Carbon Disclosure Project

Our 2020 CDP Score

Read our Climate Change 2019 CDP Report

Sustainability Mission Statement

Chicago Tech is committed to conducting business in a manner that preserves, protects and builds a better place for us all. We are focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, working with suppliers that share our ethics, promoting workplace diversity, and advancing human rights down our supply chain.

I. CLIMATE INITIATIVES

Chicago tech tracks a number of the company’s climate related impacts in effort to understand how we can improve our environmental performance and reduce our impact. We report our efforts to the Carbon Disclosure Project, a practice we began in 2011.

Our Progress

In 2010, the company began tracking our Scope 1 and 2 emissions (purchased electricity, natural gas and fuel used in company vehicles). Through our efforts in managing our emissions, from 2010 to 2012, we lowered our carbon emissions per revenue by 23%.

Our initial carbon footprints revealed how important our energy is to our environmental impact. Since then, we worked to reduce our electricity consumption by using energy efficient lighting. On a revenue basis, we reduced our electricity use by 32%. The reductions in our fuel were the result of a change in our company fleet, switching from gasoline to a more efficient diesel engine. Even with the growth of the company, this change resulted in an emission reduction in absolute terms of 6.6%.

Facility Relocation

We recently relocated to a new owner occupied office space. Doing this helps us advance our commitment to reduce our climate impact in two ways. First, because we own our space, we have direct access to our electricity, natural gas, waste and water consumption data. Accurate data leads to better information about our environmental impacts and how to effectively manage them. Second, owning our space means it is easier to implement climate reduction strategies, such as installing technologies that reduce energy consumption.

We look forward to tracking our performance in future years using more accurate data provided by our new office space. Our most recent results are featured to the left, and represent data from the 2015 reporting year. In subsequent years, we welcome updating our performance to understand how we might better reduce our impact.

Non-Facility Climate Performance

Because of the change in office space, our energy data from previous years is not appropriately comparable to our 2015 results. We do track a handful of non-facility dependent categories, including company fleet fuel use, business travel, employee commute and upstream distribution. Our performance over time on these activities demonstrates a consistent decrease in climate impact. As with our energy use, we will continue to push for further reductions in these areas.

Next Steps

To further our commitment of preserving and protecting the environment, Chicago Tech will continue tracking our emission performance, using the 2015 data as our new baseline. Once we understand the impact of our current reduction efforts relative to our baseline, we will develop a new set of initiatives aimed at tackling the company’s most carbon intensive activities.  

II. SUPPLIER INITIATIVES

Chicago Tech only works with recyclers that are e-steward enterprises. In addition to this criterion, we aim to work with companies that have achieved ISO 9001 certification, and frequently ask our suppliers how they engage issues of sustainability and the environment.

III. COMPANY ACCOLADES

The company achieved ISO 9001:2015 with TL 9000: 2016 Release 6.0 Including TL 9000 QMS Measurements Handbook Release 5.5.