In environmental awards season, we don’t talk about who wore it best, but who’s doing the right thing for the planet and society. Along with many of our peers, Best Buy has earned time in the spotlight from several noteworthy organizations this spring.
Best Buy placed 27th on the 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings of the top 500 U.S. companies. Up eight spots overall from last year, we retained the second spot among U.S. retailers and first among specialty retailers. Based on research from Corporate Knights Capital and HIP (Human Impact + Profit) Investor Inc., the analysis takes into account eight indicators, including carbon, energy, waste and the extent to which internal governance is geared toward sustainability. See the complete 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings here.
Corporate Responsibility Magazine named Best Buy to its 2016 Best Corporate Citizens List. The list is based on seven categories: environment, climate change, employee relations, human rights, governance, finance and community support. We are in good company: Many of our vendor partners are on the list, including Microsoft, Intel and HP.
The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) recently awarded Best Buy an Outstanding Case Study Award for our switch to hybrid vehicles. In April, we announced the dispatch of nearly 1,000 Toyota Prius c hybrids nationwide to serve as our new Geekmobile vehicles. The Prius c conversion will cut emissions 50 percent over our previous vehicle. We estimate this will reduce approximately 250,000 gallons of gasoline and nearly five million pounds of CO2. The switch will also bring substantial annual cost savings.
Now that the music has started playing, we’ll wrap this up. We are thrilled to be recognized by the external stakeholder community as a leader in sustainability, and we plan to keep up the good work.
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