Salesforce Reinforces Environmental Commitment with Mission 2020 Step Up Declaration and Announces New Strategic Climate Initiatives

Company responds to key global climate action challenges with science-based target, supply chain activation and expanded green building practices

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Salesforce

Sep 13, 2018, 10:05 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), announced the company's leadership in the creation of the Step Up Declaration and strategic corporate commitments to help catalyze a climate turning point by 2020.

Since its founding, Salesforce has operated with the belief that businesses are an important platform for change, and has harnessed the company's culture of innovation to drive positive social impact.

Following a global challenge by Christiana Figueres, Convenor of Mission 2020 to the technology sector to "step up" climate action and drive down their company's carbon emissions by 2020, Salesforce partnered with Mission 2020 to establish the Step Up Declaration, a new alliance committed to harnessing the power of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to help reduce emissions across all economic sectors. Salesforce is proud to announce it was the first company to sign the pledge and is now joined by 20 other companies who have signed and made their own climate commitments.

Today, Salesforce also announced the company's own Step Up commitments, including signing onto the Science Based Targets Initiative, partnering with its top suppliers to set their own emissions reduction targets, and expanding its green real estate strategy.

Salesforce makes these commitments on the heels of announcing the company's largest renewable energy agreement to date, which put Salesforce on track to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2022.

Partnering with Suppliers to Reduce Emissions
Today, Salesforce announced that it joined Science Based Targets, an initiative by CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and WWF that aims to raise corporate ambition and help businesses pursue bolder climate change solutions.

Salesforce's sustainability efforts extend beyond the company's internal commitments to its ecosystem to create ripple effects of action. Today, the company is committing to partnering with its top suppliers, who are responsible for 50 percent of its total supplier-related emissions, to set their own emissions reduction targets by 2025.

Salesforce Expands Green Real Estate Strategy for Sustainable Growth
Salesforce is announcing that all new major Salesforce workspaces established after 2020 will align with LEED Platinum v4 standards and pursue Net Zero Carbon Building certification through a focus on energy efficiency, impactful renewable energy procurement and the embodied carbon of building materials.

Salesforce has integrated green building practices throughout its global real estate strategy, including office design, construction and operations.

Salesforce Tower: A symbol of environmental stewardship
Salesforce Tower in San Francisco is LEED Core and Shell Platinum Certified and on track to be the highest-rated LEED v4 Platinum (Commercial Interiors) project in the United States. The Tower surpasses LEED energy performance requirements by 35 percent. Salesforce Tower will also feature an innovative Blackwater recycling system, which will save 7.8 million gallons of water a year. The system is the largest in a commercial high-rise building in the U.S. and the first partnership in the U.S. between a city government, building owner and a tenant to support blackwater reuse in a commercial high-rise building. Best practices of the Tower have influenced the Ohana Design Standard, which is implemented throughout Salesforce's global operations.

Comments on the News:

  • "The spirit of innovation that has transformed our world during the Fourth Industrial Revolution must be harnessed to save our planet," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and co-CEO, Salesforce. "Business is the greatest platform for change. All companies must step up on behalf of the environment."
  • "At Salesforce, we are committed to doing our part to step up to the challenge of climate change, but we can't do it alone," said Suzanne DiBianca, Salesforce executive vice president, corporate relations and chief philanthropy officer. "The Step Up Declaration is a perfect example of how a vision by two companies can spark an alliance of more than 20 businesses. We are excited to see the impact the declaration will have on future contributors and the waves it will create around the globe."
  • "The existential threat we face requires everyone to expand their ambition and Salesforce is not only stepping up its own climate action, it's pushing other companies to do the same," said Governor Jerry Brown.
  • "Everyone has a right to prosper, and if emissions do not begin their rapid decline by 2020, the world's most vulnerable people will suffer even more from the devastating impacts of climate change," said Christiana Figueres, Convenor of Mission 2020. "I am proud of the work we did with Salesforce developing the Step Up Declaration to align companies to raise ambition, scale up our actions and move forward faster together to help turn the tide on the devastating impacts of carbon emissions."

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About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com and for information on Salesforce's sustainability efforts, visit: salesforce.com/sustainability

SOURCE Salesforce

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