as we lease and often share our sites. Often, we don’t hold the utility contract.
Purchasing certificates allows us to support American renewable electricity infrastructure and neutralizes that piece of our carbon impact.
While we are currently unable to locally source or produce renewable electricity at each of our 50-plus directly operated sites, we are paying for an allocation of renewable energy that is being generated in the U.S., Walker explains.
Our certificates will be certified to ensure they are sustainably sourced and not being allocated to [counted by] anyone else.
Our direct carbon impact is described as Scope 1 and Scope 2 activities, per the GHG Protocol (a global standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions.)
Scope 1 includes emissions from heating fuels and gas. Scope 2 is the electricity used at our directly operated sites, addressed through our RE100 commitment. These activities are more directly within our control.
Scope 3 activities relate to indirect carbon emissions from employee commuting, business travel, client site energy use and the production, processing and transportation of the goods and services we purchase. At Sodexo, 95% of our carbon footprint relates to our client sites or is embedded in the products we purchase on their behalf. While these activities are not within our direct control, they are still critical to address in partnership with our clients and vendors.
Clearly, we can’t control all our energy consumption. But we CAN and DO use our expertise and influence to recommend and support sustainable practices.
These actions include:
- Innovating client tools to reduce energy usage and increase efficiency, such as Sodexo’s proprietary site-level sustainability tool, SEA for a Better Tomorrow.
- Offering delicious, plant-based/low-carbon menu items.
- Advancing our Responsible Sourcing strategy, which includes engaging the supply base on sustainable agriculture, circular economy solutions and overall resource efficiency.
We know renewable energy is better for the planet. Reducing harmful carbon emissions combats climate change and creates a healthier environment.
At the same time, we work to reduce our energy consumption. We also remain diligent and transparent in how we track, measure and report our emissions and reductions.
The result? Significant savings and return on investment for our clients.
It’s all part of our Better Tomorrow 2025 road map, which lays out Sodexo USA’s nine commitments for making a positive impact on individuals, communities and the environment.
We’re proud to be a sustainability pioneer. But there’s so much more to do.
The first step is working to understand the complexities, as we embrace our role in the global mission.
About the Expert: Katherine Walker
Katherine Walker is the senior manager, Sustainability and CSR Performance for Sodexo North America.