SR Inc Names Akamai SBER’s Outstanding Corporate Leader of 2019 – Sustainability Roundtable Inc

January 16, 2020

SR Inc Names Akamai SBER’s Outstanding Corporate Leader of 2019

Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. (SR Inc), the leader in outsourced Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) assistance, announced Akamai Technologies as the Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Outstanding Corporate Leader of 2019 and Sean Kinghorn, Intuit’s Global Sustainability Leader as the SBER Outstanding Corporate Executive of 2019. SR Inc made that announcement at its fourth quarter Executive Symposium in Washington DC as it released proprietary Executive Guidance and Tools to Member-clients on “Charting a Profitable Path to Net Zero Emissions” based on Member-client Akamai Technologies, Bloomberg, Cisco and Intuit case studies.

For more than a decade SR Inc has assisted more than 75 Fortune 500 and growth companies on a multi-year basis in their move to more sustainable/ESG high-performance.  Each year with each client SR Inc performs a detailed Management Diagnostic and comparison to peer enterprises.  Intuit and Akamai Technologies have increasingly scored across all aspects of corporate sustainability/ESG as highest performing companies in SR Inc’s 20+ Member Group of global Information Communication Technology companies.

Akamai is a leading global content delivery network that provides edge security, web and mobile performance, and over-the-top media solutions. Its global platform spans nearly 270,000 servers in nearly 4,000 locations; 1,700 networks; in 137 countries. Despite a greater than 50% increase in network traffic over the past five years, Akamai’s energy and carbon usage has grown at only 1/10th of that rate. Renewable energy and network efficiency are the keys to this decoupling of business growth from energy consumption and carbon emissions. Akamai set 2020 goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 2015 levels by sourcing renewable energy for 50% of global network operations and to reduce network energy and scope 2 GHG intensity per unit traffic per year by 30%. Akamai also set a 2020 goal to process 100% of its electronic waste at e-Stewards certified facilities. As part of Akamai’s strategy to meet its goals and to positively affect communities, the following initiatives have been implemented:

• Working with strategic partners such as Iron Mountain to provide data center users with renewable electricity. Akamai was a launch partner of Iron Mountain’s Green Power Pass in 2019, a data center focused renewable energy reporting solution, the first of its kind in the industry.
• Procuring Power Purchase Agreements and Buyer Organized Aggregated Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPA) such as the Buyer Organized Aggregated VPPA in 2018 entered by Apple, Akamai, Etsy and Swiss Re for a 125-MW wind farm in Illinois and a 165-MW solar farm in Virginia.
• Akamai’s new global headquarters, which opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts in November 2019, prioritized sustainability in the design. The building’s core and shell were built to achieve LEED Gold v4 certification standards as defined by the U.S. Green Building Council.
• Offering Public Leadership on renewables with a recent example at the Massachusetts State House in supporting the 100% Renewable Energy Act – which would transition the state to 100% renewable electricity by 2035.

“From the CEO to genius software architects, Akamai takes seriously their opportunity to make the internet more secure and sustainable across their nearly 4,000 data center locations globally.  That leadership is exemplified in many aspects of their achievements – from their collaborative approach to secure a highly scalable model for supplier-provided RECs for their data centers while driving new renewable energy to building a new school with local property tax dollars that flow from their VPPA to help finance new wind energy in Texas” – David Osborn, SR Inc’s COO & Senior Advisor.

SR Inc recognized Sean Kinghorn in part for his leadership in helping Intuit, makers of TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint, become a global leader in the movement to climate positive companies. Intuit has committed to reducing emissions 50X more than the 2018 emissions of its own operations in the next decade.

For six years Sean has led in developing and implementing Intuit’s sustainability strategy that has maximized financial savings and reduced emissions as Intuit and its global portfolio of mostly leased space has grown.  Intuit set original 2015 goals to reduce its operational carbon footprint 50% by 2025, reduce its buildings’ carbon footprint 80% by 2025, and procure 100% renewable energy by 2030. Sean led the efforts to enable Intuit to surpass those goals for scopes 1 and 2 emissions, globally, five years early. Intuit’s bold new goal, announced during Climate Week in New York City, is to reduce carbon emissions 50 times greater than its own 2018 emissions footprint by 2030. To get there, Intuit will amplify its partnerships with SR Inc and with Project Drawdown, the world’s leading resource for climate solutions. The following initiatives are part of Intuit’s three-pronged strategy of boosting energy efficiency internally, investing in renewable energy, and buying verified strategy aligned carbon offsets:

• Energy Efficiency program featuring green building standards and initiatives to address supply chain, business travel, data center, and commuting emissions.
• Investing in renewables by committing to green tariffs and long-term on- and off-site renewable energy projects while operating a nearly 100% leased office portfolio.
• Leading SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers in partnering with other Member-clients through Buyer Organized Aggregated Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) to procure for Intuit the Renewable Energy Credits created by 10 MW of Texas Wind that will enable Intuit to meet its 100% renewable energy goal 10 years early.
• Intuit’s “Purely Green” initiative which enables customers, employees and business partners in Texas to buy wind energy at or below the price of traditional grid power.
• Partnering with Project Drawdown to purchase carbon offsets for emissions Intuit is unable to eliminate to help power prosperity through projects across the world.

“I’m honored to be named an Outstanding Corporate Leader by SR Inc and it has been a privilege to advance Intuit’s leadership to a best-in-class climate positive strategy. As the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made clear, driving to a Net Zero Emissions should be the minimum goal of a responsible global company. Partnering with firms like SR Inc. and benefiting from the shared services of Renewable Energy Procurement Services (REPS) has been critical to help us drive Net Zero results with a cost advantage through a utility scale renewables that aggregates the demand of smaller firms. Together we can make an outstanding – and profitable – difference at growing scale for our company and for solutions for the planet.” – Sean Kinghorn, head of global sustainability at Intuit.

“It’s SR Inc’s great privilege to work with inspirational leaders at some of the best managed companies in the world; none is more impressive than Sean Kinghorn and none has provided more efficient leadership to both Intuit and to the corporate sustainability field globally than Sean as he helps customers, suppliers and peer enterprises understand they too can chart a strategic and profitable path to net zero emissions.” – SR Inc CEO & Founder, Jim Boyle.

See full press release here.