大公司怎样减少碳排放并从中盈利？

    全球能源巨擘西门子称，自己可以通过减少碳排放来盈利。令人震惊，对吧？

    在9月28日晚间举行的首届《财富》能源头脑风暴大会上，西门子美国分公司首席执行官埃里克•斯皮格尔表示，该公司计划投资近1.1亿美元来减少碳排放。但他坚持说，西门子借此可每年节省2000-3000万美元，从而最终收回投资。

    西门子上周宣布，计划到2020年将碳排放量降低一半，到2030年实现零排放。要达到零排放目标，企业就需要确定自己的碳排放量，投资于减排项目，还需要通过投资外部项目来抵消自己无法削减的那些碳排放。

    西门子在《财富》全球500强中排名第63位，在全球范围内拥有4.5万辆客车和5万辆货车。为达到上述目标，该公司计划让这些车辆变得更环保，并且投资于新的节能制造技术。斯皮格尔称，西门子旗下的300家工厂都有望受益于新设备，比如更节能的马达和泵。

    选择此路的企业当然不只西门子一家。比如，戴尔的重点工作之一就是在包装和计算机方面更多地使用再生材料。

    负责戴尔运营事务的副董事长杰夫·克拉克在大会主席台上展示了一些用麦秸，也就是收割小麦的副产品制造的包装材料。克拉克表示，和传统包装材料相比，用麦秸生产包装材料可让能耗降低40%，水耗减少90%，成本也更低。

    他还说，戴尔最近启动了一个新项目，内容是收集废弃碳纤维并将其用于戴尔的经营活动和游戏型计算机。

    除了循环利用，戴尔还在为大数据和分析等信息技术的应用投入资金，以此来减少设备能耗。克拉克说，计算机技术让可持续发展“成为现实”。

    他指出，对戴尔来说，减少碳排放和开展环保项目是个吸引新员工的好办法，“这对正在走上工作岗位的八零后和九零后来说真的很重要”。

    美国环境保护基金正在和企业共同致力于减少碳排放。该基金执行董事黛安·雷加斯指出，实现这些可持续发展目标并非总是轻而易举，但更好的政策和企业管理方式有助于降低这项工作的难度。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    校对：詹妮

    Siemens, the global energy giant, says it can make a profit by reducing its carbon emissions. Shocking, right?

    At Fortune’s Brainstorm E conference on Monday night, the CEO of Siemens’ U.S. division, Eric Spiegel said that his company plans to spend nearly $110 million lowering the company’s emissions. But he insisted that investment would eventually pay off through savings of between $20 million to $30 million annually.

    Siemens announced last week that it plans to slash its carbon emissions in half by 2020, and become carbon neutral by 203o. To become carbon neutral companies need to identify their emissions, invest in projects to reduce them, and also invest in external projects that offset any emissions a company can’t eliminate.

    To achieve its goals, Siemens, which is #63 on Fortune’s Global 500 list, plans to make its company vehicles—it has 45,000 and 50,000 cars and trucks worldwide—greener, and also invest in new energy efficient manufacturing technologies. The company has 300 factories that could benefit from more efficient gear like motors and pumps, said Spiegel.

    Siemens, of course, isn’t the only company taking this path. Dell, for example, has focused on making its packing and computers use more recycled materials.

    Dell’s vice chairman of operations, Jeff Clarke, showed off on stage some of Dell’s packaging made of wheat straw, a byproduct of wheat harvesting. Clarke said the wheat straw packaging uses 40% less energy to produce, 90% less water, and costs less to make than traditional packaging.

    Clarke also said that Dell had recently started a new program to take scraps of carbon fiber and use them in both Dell’s business and gaming computers.

    Beyond recycling, Dell has invested in using information technology—like big data and analytics—to reduce energy consumption in its facilities. Clarke called computing technology “an enabler” of sustainability.

    He pointed out that reducing carbon emissions, and running environmentally-focused programs at Dell, is a good way to attract new employees. “For millenials entering the workforce, this really matters to them,” said Clarke.

    It’s not always easy to meet these types of sustainability goals, said Diane Regas, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, which works with companies on lowering carbon emissions. But better policies, as well as business leadership, can help make the process less challenging.