It’s not easy being green, a wise frog once said. But shouldn’t it be easy?
At Best Buy, we believe being sustainable is good for business, and we have proof. Contrary to the old adage that it costs more to be “green” – it really can save money. Our recent 20% carbon reduction attainment saved Best Buy more than $50 million. Our leaders get it – they made sustainability a priority even through the Company’s turnaround.
It’s also easy to say you’re a “green” company. But we’re walking the talk – cutting down on carbon, recycling more and minimizing waste – and people are starting to notice.
Best Buy placed 35th (up from 81st in 2014!) out of the largest 500 publicly-traded companies in the U.S. on the recently released Newsweek Green Rankings list. More significantly, the Company jumped to the second spot among retailers. We can attribute this higher score to increased transparency and continued improvement in areas like carbon reduction.
The Newsweek Green Rankings are one of the world’s most recognized assessments of corporate environmental performance. Based on research from Corporate Knights Capital and HIP (Human Impact + Profit) Investor Inc., the analysis takes into account eight indicators, including carbon, energy, water, waste and the extent to which internal governance is geared toward sustainability. See the complete 2015 Newsweek Green Rankings here.
Not only has Best Buy saved millions through our sustainability efforts, and created unparalleled value-proposition for our customers (heard of our recycling program?), we are thrilled to be recognized by the external stakeholder community as a leader in sustainability. Easy? Not always. But at Best Buy, being a responsible company is who we are.