Each year, Barco has been focusing on taking our corporate sustainability initiative to the next level. ‘Barco 2020’, our long-term strategic game plan, features a sustainability plan founded on three cornerstones: our people, our community and our planet. To move this plan forward, we have put together a Corporate Sustainability Committee made up of 13 members led by Filip Pintelon. Its concrete goal? To develop a tangible sustainability strategy and provide a company-wide framework for realizing it. We’ve just released the results of last year’s steps toward a better Barco in our 2015 sustainability report.

2015: reducing emissions through three initiatives

 

This year marks the publication of our second corporate sustainability report, which was prepared according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines. We also published our carbon footprint score via the Carbon Disclosure Project, and will do so again in 2016. To continue to reduce our emissions, we focused on three initiatives: rethinking packaging, optimizing transport and putting a price on carbon. We also continued to invest generously in sustainable product innovation – boosting energy efficiency, reducing power consumption and costs, cutting waste and lowering toxicity.

Last year’s successful efforts and plans for the future

We invested in a cardboard shredder in 2015 to address the fact that we receive many parts and products that come packed in cardboard. Now we can pulverize cardboard boxes into paper pulp, which we then pack with the products that we ship as a protective buffer. Not only are we recycling boxes; we’re also no longer using polyurethane foam to do the same job.

Currently we are also investigating the possibility to make the shift from long haul flights to cargo shipping and/or from trucks to train transport wherever possible, as this would substantially reduce our freight emissions and costs.

In addition to the steps taken in the last year, we are centralizing our activities and moving into our new campus in Belgium. The new facility adheres to the strictest green building requirements which will also reduce our carbon footprint. It also features a much more friendly and attractive work environment – for happier employees, more efficient and more collaborative work processes and pleased stakeholders. Stay tuned for more updates as Barco meets the future head-on through Barco 2020!

Read the full report here.