Every year, we hold our December meeting as an opportunity share – and celebrate – our sustainable business community’s hard-earned successes.
This year was as inspiring as ever, with over 50 sustainability leaders coming together to share their accomplishments and plans for the coming year. We’ve captured some of those success stories here – enjoy!
We raised a glass to all the important “firsts” that were accomplished this year, both large and small. Parametrics, Toole Design, and Papercut Software got their Green Teams off the ground, encouraging sustainable practices like recycling and composting in their buildings. NEEA started a DEI group, and Propeller Consulting drafted their first Sustainability Report. Walsh Construction recently began work on the first ever Living Building in Portland.
Many organizations used 2019 to formalize their sustainability efforts by becoming LEED or Sustainability at Work certified, with Toole Design and Vestas achieving Gold certification and the HDR Engineering offices becoming LEED certified. Two businesses, Business on Purpose and consultant Eric Croswell, are looking forward to becoming BCorp certified in the new year.
WSP USA placed in the top 4 in April’s Drawdown EcoChallenge! CLEAResult staff completed close to 5,000 hours of community service. Energy 350 (our hosts for the evening!) grew their business by 25% and was voted the #4 Best Green Workplace in Oregon. Vestas went 100% VOC-free this year, and Elephants Deli saw a 25% reduction in GHGs through significant investments in refrigerant monitoring.
Daimler announced the production of a fully carbon-neutral fleet of vehicles and developed an Executive Perspective series in order to showcase the importance of a top-down strategy to sustainable change. PacifiCorp launched an internal communications plan to let their employees know about all their sustainable practices and opportunities to get involved.
KINK FM (Alpha Media) uses their platform to spread the word about being a carbon-neutral radio station and highlights the work of local sustainability leaders in their podcast series Talking Trash. Stillwater Energy worked with school districts in rural Oregon to create student Green Teams, encouraging a new generation of environmental stewards.
As for the Corporate Sustainability Collaborative, we purchased reusable dishware for events, created a list of criteria for sustainable catering, and offered our first half-day workshop.
Thank you to our host Energy 350, who graciously provided their space (and drinks!) for a very festive gathering, and to CLEAResult for sponsoring food for the evening. (If you’re interested in hosting or sponsoring future events, please email us: oregoncscollaborative@gmail.com.)
Thank you also to all the attendees for sharing the great work they’ve been doing!
On to 2020
As we go into the 50th anniversary year of the first Earth Day, we will continue to Convene, Inspire, and Elevate. We look forward to another year of supporting one another as we push forward to a brighter future.
Corporate Sustainability Collaborative 