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Creating Change and Affecting the World

Creating Change and Affecting the World

Johnson Controls enlists in worldwide sustainability initiative

Almost every day, the media brims with new pronouncements about global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and global climate changes. Villages built upon northern permafrost are sinking and icebergs are melting. Sea temperatures are drastically rising, devastating plankton pools and affecting all sea life. Temperature patterns are shifting, creating cold zones where once was warmth, and increasing temperatures in places that already are arid. But there is hope.

A Pledge for Change

Johnson Controls has pledged to work with the Clinton Climate Initiative, a project headed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton that is dedicated to working with cities and governments worldwide to positively impact climate change. The pledge, announced at the initiative’s C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in New York City, involves working with municipalities to improve energy usage in buildings through energy-efficiency solutions and retrofits. In all, 15 cities are taking part in the effort to decrease carbon emissions, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Paris, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Tokyo—all areas where Johnson Controls facilities and customers are situated.
“Sustainability and energy efficiency are our core values … and how we run our business internationally,” says David Myers, president of Johnson Controls’ building efficiency business. “This initiative is an excellent platform for educating developers, owners and managers of large facilities on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make their facilities part of a more comfortable, safe, sustainable and efficient world.”

Tapping a Record

Johnson Controls’ involvement makes sense. The company has a 122-year record of developing energy efficiency solutions and has created a number of technologies and systems that make the most of energy usage.
In targeting large cities for its efforts, the initiative is looking to make the most impact with concentrated resources. According to the initiative:

• Urban areas make up 75 percent of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
• The building sector accounts for up to 40 percent of global energy use.
• Energy-efficiency solutions for both new and old (retrofitted) buildings could significantly reduce CO2 emissions.

According to the Leonardo Academy, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on sustainability strategies, Johnson Controls is poised to help customers with energy conservation efforts leading to $18 billion of utility savings and a 352-million-ton reduction in power plant emissions by 2010. So, the company’s involvement with the Clinton Climate Initiative is just, well, the tip of the iceberg.