CORK, IRELAND—Johnson Controls, a global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, announced it has been named to the inaugural FT Climate Leaders in Europe list.
Europe’s Climate Leaders 2021 is a list of companies across Europe that have shown the highest reduction of their emission intensity, i.e., core greenhouse gas emissions in relation to revenues, between 2014 and 2019. Johnson Controls was one of only 300 companies selected from 4,000 across Europe.
“We are extremely proud to be recognized by the Financial Times as a European climate leader,” said George Oliver, Chairman and CEO, Johnson Controls. “Sustainability has long been at the heart of everything we do, and it is an honor to be included on this prestigious list. With COP26 approaching at this critical moment in the battle against climate change, it is important that companies continue to play their part in cutting emissions and delivering clean, sustainable solutions across the entire value chain.”
Companies on the list compiled by research firm Statista were invited to submit emissions reported following the emission categories of the greenhouse gas protocol (scope 1, 2 and 3). In addition, Statista scrutinized publicly available data, mainly from financial and non-financial reports as well as from CDP (formerly the “Carbon Disclosure Project”).
Only Scope 1, Scope 2 Considered
Although Johnson Controls reports all three emissions scopes, the ranking only considers scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, since not all companies publish their scope 3 emissions. Since 2002 Johnson Controls has reduced its emissions intensity by more than 70 percent—equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 17,000 acres of forest. The company has also helped its customers save more than 30.6 million tons of CO2 globally and $6.6 million through guaranteed operational savings.
At the European level, Johnson Controls has been effectively supporting the EU’s world-leading ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050. The European Commission recently committed to at least 55 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels) by 2030 under the European Green Deal. Decarbonizing Europe’s building stock through the European Commission’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has a crucial role to play in this effort—40 percent of greenhouse gases come from buildings.
Digitalization has been recognized as a key enabler for the building renovation wave in Europe and the rest of the world. Already Johnson Controls has been deploying its OpenBlue digital platform for optimizing buildings sustainability across its entire value chain—drastically improving the company’s own environmental impact and helping customers consume less energy, conserve resources, and identify pathways to achieving healthy, net zero carbon communities.
“We are making positive change within our own corporation and believe we are uniquely positioned to help customers and suppliers achieve their sustainability goals,” said Katie McGinty, Vice President & Chief Sustainability, Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer at Johnson Controls. “By driving global change, we are ultimately creating an environment for healthy people, healthy places and a healthy planet.”
Heat Pump Solutions to Many Districts
Johnson Controls is also helping meet the growing demand for energy efficient technologies. It has provided heat pump solutions for customers at more than a dozen district heating and cooling applications in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, and Norway.
Heat pumps have an important role to play in decarbonizing both buildings and industry. They have long been in the DNA of industrial refrigeration—utilized in food and beverage, dairy, and other process industries for reclaiming low temperature waste heat and turning it into low-cost, high-temperature heat. The breadth of the Johnson Controls portfolio—in terms of size, efficiency, and temperature range—is world-class, and continues to help customers reduce their carbon emissions.
As part of its environmental and sustainability commitments, Johnson Controls has committed to achieving net zero carbon before 2040 and announced science-based targets for 2030. It aims to slash its operational emissions by 55 percent and reduce customers’ emissions by 16 percent in absolute terms before 2030. These ambitious reduction targets, which have been independently approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), are consistent with reductions required to keep warming to 1.5°C, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement.
As a leader in the buildings space for more than 135 years, Johnson Controls has been a pioneer in sustainability. It is ranked in the top 12 percent of climate leadership companies globally by CDP and was recently named again to the World’s Most Ethical Companies Honoree List and one of Corporate Knights’ global 100 most Sustainable Companies.
To read more about Johnson Controls commitment to sustainability, visit: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/corporate-sustainability/environment.
