Over the past several years, there has been a mass movement toward green efforts under the auspices of corporate responsibility.
At EBSCO, going green is much more than a “me too” sentiment. Quite simply, going green is the right thing to do. Interacting with the environment responsibly is an all-encompassing effort, and measuring one's carbon footprint takes no small part in that endeavor.
That’s one of the reasons we’ve partnered with sustainability organization Carbonfund.org – to make sure this lofty yet unregulated notion of eco-wisdom yields credible results.
The inventory and analysis led by Carbonfund.org on behalf of EBSCO covered several categories including electricity, natural gas and business travel. It revealed that electricity is the main contributing factor to EBSCO's footprint, accounting for more than two-thirds of the company's total carbon dioxide emission during the past year.
To that end, a few measures we are taking to reduce our carbon footprint are as follows:
Recycling
- EBSCO is increasing its recycled paper usage
- Through partnerships with vendors including Hewlett-Packard, and donations to charitable organizations, EBSCO is actively reducing e-waste such as computers, cell phones, ink cartridges and pagers
- Lighting waste reduced through bulb crusher that safely crushes fluorescent light bulbs while capturing more than 99.99 percent of the harmful mercury vapors within
- Print waste reduced through paper recycling program
- Aluminum can waste reduced through installation of can crushers in major vending areas; crushed cans are recycled.
Reducing paper consumption in standard business operations
- Electronic distribution of files formerly sent in print
- EBSCONET system empowers customers to order, claim and renew subscriptions electronically
Using solar power
- EBSCO Publishing recently installed 192 solar panels to provide year-round electricity.
Practicing smarter transportation
- Leading the effort as EBSCO considers companywide adoption of hybrid vehicles, EBSCO France SAS and EBSCO Publishing are currently switching their corporate automobile fleets to hybrids.
Supporting sustainable forestry
- As part of this ongoing green strategy, EBSCO has decided to sponsor a reforestation project in Mali launched by one the customers served by its French office, Agrocampus. Agrocampus is a national institute of higher education in Agronomics.
EBSCO continues to build on these contributions as part of our larger, long-term commitment to reduce our environmental footprint and encourage corporate and individual responsibility to impact climate change.
Visit ebsco.com frequently in the coming weeks for more news about these initiatives.
Going Green at the Library
Within the information services industry, there are numerous examples of libraries’ efforts to go green. To recognize these best practice examples and inspire other libraries to practice environmental responsibility, EBSCO is creating a repository of customer success stories. See what your peers are accomplishing, then send us your story!
Submit a Story
Going Green at Home
Make a bigger impact on climate change when you reduce your personal carbon footprint.
Learn about many other ways you can help save energy .