The upcoming LAVNCH & LEARN “Sustainability and AV” event, scheduled for April 20 and produced by Commercial Integrator and rAVe [PUBS], is sponsored by Legrand | AV, PPDS, NETGEAR, Shure, Sony Professional Display Solutions and Visionary Solutions. Accordingly, each of those companies has agreed to give $2,000 or more to the Earth-friendly 501(c)(3) charity of their choice.
Here, Legrand | AV sits down to discuss the company’s commitment to sustainability and upcoming efforts to support corporate social responsibility.
Commercial Integrator: Tell us why Legrand | AV is passionate about sustainability.
Legrand | AV: As the world moves into a new era of incredible environmental and community challenges, Legrand | AV remains committed to addressing these challenges with unwavering focus on making a greater impact through our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.
Since 2007, Legrand has been focused on Corporate Social Responsibility. We support 10 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Beyond an internal drive to be a better global business, we hear from more customers every day asking about what we are doing to address our carbon footprint and reduce waste. So much of our business relies on energy to power solutions, and it’s vital that we keep searching for greater efficiencies and better outcomes. CSR is simply good business and good stewardship.
CI: Can you give us an example of concrete efforts your company is making to be more sustainable?
Legrand | AV: Da-Lite vinyl screen surfaces are eligible for the Screen Green program. This program, developed by Da-Lite, encourages customers to send in their unwanted screen surfaces for recycling into floor mats, traffic cones, bumper covers, landscape edging and more. These efforts support our global waste-diversion efforts under Legrand, keeping waste out of landfills, and contributing to a healthier planet.
Middle Atlantic UPS Backup Power replacement batteries come with a FedEx label to ship back the depleted battery in the same box for recycling — making it much easier for customers to safely dispose used materials.
Vaddio is currently working to eliminate single use plastics from their packaging by 2024, which involves testing alternatives that can keep the cameras fully protected during shipping. They expect the first project to reduce the use of this material by 13-14 tons, with full elimination nearing 50 tons of the material out of the supply chain and environment with one brand. These learnings will be shared across related brands to help them reduce single use annual tonnage and promote environmentally sustainable product lines.
Legrand is also reducing energy usage across our sites. Legrand North & Central America reduced energy intensity by 14% from a 2016 baseline — the equivalent of removing 580 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road for an entire year. We’re implementing solar energy at our sites to continue reducing our carbon footprint.
CI: What sustainability efforts is Legrand | AV planning to implement in the next year?
Legrand | AV: We are working in 2022-2024 to:
- Achieve 15% recycled plastics use rate and 40% recycled metals use rate in products that Legrand manufactures
- Eliminate 100% of single-use plastic in packaging
- Provide Environmental Product Declarations for 72% of annual sales
- Avoid 12 million tons of CO2 emissions through the sale of energy-efficient products
- Reduce direct CO2 emissions by 10%/year through energy efficiency improvements at our manufacturing sites and renewable energy deployment
- Reduce indirect CO2 emissions by encouraging at least 250 suppliers to have an official CO2 emissions reduction target of 30% on average by 2030
CI: Can you give a long-term overview of your sustainability plan?
Legrand | AV: As a global business, we have a large part to play in making our world and workplaces better. We’re on our fifth CSR roadmap as an organization and excited to get started on our sixth!
Legrand has set itself the goal of reaching carbon neutrality throughout the group’s value chain. At Legrand, it is our responsibility to provide concrete answers to the major societal challenges of our time, and this requires us to raise awareness not only in our own teams but also among our partners and customers. We need to bring them on board by our side as responsible players acting hand in hand with us. Our commitment to a low-carbon society is matched by our determination to guarantee a better future for our children and generations yet to come. This is why Legrand, leveraging the progress achieved in the framework of its previous roadmaps, now undertakes to intensify yet further its action in favor of an increasingly responsible development of its activities. This ambition is built around a simple and hopeful purpose: improving lives.
This sponsored content was created as part of a partnership with Legrand | AV. The contents of this article are entirely independent and solely reflect the opinions of Legrand | AV.
