By Elizabeth Sturcken

I never really expected to be sitting in a Walmart in Mountain View, CA listening to President Obama speak about environmental commitments, but I am excited for the momentum he is generating, particularly in the private sector, to support the EPA announcement on carbon limits on June 2nd.

So why Walmart?

The President is making a point. Walmart gets about 25 percent of its global electricity from renewables. In the United States over all, only about 2 percent of power comes from solar sources. In 2005, Walmart set a goal to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy. To date Walmart has 335 renewable energy projects underway or in development across their global portfolio. Having the president hold Walmart up as a role model is a great way to drive other industry leaders to follow suit.

This recognition is great news to EDF since we are a key NGO partner to Walmart and have been working with them on environmental solutions since 2005. (See the full EDF – Walmart partnership timeline). In 2008, EDF and Walmart announced a jointly-developed clean energy project to install and assess next generation solar technology at over 30 Walmart facilities. Today Walmart has 250 solar energy systems installed in the U.S. and has a solar energy capacity of 65,000 kW, top of the Solar Energy Industries Association rankings of U.S. companies.

Are industry leaders following suit?

The private and public sector commitments announced today represent more than 850 megawatts of solar deployed – enough to power nearly 130,000 homes – as well as energy efficiency investments that will lower bills for more than 1 billion square feet of buildings. Additionally, the President announced new executive actions that will lead to $2 billion in energy efficiency investments in Federal buildings.

We are especially excited to see companies step up for the President’s Better Buildings Challenge which will improve energy efficiency of more than 1 billion square feet of new floor space by 20 percent by 2020. New to the President’s roster are General Motors (committing 84 million square feet), MGM Resorts (78 million square feet) and Walmart (850 million square feet).

See the complete listing of private and public sector organizations making commitments today for solar deployment and energy efficiency.

Here at EDF, we believe that companies and business leaders must pave the way to a low-carbon and prosperous economy. Today Walmart committed to double the number of onsite solar energy projects at U.S. Stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers by 2020. This is in addition to their goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their global supply chain by 20 million metric tons by the end of 2015.

We think President Obama’s making his announcement at Walmart today was a clear signal to the public and private sector that business needs to step up and publicly commit to ambitious environmental goals. Walmart continues to do this, and we look forward to many other industry leaders following suit.

By Jason Mathers

Here’s something to think about next time you are stuck in traffic next to an 18-wheeler.

The average tractor-trailer can travel only six miles per gallon of diesel.

These heavy trucks travel a lot too; averaging more than 120,000 miles a year or 20 round trip drives between Boston and San Francisco.

Freight trucks are on the road for one primary purpose: to get goods to all of us. In fact 70% of U.S. freight tonnage is moved by tractor-trailer trucks. Over the coming years, demand for freight services is expected to grow even more. And this is driving up fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Strong, new fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for our nation’s heavy trucks are achievable, cost-effective and critical to cutting greenhouse emissions and fuel consumption – all while we continue to depend on trucks to deliver the goods we need and want.

It is possible and affordable for tractor trailer trucks to get nearly 11mpg by 2025.

EDF is calling on the Obama Administration to set new fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for heavy trucks that cut fuel consumption by 40% compared to 2010 levels.

These standards would also apply for heavy-duty work trucks, such as box delivery trucks, bucket trucks, beverage delivery trucks and refuse trucks.

The infographic below highlights some of the technology available to meet bold standards as well as the significant cost, oil and emissions savings from such standards.

One fact that just jumps out at me is this: These standards will cut our oil consumption by 1.4 million barrels a day.

That sounds like a big number and it is. It’s a bit higher than the amount of oil we import daily from Saudi Arabia.

Bold fuel efficiency standards are good for our economy, environment and energy security.

They will also be good for trucking fleets too. These trucks will cost $30,000 less to fuel a year.

Strong fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for heavy trucks are an important part of the President’s Climate Action Plan. EDF will continue to work towards strong standards through our unique combination of industry engagement, regulatory design expertise and technical know-how.

By Jenny Ahlen

Last week, Walmart hosted its first Sustainable Product Expo, an event that brought together CEOs and sustainability leaders from some of the retail chain’s biggest supplier companies. Leaders from General Mills, Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America and PepsiCo, among others, joined Walmart on stage to celebrate the progress they’ve made in increasing the sustainability of their operations, and to make new commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.

Walmart set the stage for this in 2010 by announcing their goal to reduce 20 million metric tons (MMT) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their supply chain by 2015. As of 2013, Walmart and their supply chain have eliminated 7.5 MMT of GHG emissions and have projects underway to reach 18 MMT by 2015. The key to meeting and exceeding this goal is swift and thorough follow-through on ambitious initiatives.

That’s why EDF is working closely with Walmart to help their suppliers optimize fertilizer use in their supply chain. Emissions that result from nitrogen fertilizer loss – a greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide – is 300 times more potent in damaging our climate than CO2. Walmart’s Director of Dry Grocery Tim Robinson mentioned at the Expo that 20 to 40 percent of the nitrogen fertilizer isn’t absorbed by crops, either running off into waterways or off-gassing into the atmosphere. Consequently, as the top grocer in the country, this makes fertilizer optimization one of Walmart’s major opportunities for GHG reductions in their supply chain.

Just as importantly, the UN estimates that to feed the world’s growing population, food supplies will need to increase 70% by 2050. The entire value chain needs to produce more food with fewer inputs, while still allowing farmers to earn a living with what they grow. Walmart’s suppliers’ commitments are a first step towards this future:

Cargill

“By 2020 we will double our NextField acres bringing us to over 1 million acres of total land being optimized for maximum productivity with minimum environmental impact.”

DFA

“…we will have more than 90 percent of our 9,000 member farms participating in our Gold Standard Dairy program, which focuses on resource efficiency and optimization” and are “[a]igned with industry goals to reduce environmental footprint 25% by 2020."

Kellogg Company

“In every country in which Kellogg sources rice globally, we commit to promoting and supporting initiatives with producers that will, by 2020, lead to a 25% increase in the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices.  This will improve smallholder livelihoods, enhance producer resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Pepsi

“…we will work to engage growers of corn, oats, potato, and oranges to increase sustainable farming practices, particularly in the areas of environmental, social and economic sustainability.  As part of this worldwide program, PepsiCo's Sustainable Farming Initiative (or equivalent scheme) will be expanded to 500,000 acres of farmland in North America by the end of 2016."

Campbell Soup Company

“We commit to reducing GHG emissions and water use by 20% per tonne of food for Campbell's 5 key agricultural ingredients (Tomatoes, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes, Jalapenos)."

General Mills

“We will: 1) Expand 2.5x the acreage enrolled in The Field to Market sustainable agriculture initiative to 2.5 million acres by 2015; 2) Leverage General Mills' strength in connected innovation to match grower nitrogen management needs with the best global solutions; and 3) Co-sponsor an innovation challenge for the innovators and farmers who demonstrate the most promise to reduce GHG emission in nitrogen management.”

With their commitments, Walmart’s suppliers are setting new targets to strive for, and we at EDF are seeking to provide farmers with the tools they’ll need to meet them. With effective fertilizer management, we can help scale up crops to meet food needs around the world while minimizing their impacts on our climate and water resources.

By Elizabeth Sturcken

I just returned from Walmart’s first Sustainable Products Expo, where thousands of suppliers gathered to talk about sustainability, show off their products and make commitments for action. There’s a new energy behind sustainability thanks to Walmart’s increasing efforts over the past ten years and their dynamic new CEO, Doug McMillon.

Elizabeth Sturcken addressing the crowd at the Walmart Sustainable Products Expo

Environmental Defense Fund has been there every step of the way, pushing Walmart hard to set and follow through on aggressive yet achievable goals that can drive the kind of change that only a company that has over 100,000 global suppliers and 250 million customers a week can.

Strong Goals:  A Powerful Driver of Action

After 25 years of working with business, we know that setting goals matters in making real and lasting change.

This week’s Expo is a great example: we worked with Walmart for years to set and announce their groundbreaking goal of reducing 20 million metric tons (MT) of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain. And on stage with them this week, we saw leading brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg’s and General Mills stepping forward and committing to action on fertilizer and recycling — two of the biggest areas of opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Walmart’s supply chain — directly as a result of that 20 million MT goal.

Walmart and their suppliers are seeing opportunities to make improvements not because they’re required to do so, but because it’s just good business.

Closing the Loop on Recycling

9 companies came together with the Walmart Foundation to start The Closed Loop Fund, a $100 million initiative to help communities finance recycling infrastructure projects. Their goal is to ensure that 100 percent of U.S. consumers have access to recycling.

These companies — Walmart and the Walmart Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson and Unilever — have been facing a big hurdle in including more postconsumer recycled content in their products: recycling rates are stagnant and they can’t get enough materials from recycling streams to meet their goals. The Fund is part of Walmart’s holistic strategy to ask suppliers to include more postconsumer recycled content in their packaging while moving away from materials that are problematic for recycling.

Right-Sizing Fertilizer Use

From the same stage, six more companies’ CEOs — Campbell Soup Company, Monsanto, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), General Mills, Kellogg Company and PepsiCo, plus Cargill’s chairman of the board — committed to make their agricultural operations more sustainable, with goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fertilizer and water use. For many of them, this was in addition to work that they’ve already launched with Walmart to optimize fertilizer use in its supply chain. If fully implemented, this could result in greenhouse gas reductions of 7 million metric tons, reduce fertilizer runoff and help farmers cut costs.

The specific commitments each company made range from reducing the amount of GHG emissions and water used per ton of food produced (Campbells) to increasing farmers’ utilization of sustainable farming practices (Cargill, DFA, General Mills, Kellogg Company, PepsiCo).

What Really Matters:  Getting It Done

The work that Walmart and its suppliers is doing, catalyzed by the 20MMT goal, is not easy — it’s rooted in the notion that to get the kind of environmental results needed to address an issue like climate change, you need a systems approach and you need to work with suppliers. Even the world’s largest company working alone is not enough.

This week Walmart used its clout to bring together leading companies and give them a platform from which to make their commitment. Together, these companies represent more than a trillion dollars in total revenue. That’s a lot of power in the marketplace being leveraged for sustainability goals. Of course, in the end we’ll judge them all by  results— significant, measurable and transparent impacts of their efforts — and we expect Walmart to help hold them accountable for this progress.

“Se hace camino al andar – the road is made by walking,” said Yves Moury of Fundacion Capital, quoting Spanish poet Antonio Machado. He went on to explain that the poet was telling us to find new ways to think and to act. “Always act,” he exhorted, “the road is made by walking.”

I identified with this call to action as the unofficial theme of the 2014 Skoll World Forum. The presentations, the side conversations and even the general spirit of the Forum underlined this. Here is a sampling of some of the more provocative actions and articulations I heard:

• In the opening plenary, Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, argued that the world needs more CEOs to stand up to their shareholders.
• Also in the opening plenary, Arif Naqvi, founder of private equity firm The Abraaj Group, emphasized the importance of a broad definition of stakeholder engagement because as he put it, “you can’t have islands of excellence in an ocean of turbulence.”
• Jason Saul of Mission Measurement presented a framework that promotes deriving a cost/outcome across what he deems is 132 outcomes in the world.
• Jeff Bradach of Bridgespan Group raised not only organization-centric pathways to scale, but also field-centric ones that would argue for strengthening a constellation of organizations.
• Feike Sijbesma, chairman and CEO of Royal DSM, emphasized that more than shareholders have to be a company’s priority in “future-proofing a business” as he traced the company’s transition from a coal mining company to a chemical company to its current framing as a life sciences company.
• Mike Barry of Marks & Spencer shared in a side conversation that in 10 years their most important strategic partner might be a healthcare company as they think about a frame of wellness rather than products.

Malala Yousafzai

Finally, as a tour de force at the Forum were the words of Malala, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who survived a Taliban assassination attempt as she advocated for education for girls. She spoke passionately and eloquently with a poise way beyond her years as she proclaimed, “Education is more powerful than any weapon.” Although she was specifically speaking about education for girls, her message is really universal whether speaking about individuals, investors or companies.

As I reflect back on the Forum, I’m inspired to continue challenging companies to always act, innovating to protect the planet.

EDF has been a long-time supporter of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) SmartWay Program and we are proud to announce that tomorrow EPA will honor EDF with an Affiliate Challenge Award. This award not only recognizes our commitment to the program, but also our significant efforts to promote, advance, and strengthen SmartWay. The voluntary program is a public-private initiative that promotes freight sustainability through efficiency and fuel reductions. The program first began with a focus on reducing fuel consumption from long-haul trucks, and in 2011 was expanded to increase sustainability from the trucking sector operating around marine ports.

Over the course of its 10-year history, SmartWay Partners have saved 120.7 million barrels of oil. This is equivalent to taking over 10 million cars off the road for an entire year and has helped to protect the health and well-being of locals residing close to transportation hubs. Additionally, the SmartWay Program has reduced 51.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide so far, which contributes to our nation’s economic and energy security. EDF is excited about these achievements and proud to support these clean air efforts.

…and the Terminator, and Indiana Jones, and a Titanically popular director and more. If you don’t get where I’m going with this thread, you may have been under a rock for the past week, because when Hollywood talks about climate change, all kinds of new audiences listen.

Years of Living Dangerously is an incredibly ambitious documentary on climate change airing on Showtime. It is also a fascinating case study in how to market a scary, complicated concept to mass audiences and stimulate new conversations across both virtual and physical communities.

Al Gore – Won the Nobel Peace Prize

Ian Somerhalder - has 4.85 million followers on Twitter

Al Gore, with 2.71m followers, is no slouch in social media – I’m just illustrating that perhaps Mr. Somerhalder has a bit more active fan base.

There are many different ways to tell a story and start a conversation. At EDF we focus on science, economics, partnerships and bipartisan outreach to find solutions to climate change. Our stories stem from the results we drive, and yes, we love talking about science and statistics.

The teams behind both the making and the marketing of the YEARS documentary are focusing on the human element. The series uses celebrities as the lens to educate the audience through human stories and simple language. They find the real value in communicating climate change at an emotional level.

There’s also a human component in experiencing the documentary. There's no need to watch YEARS alone from your couch. The YEARS team is promoting human interaction: from social sharing through millions of celebrity followers, to spurring community action , to providing tools to host your own “viewing party” and find groups to watch with in your neighborhood.

In order to get climate change into the mainstream conversation, we need to lean on people who have high visibility in the mainstream. The bold names extending their environmental passion to this documentary include: Jessica Alba, Matt Damon, Michael C. Hall, Don Cheadle, Olivia Munn, America Ferrera, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lesley Stahl, Thomas Friedman, Harrison Ford, Ian Somerhalder and Chris Hayes.

Because EDF is chock full of scientists and economists, I’d be shunned in the break room if I didn’t provide you with some statistics:

Take over 16 million followers x thousands of tweets, favorites and shares, and YEARS just gathered a massive mainstream audience around an important issue.

At EDF, we are especially proud to be featured in the Years of Living Dangerously documentary.  Our flagship fellowship program, EDF Climate Corps, is featured in the May 26th episode, as Jessica Alba follows three of our Climate Corps fellows through their summer internships working with Caesars, Office Depot and Texas Southern University to help those organizations find energy efficiencies and become more sustainable.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing you to our Climate Corps fellows and the important work they do every year in hundreds of organizations. And yes, we’ll also be inserting ourselves into the mainstream conversation, so please feel free to tweet and share (#YEARSProject, @EDFBiz). Especially if you’re Jessica Alba …

Additional reading:

Craig K. Comstock of HuffPo says YEARS could be the 2014 version of The Day After – http://huff.to/1eqyw0S

How YEARS came to EDF’s Eric Pooley with a great idea – http://bit.ly/1g3ujPm

I recently had the opportunity to speak about leading corporate green freight practices on Talking Logistics—an online weekly talk show and blog. Talking Logistics is hosted by industry expert Adrian Gonzalez and is a venue for thought leaders and newsmakers to discuss the supply chain and logistics industry.

During this discussion, we spoke about the EDF 5 Principles for Greener Freight, the actions of large freight shippers, including Ocean Spray, Caterpillar, and Boise; and the importance of freight shippers adding their voice in support of strong truck efficiency standards.

You can watch the episode here:

Developing tomorrow’s innovative sustainable supply chain strategies requires knowledge, collaborative spirit, and creative thinking. EDF is helping to integrate these elements into the transportation network by highlighting successful sustainability practices already employed by industry leaders.

At a recent freight forum co-hosted by EDF, the Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, we learned about best practices for co-loading heavy and lightweight freight in a single container, funding opportunities available through the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), and intermodal strategies in key corridors. The freight transportation stakeholders in attendance ranged from cargo owners with global supply chains to international logistics providers to regional business associations.

The overarching theme of the forum was that securing emissions reductions from freight transportation is achievable through operational changes, partnerships, funding availability, and technology improvements. While many within the freight transportation community know that opportunities exist to increase sustainability and efficiency within the supply chain, not everyone implements these best management practices. Whether you are a logistics provider in Mexico, a shipper based in Texas, a global carrier or another transportation stakeholder, you play an important role in greening our logistics.

EDF also plays an important role, with a long history of working with companies to help them find ways they can improve their supply chain sustainability and efficiency, with new partnerships kicking off in the coming months. This year, we are beginning a supply chain logistics pilot as part of our highly successful Climate Corps program. We are also working on a marine port environmental performance metrics program that will help recognize top performers and share best management practices to reduce emissions. Together, all of our efforts are helping improve efficiency, reduce emissions, save costs, and protect public health.

This forum served as a launchpad for great ideas and new programs and partnerships like Climate Corps logistics and port metrics. Next time, we can share your success story!

I was able to peer into the future of trucking the other day. Anyone who was in Louisville, Kentucky could see it. And there were a lot of us there – 75,000 people attended the Mid-America Trucking Show.

This annual event is the world’s largest heavy-duty trucking show. Over a thousand companies exhibit. Leading truck and equipment manufacturers introduce products and make major announcements. This year, a lot of the announcements and new products focused on improving fuel efficiency.

The focus on fuel-efficiency was in part because fuel costs are the single largest component of owning and operating a truck – accounting for nearly 40% of total cost-per-mile. New, federal heavy-truck efficiency and emissions regulations that went into effect January 1st sharpen the industry’s focus on fuel-efficiency.

As I’ve written about before, well-designed federal standards can foster the innovation necessary to bring more efficient and lower emitting trucks to market. This power was on full display at the truck show.

• Volvo Trucks announced that its 2014 engines were delivering up to 3% fuel efficiency improvement over 2013 models.
• Cummins – the world’s largest manufacturer of heavy-duty diesel engines – announced that its 2014-certified 15 liter diesel engine was “7% more fuel efficient than four years ago.” Because of this gain in efficiency, a typical truck driver will save $4000 a year operating a new truck with this more efficient engine.

These engine improvements cut harmful climate pollution and save truckers money. They were driven in part by the first ever heavy-truck fuel efficiency standards – which, as Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America noted, “are very good examples of regulations that work well.”

The 2014 and 2017 standards for the truck fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas program are important building blocks. We must develop 2020 and beyond standards that go even further. EDF has written about the environmental and economic imperative for strong “phase 2” rules. At the Mid-American Truck Show, the ability of the industry to innovate was on full display.

• Allison Transmission unveiled a new automated transmission – the TC10 – which “has shown an average 5% fuel economy improvement over manual and automated manual transmissions in fleet testing.”
• Michelin introduced a new generation of its X One tires which achieves “up to a 10% improvement in fuel efficiency and more than 740 lbs of weight savings per truck.”
• Alcoa introduced a new heavy truck wheel –the Ultra ONE that can reduce tare weight by 1,400 pounds per rig.
• Daimler’s Freightliner brand introduced day cab roof fairings that improve aerodynamics, resulting in up to a 3.7% increase in fuel economy.
• SmartTruck announced that its UT6 trailer aerodynamics package was certified as EPA SmartWay Elite – signifying that the package achieves fuel savings of 9% or better.

These are all fuel-saving solutions that are available today and are additional to the 7% more efficient engines Cummins is manufacturing.

So what’s the future of trucking? It’s taking advantage of all of the available fuel-saving strategies and technologies.

The Peterbilt and Cummins “Super Truck,” which was on display, demonstrates the potential of this approach. While the Super Truck is a demonstration vehicle, the technologies used in it are intended to be commercially available around 2020. Among the solutions used in the truck are:

• an advanced waste heat recovery system;
• electronic control software that uses route information to optimize fuel use;
• an aerodynamic tractor and trailer combination;
• a lithium ion battery-auxiliary power unit, to reduce engine idling; and
• various light-weighting solutions

When combined, these solutions have enabled the Peterbilt and Cummins “Super Truck” to achieve 10.7 MPG while hauling a combined gross weight of 65,000 lbs – a great improvement over the 6.0 MPG of the typical big rig on the road today.

Getting a chance to see this truck was the highlight of my trip. When sitting in its cab, it was easy to see a future where all new trucks are considered “super trucks.” Making this future a reality will be good for the trucking industry and its customers, as a “Super Truck” will save about $27,000 annually per truck. It also will be really good for you and me – as these trucks will cut climate pollution by over 40% while saving American households over $250 a year.

Throughout the show, two things were clear: 1) there is a desire among truckers for more efficient trucks, and 2) industry has the know-how and aspiration to further offer innovative, fuel saving solutions. But well-designed federal standards are also vital because they foster the innovation necessary to bring more efficient and lower emitting trucks to market – providing significant fuel cost savings to truckers. Indeed, they already have.

I believe that Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is at its best when we are leveraging the power of market leaders to drive innovation and solve environmental challenges.  Over the years we have worked with McDonalds, Walmart, FedEx, KKR and many others to kick start market transformations in sectors including fast food, shipping, retail, private equity and commercial building energy efficiency. Notable initiatives included slashing supply chain greenhouse gas emissions with Walmart, creating a market for hybrid trucks with FedEx, and launching an innovative business internship program to catalyze energy efficiency in business.Notable initiatives included slashing supply chain greenhouse gas emissions with Walmart, creating a market for hybrid trucks with FedEx, and launching an innovative business internship program to catalyze energy efficiency in business.

What’s in it for innovators

The Methane Detectors Challenge, an effort that EDF launched today, applies a familiar strategy to a new industry and challenge. From now until June 17th, EDF and five oil and gas companies — Apache Corporation, BG Group, Hess Corporation, Noble Energy and Southwestern Energy — are accepting proposals from innovators and technology developers for reliable, low-cost technologies capable of continuous detection of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The goal of the Challenge is to test and validate devices that make it easier for the oil and gas industry to find and quickly fix methane leaks, a highly potent greenhouse gas and the main ingredient in natural gas.  Through this initiative, we hope to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shrinking the time between identifying harmful methane leaks and repairing them from months to days or even hours.

The most promising innovations will receive rigorous and independent testing at Southwest Research Institute’s state-of-the-art laboratory, and based on the outcomes, will be considered for pilot purchases at facilities run by many of the participating companies. For winning developers, the advantages of participating in the process are threefold:

• First mover advantage for a new, emerging market, within an industry that has always shown a willingness to adopt new technology to improve operations and production;
• Exposure for your technology with industry, academic, environmental and technology experts; and
• Most importantly to us, providing solutions that help address one of our most pressing short-term climate risks. A market-ready device could be deployed at any of the more than 700,000 oil and gas drilling sites across the country.

Established approach, new sector

Asking for proposals from innovators isn’t a new approach for EDF, but the problem and organizations we’re working with make this a new and exciting challenge to tackle. Back in 2000, when we wanted to help FedEx reduce the climate and health impacts of its delivery fleet, we put together a similar call for innovative technologies. This effort led to a groundbreaking collaboration with FedEx and Eaton Corporation to develop the next generation of delivery truck.  Together we unveiled the first diesel-hybrid electric delivery trucks and today, more than 40 types of hybrid delivery trucks are currently on the market, including hybrid tractor-trailer trucks for heavy freight hauling.

Today’s Challenge builds on our nearly 25 years of experience working with companies, but taps in to new areas of innovation by reaching out to innovators in the technology sector, including sensor developers and sensor system experts, to solve one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time. We plan to leverage the experience of a diverse advisory board of experts and scientists – including from universities like Harvard University and University of Houston, and nonprofits like Clean Air Task Force – to advise on testing protocols and ensure the best emerging science is taken into account. In addition, by collaborating with five industry leading companies we will ensure that solutions are market ready by evaluating how well they meet the performance needs of oil and gas sector.

The Challenge announced today is an effort to accelerate the development and deployment real-world solutions to a real-world problem.  Curbing methane emissions holds immediate benefits for the climate and preserves a valuable domestic energy resource. We don’t have a moment to lose, so let the best technologies advance.

This year, the focus of World Water Day is on how intertwined our energy and water use are, with water supplies across the country growing increasingly strained – in areas that depend on flows from the Colorado River, like California, for example – and demand for both freshwater and energy continuing to grow.

Former EDF Climate Corps fellow Jen Snook with an AT&T representative

In the U.S., 36 states faced water shortages last summer, and the 2012 drought cost the U.S. an estimated $35 billion from crop losses and business interruptions. U.S. water prices have doubled or even tripled over the past dozen years, and rates are expected to continue to climb.

Water is a critical business issue as well, and not just for the agricultural and industrial sectors. Increasing droughts and water shortages are causing companies to pay more attention to their water use throughout their operations. In particular, when it comes to buildings, companies are learning that their water and energy use are closely connected.

By working with one company in particular over the last few years – AT&T – we’ve developed a set of tools to help businesses reduce the water used to cool their buildings. This year, we’re working together to bring those tools to businesses in five water-stressed cities.

Seeking out opportunities

As a four-time EDF Climate Corps host, AT&T had already worked with EDF to make impressive improvements in energy management and become a leader in this area.

In 2012 alone, the company implemented 5,695 energy-saving projects that totaled an annualized savings of $65 million. So when AT&T looked for partners to help manage water, our name floated to the top.

Why does AT&T care about water? A quarter of AT&T’s top water-consuming facilities – a mix of offices and data centers – are in water-stressed regions, which poses a risk to its operations. AT&T is not alone in focusing on water risks, either: at last year’s World Economic Forum, companies said water scarcity was the second most pressing risk they face, just behind a major failure of the financial system.

In buildings, water and energy use are closely connected. A quarter of the water used in a typical large office building flows through cooling towers, requiring energy for treatment and distribution. This applies to all sorts of large buildings, including buildings that support communications networks, because every time someone uses their mobile device, heat is generated in the buildings that support the network equipment, requiring even more water for cooling.

In 2012, we worked with AT&T to evaluate eight pilot sites that represented a mix of geographies, building types, and cooling tower water treatment approaches. We uncovered opportunities for AT&T to cut water consumption by as much as 40% at some sites with a few simple steps, including using technology to treat the water and taking advantage of “free air cooling” by pulling in outside air when it is sufficiently cool outside.

Based on our work together, AT&T has publicly committed to saving 150 million gallons of water (5% of its annual water use) and 400 million kilowatt hours of electricity (what 35,000 U.S. households use in a year) related to building cooling each year by 2015. AT&T is also using its influence and resources to leverage water and energy reductions beyond AT&T, including encouraging its suppliers to reduce water use.

Working together to scale up savings

Taken to scale nationally across all large U.S. buildings, we estimate that improving the efficiency of cooling towers in buildings could save 28 billion gallons of water annually in U.S. buildings — or enough water to fill 400,000,000 bath tubs year after year.

Saving water creates a virtuous cycle: the more water we save means less energy is needed for supplying, treating and distributing water, and those energy savings translate into less water we need to use for developing and producing energy—the “energy-water nexus.” Using water for cooling translates into lower costs for businesses as well — lower water/sewage charges and less energy and chemicals used for running building cooling systems — savings that add up.

Several companies are already working to adopt the toolkit, including Verizon, one of AT&T’s chief competitors, a sign of how common sense these measures are for companies to implement.

AT&T and EDF committed last year to sharing the toolkit in five water-stressed areas — Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix — and helping other companies and organizations unlock their share of the savings. In water-stressed cities like these, widespread adoption of these leading practices could help shrink the gap between existing water supply and growing demand.

Over the coming months, we’ll be holding events alongside AT&T, in these cities and elsewhere, to share the toolkit with business leaders, facility managers, public officials and utility staff, and show how it can be used to complement existing conservation efforts and cut water use in these areas.

We all have a responsibility to reduce our water use; with tools like these, we’re making it just a little easier for companies to do so, and cut costs in the process.

Learn more about cooling tower efficiency with our guide and 12-part video series, or download the Water Efficiency Toolkit.

I came to Environmental Defense Fund from the management consulting world, and was fortunate to bring a couple of lessons with me. A simple one is that successful companies keep a finger on the pulse of the returns and risks in their industry and core businesses. The oil and gas industry has a growing risk on its hands, and that risk is methane emissions.

Study after scientific study has shown that methane emissions from oil and gas are a leading source of that powerful greenhouse gas. At more than 100x the climate impact of carbon dioxide when it is first released, methane is a supercharged contributor to climate change.

Methane escapes into the atmosphere from oil and gas production wells and associated equipment, gas compressors, and many other sources. Every ton of methane pollution is resources being wasted. Every ton contributes to an unstable climate in our lifetimes.

And because methane pollution sometimes escapes with gases like volatile organic compounds and hazardous pollutants, there can be risk to people’s health in nearby communities when oil and gas emissions are haphazardly released into the air.

Americans are taking note. Methane is becoming a pressing “above ground risk”, a threat to the reputation, license to operate, and long term viability of an entire industry. That’s a challenge that matters regardless of your affiliation or politics, because the natural gas industry is an economic driver for the country and has the potential to give America the exit ramp we need from dirty coal (since burned natural gas emits half the carbon content to coal). But only if it is done safely and responsibly all across industry, with a level playing field for the thousands of companies.

There are two things the industry should do to tackle this risk, and leading companies are starting to act on both. One – Acknowledge it openly and honestly. Ignoring a risk only makes it worse. Two – Address it head on, remembering that actions speak louder than words.

The good news is that there is a clear path forward to address this risk, and it makes straightforward business sense.

Consider that several weeks ago, three leading energy producers – Anadarko, Encana, and Noble Energy –worked with EDF and others, under Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s leadership, to craft commonsense recommendations that led to the nation’s first direct methane regulation of oil and gas. And just last week, a study we commissioned from the independent consulting firm ICF International showed that America can reduce its onshore methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% in the next five years, at an average annual cost of less than a penny per McF produced.

There is fresh precedent for industry engagement on smart policy. There is robust and current data to guide highly cost effective action. Now is the time for industry to step up to the plate and knock out this risk. Sound policy developed collaboratively is the way to go. Minimizing risk is just good business sense, and there’s no time to waste.

See our Methane Solutions Cost Curve Study

Check out our methane solutions animation

By Homayoun Taherian

As transportation costs continue to rise, many companies are searching for ways to reduce spending by looking beyond their supply chain boundaries and collaborating with like-minded peers.

This type of horizontal collaboration – sharing supply chain assets with competitors – is known as co-loading in the freight transportation domain. Co-loading allows multiple companies to share space on the same transportation vehicle. It’s like ride sharing for freight. Co-loading does not only help save on transportation costs, it reduces carbon emissions, wear on transportation infrastructures and air pollution, in turn, creating healthier living environments across the nation.

To better understand the significance of co-loading, we need to look at the traditional utilization of truck capacities in the US. According to various DOT statistics:

• 15-25% of all the miles traveled in the US by freight trucks are empty miles. That means the vehicle carries no load while traveling. These are due to empty backhauls and deadhead miles.
• The utilization of the remaining 75-85% of the non-empty miles is on average 64%. Another way of looking at this is that we are leaving 36% of our capacity for moving freight on the table. Co-loading is a way to get the full value of each move – leading to an overall reduction in necessary trips.

Co-loading is similar to less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping in the sense that companies share space (and cost) on the same vehicle. It differs from LTL, thought, as shipments do not go through the hub and spoke network of the LTL carrier for consolidation. Instead, shipments are consolidated using multi-stop truckloads and thus it travels faster with less chances of getting damaged or lost. Co-loading is suitable mainly for larger LTL and smaller truckload shipments. It can be accomplished by combining LTL shipments on existing truckloads, combining multiple large LTLs or by multiple smaller truckloads together. The yellow shaded area in the figure below shows the sweet spot for co-loading.

The recent advent of big data processing technology has pushed co-loading into popularity too.

In a case study performed as a part of my master’s thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I worked with six Fortune 500 shippers located in the Midwest and identified an excess of $1 million in transportation savings through co-loading. This co-loading would also result in more than 1,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions reduction annually.

There are two ways for companies to get started on co-loading. The first is to do it yourself (DIY). In the DIY model, shippers have to identify potential partners, share data and utilize supply chain engineering resources (people and software) to see if and where the co-loading opportunities exist. One of the co-loading partners has to take responsibility of the transportation execution activities in order for the collaborating partners to realize the savings.

For more information on how to setup such a relationship please refer to my thesis “Outbound Transportation Collaboration- (DIY)”.

Co-loading activities can also be orchestrated through a third party logistics provider (3PL) who is capable of managing and performing such activities. A 3PL can potentially create a more scalable co-loading network that might generate even greater benefits, as this would be its core competency.

As companies evolve in their supply chain management activities, they will see fewer improvement opportunities within their traditional boundaries. But cross-company collaboration such as co-loading will extend the companies’ supply chain boundaries to a much larger network. This opens up new opportunities waiting to be explored.

Homayoun Taherian is the founder of Cnergistics, LLC — a logistics service provider specialized in co-loading services. During his graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he worked with six Fortune 500 shippers located in the Midwest and identified an excess of $1 million in transportation savings through co-loading.