Disney is hopping aboard the corporate sustainability bandwagon in a big way, or so they say. The company has laid out a grand vision for eliminating waste and pollution from its operations. Here's the small list of things the Mouse House would like to achieve:
- Zero waste
- Zero net direct greenhouse gas emissions from fuels
- Reduce indirect greenhouse gas emissions from electricity consumption
- Net positive impact on ecosystems
- Minimize water use
If it looks ambitious, there's a reason for that--It is. And while the company appears to be serious about cutting emissions, for a company of this scale it's going be very difficult. Think about how many different parts of Disney there are, and then try to picture all of them acting in concert towards a single goal of efficiency. Couple that with the fact that Disney isn't putting the pedal to metal on getting these programs started and you have a rather underwhelming approach to achieving these goals.
On their corporate responsibility site they list initiatives for achieving their goals, but they aren't exactly knocking it out of the park. For instance, on its Climate and Energy page, the company describes run of the mill initiatives to cut greenhouse gase: Carpooling and acting responsible. When it comes to challenges, we see that they're not fully applying themselves:
Achieving zero net direct GHG emissions depends on the ability to reduce or eliminate consumption of carbon-based fuels such as natural gas, gasoline and diesel, and acquire or generate carbon offsets from projects. Alternative fuels, such as biodiesel, are currently available, but only in limited quantities and for limited applications. In the case of carbon offsets, there is no formal, governmental oversight or regulation of such efforts in the United States. Therefore, caution is required to choose credible partners to generate carbon offsets. Transparency and completeness in reporting are critical, as well as due diligence in selecting carbon offset programs.
There's lots of biofuel available. Ethanol plants are closing left and right and if FOX can find a credible source for carbon offsets we're pretty sure Disney can too.
While we applaud any company that takes the right steps towards sustainability, we'd just like to see Disney try a little harder. Talk and action are two different things. Until these baby steps turn into leaps, they'll struggle to make good on the bulleted target list.