Sustainability at Autodesk: Eating Our Own Compost

OK so maybe I don't have that expression right. When Microsoft referred to requiring employees to install the latest operating system build on their computers, they coined the phrase "eating one's own dog food." Today is 12/12/12. I was tempted to hold this post until 12:12:12 today but resisted the temptation.

At Autodesk we often have brown bag lunches. They are so-named because employees grab a lunch, bring it to a conference room, and enjoy a presentation on a topic of interest. On Wednesday of last week, Ben Thompson, Sustainable Business Program Manager, presented Autodesk’s Sustainability Initiatives. The brown bag event was sponsored by Autodesk's Green Team -- a group of employees who work to ensure Autodesk remains a sustainable company. It would be hypocritical of us to include sustainability features in our applications and services yet not eat our own dog food. So sustainability starts with Autodesk as a company, and in turn, with us as employees.

With his permission, I thought I would share some impressive highlights from Ben's presentation.

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Autodesk is a recognized industry leader in the area of sustainability.

The world is growing, and by 2050, there will be over 9 billion people on the planet. We think a better world is one where those 9 billion people live well and within the limits of the planet. Autodesk is part of what will be required for that to happen.

We are also accelerating breakthrough ideas through leading by example in our own company.

• In our own buildings, we are using our software to design better, more sustainable and productive offices. We just opened two new offices which are aiming to be our 12th and 13th LEED certified offices. And we aren’t stopping there. We have 3 projects right here in San Francisco and many more around the globe. These examples demonstrate how our tools can be applied to create more sustainable buildings and workspaces.

• Most recently at Autodesk University, we worked with Mandalay Bay to make the event as sustainable as possible. From monitoring energy use, to hand sorting trash to maximize landfill diversion, the events teams are doing a lot for more sustainable events. We even convened a group of sustainability executives from the major Las Vegas resorts, expo companies, and other major customers to demand more sustainable events and talk specifically about the solutions to standardizing around sustainability. As it turns out, Las Vegas is actually doing a lot in terms of sustainability, and we are challenging and helping them to do more.

• At Autodesk, Hybrids are now the default option for all rental cars in the US. We are committing with Hertz to reduce GHGs from Autodesk rentals by 30% in the next 5 years, helping us meet our corporate GHG reduction target, set out by C-FACT.

You can also check out:

• Autodesk Sustainability Report
  autodesk.com/progressreport

• Autodesk Sustainability Workshop
  autodesk.com/sustainabilityworkshop

We want to hear from you. Please contact us at: [email protected].

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Don't worry, the Green team will make sure those brown bags make it to our compost bins.

The Green Team is alive in the lab.