Saint-Gobain North America, and its building products subsidiary CertainTeed LLC, have announced that they have joined the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Climate Challenge, a new platform encouraging businesses and other organizations to drive real-world action toward significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sharing strategies to reduce carbon and save energy.
The Better Climate Challenge encourages companies and organizations to reduce their portfolio-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent or more over the next decade. Saint-Gobain's new global Grow and Impact strategy announced just months ago, includes a more ambitious goal of reducing the company's global carbon emissions by 33 percent by 2030.
"We will continue to challenge ourselves to look for ways to maximize our company's positive impact, for our customers and the communities where we do business while minimizing our environmental footprint," said Mark Rayfield, CEO of Saint-Gobain North America, and CertainTeed.
"The construction and building products industries have an especially important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world. Today, 40 percent of global CO2 emissions come from the construction sector. With this in mind, we are thrilled to partner with the Department of Energy as we work to meet these ambitious goals and encourage other companies, especially in our industry and value chain, to join us in taking this important pledge."
"Better Climate Challenge partners like Saint-Gobain North America are committing to decarbonize across their portfolio of buildings, plants, and fleets and share effective strategies to transition our economy to clean energy," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
"Their leadership and innovation are crucial in our collective fight against climate change while strengthening the U.S. economy."
Signing the pledge follows several other recent actions taken by the company to solidify its commitment towards sustainability:
- In January, Saint-Gobain North America donated a zero energy ready house in Canton, Ohio, made with more than 20 of its products, to Habitat for Humanity.
- In December, Saint-Gobain installed recycling technology at its Silver Grove, Kentucky gypsum plant, reducing landfill waste by 15,000 tons per year.
- In November, Saint-Gobain announced its intent to install solar panels in New Jersey, supporting the ambitious sustainability goals of that state's electrical grid.
With over 120 manufacturing locations in the United States, every current and future member of the company's team will play an important part in meeting its sustainability goals