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NAEM is a non-profit, non-partisan educational association dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) management. The vast majority of its members are from industries that produce products (72%) and whose companies have US as well as international facilities (76%). Here program director Virginia Hoekenga talks about how EHS professionals are prioritizing climate change action and benchmarking their efforts through corporate climate strategy events.
How much time are EHS professionals dedicating to climate action?
We see some companies who’ve completed their GHG inventories and are executing action plans while others are still getting their arms around their carbon footprint. In both cases however, climate change has moved to the top of most of our members’ priority list.
What is the biggest challenge for EHS professionals dealing with global warming?
The biggest challenge is deciding what climate strategies to pursue and what targets to set and then making the case for those particular strategies and targets to senior management. With most EHS professionals managing sites across the globe, they have a lot of information to sift through in order to decide what will be effective, yet cost appropriate, for their various facilities and processes.
How are most of your members benchmarking their progress in this area?
A key way we see our members benchmarking their programs is through participation in corporate climate strategy events. We also see our members doing informal benchmarking through the NAEM member network by just picking up the phone and talking to each other. That’s one of the universal benefits of professional associations - you have a lot of access to other people with the same challenges.
What are some examples of innovative climate responses by your member companies?
We’ve seen our members implement a range of actions to reduce their carbon emissions. I have been particularly impressed by some of Johnson and Johnson’s innovative onsite renewable energy projects. Besides several sites with onsite solar generation, they have an interesting landfill gas project in California which produces enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 1500 homes.
Would national carbon caps push climate change to the forefront of EHS professionals’ agendas?
Most EHS professionals already see climate action as a top priority. A national carbon cap or regulation would definitely accelerate action for companies that are lagging behind.
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