In July 2007, Ed Crenshaw, then president of Publix Super Markets, decided to make sustainability part of the company's culture.

Daylighting supplements T5 fluorescent lights used in this Publix store.

He had recently attended the first Florida Climate Summit and was influenced by what he saw and heard there from other companies. That fall, after Crenshaw was named chief executive officer, sustainability became a “Tier-One” corporate initiative. “Few initiatives reach this level of importance, which sent a clear message that this was high priority for Publix that would be worked on immediately,” said Maria Brous, spokeswoman for Publix, Lakeland, Fla.

The first step was to create a 40-person cross-functional sustainability committee from every department in the company that established a performance baseline and discussed opportunities. At the same time, Publix formed a seven-person Core Committee — chaired by Crenshaw for its first 18 months — to plan and execute strategy. “His level of commitment virtually assured the committee's success,” said Brous.

Last year, Publix added sustainability as a key objective in its Corporate Strategy Map, requiring each business unit to measure its sustainable performance against specific metrics and goals. The 30 associates, called “Sustainability Advocates,” who are responsible for tracking and reporting this performance, now make up the cross-functional sustainability team.

After just two years, sustainability is “firmly embedded into the Publix culture,” said Brous. The 1,008-store chain's commitment to sustainable practices covers a broad range of initiatives, including energy and fuel reduction, recycling vast amounts of material and promoting environmental responsibility with customers, associates and suppliers. Changes have been made in lighting, refrigeration and transportation, and four locations, including Publix's corporate offices, are using solar energy.

The chain is also the only food retailer participating in the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program, in which companies pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Publix joined the Climate Leaders program in June 2008 and so far has gathered several years of greenhouse gas emissions data, established a baseline inventory year and written an inventory management plan “to memorialize our greenhouse gas data collection and calculation processes,” said Brous.

Publix, which will announce a five-year greenhouse gas reduction goal later this year, has already reduced electricity usage by over 7% in existing stores and 23% in new store designs. Since 2002, its employee-focused energy conservation efforts alone have saved nearly 940 million kilowatt hours, which equals a reduction of more than 500,000 tons of greenhouse gas.

For these accomplishments, and for making sustainability an integral part of its operation over the past two years, Publix has been selected to receive SN's 2009 Sustainability Excellence Award in the chain category.

GREEN ROUTINE

One of Publix's earliest forays into environmentalism was its “Get Into a Green Routine” program, started in 2001 to instill conservation habits in the chain's 140,000 employees. Beginning with an emphasis on energy conservation, the program has been extended to waste reduction, recycling and conservation of other resources, including water. “As Florida's largest employer, we believe encouraging our associates to be aware of their consumption habits can make a difference,” said Brous.