Commit to Sustainability on Earth Day and Every Day

  • Global strategy for environmental sustainability

Global strategy for environmental sustainability

John Muir, the famed naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club, was talking about nature when he said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe,” but he just as easily could have been referring to business sustainability.

Sustainability is “hitched” to every aspect of Seagate’s business—from our research and development efforts, manufacturing processes and community involvement, to initiatives around conflict minerals, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation and packaging, water management and a healthy work environment.

The celebration of Earth Day, April 22, provides us with an opportunity to reaffirm Seagate’s commitment to sustainability and recognize contributions made by employees across the company to integrate sustainable practices in our operations and processes.

Sustainability underpins our ability to grow, and achieve competitive advantage and strong profitability. We think of sustainability in the context of three “Ps”—People, Planet and Profit.

People, planet and profit

The three “Ps” matter! In a nutshell, companies that focus on them have strong values. They also are most likely to “sustain” and endure; to not only survive, but thrive. Sustainable practices increase profitability while contributing to the well-being of employees and the health of our planet.

At Seagate, a cross-functional global citizenship team ensures that we maintain a focus on socially responsible, sustainable business practices.

Efforts to reduce environmental impact and carbon use must be persistent

While a range of programs and activities support Seagate’s commitment to sustainability, our strategy focuses on three key priorities:

Every business must push ahead to reduce its environmental and carbon footprintSustainability is a journey of incremental improvements over time that requires a focused strategy, patience and persistence, and we’re making progress. For example:

  • Seagate is recognized as an industry leader, by customers as well as NGOs, in understanding and reducing hazardous substances in our products.
  • We’re active in the industry’s strategy to identify conflict mineral sources. Seagate has eliminated tantalum from conflict sources in our core products, and we are working to achieve conflict-free status across our portfolio in alignment with industry initiatives.
  • Rigorous Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) audits confirmed our manufacturing locations are aligned with the EICC Code of Conduct.

As far as we’ve come, our journey must continue. We have many opportunities for improvement, including:

  • Reducing energy consumption by evaluating effective alternatives across our company and, particularly, in our factories.
  • Identifying additional opportunities to reduce environmental impact of our products.
  • Partnering with suppliers on business continuity planning, EICC Code of Conduct alignment, and eliminating conflict-free metals.

Being transparent about these issues is important. By being open to feedback and suggestions, we learn valuable lessons to apply to our practices, and gain advocates among our stakeholders.

Cherryl McDougall is Seagate’s executive director for Environmental Health and Safety and Sustainability

2015-04-22T21:31:12+00:00

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