March 12, 2007—Citing the company’s recent leap in environmentally minded products and incentive programs, the Ceres board of directors has approved Sun Microsystems, Inc., as a Ceres company. Sun is the first California-based high-tech company to join the national coalition.
Sun is among more than 70 companies in the Ceres network, including 20 Fortune 500 companies, which have committed to engage with shareholders and other stakeholders on sustainability issues, to report publicly on sustainability performance, and to make additional sustainability improvements.
In December 2005, Sun announced the industry’s first eco-responsible servers, the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers featuring patented Cool Threads technology. These servers, which are three to five times more energy efficient than competing systems, reportedly draw as much power as a household light bulb.
Ceres adds that the servers are the only ones to qualify for Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s (PG&E) California-based energy-efficiency rebate program. PG&E, also a Ceres company, offers $700-$1000 rebates to customers that replace existing equipment with Sun’s energy-efficient servers.
Sun has implemented various programs to reduce its environmental footprint:
- Through its Open Work program, nearly half of Sun’s 40,000 employees work from home whenever possible to avoid commuting. For 2006, Sun reported that this program accomplished the equivalent of permanently removing 6,700 cars from the road, and that Sun reduced its office space use by one sixth and saved over $60 million dollars.
- For the third year in a row, Sun is among the top 10 Fortune 500 companies in decreasing air pollution, traffic congestion, and fossil fuel use, says Ceres. Through Sun’s global take-back program, less than 5% of the company’s products end up in the waste stream. Ceres notes this program goes well beyond the European Union-based Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which requires that no more than 35 percent of a company’s products enter landfills.
- Sun is working with partners like the EPA, which approved Sun’s pledge to reduce the company’s total US greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2012.
More information on Sun’s sustainability efforts is available from the company’s 2006 Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report.
