Achieves Carbon Neutrality in Operations, Targets 100 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Avoidance by 2030, and Shares EarthLIGHT Progress
Atlanta, GA, Nov. 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) ("Acuity") a market-leading industrial technology company, today announced it has published its third annual EarthLIGHT Report, highlighting its Fiscal Year 2021 accomplishments and ongoing progress on its initiatives. EarthLIGHT–a central tenet of Acuity’s strategy–reflects its comprehensive approach to manage, organize and report Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) topics. Through EarthLIGHT, Acuity improves its performance, increases transparency, and better highlights results on its numerous ESG priorities.
“We are committed to lessening our carbon footprint and helping our customers do the same,” said Neil M. Ashe, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Acuity Brands. “We are reducing waste, lowering costs, minimizing carbon impacts, optimizing energy usage, and helping our customers reduce their energy use and carbon emissions to achieve their own goals and priorities.”
The 2021 EarthLIGHT report includes Acuity’s progress:
- Reducing its Carbon Footprint: Acuity achieved carbon neutrality in its operations and targeted a goal of helping its customers avoid 100 Million Metric Tons of carbon emissions by replacing older technologies with LED luminaires, lighting controls, and building management systems. As part of these efforts, Acuity is offsetting emissions by investing in forestry and landfill gas-to-energy projects that reduce atmospheric carbon. The Company also released a 2020 EarthLIGHT Handprint report entitled Lighting the Way Toward Net-Zero, detailing its methodology.
- Launching Acuity Anywhere: Acuity Anywhere, a hybrid work model, allows associates to contribute and achieve results whether they work on-site or remotely. This model helps Acuity attract and retain the best talent, reach its EarthLIGHT goals, and build on its foundation of productivity, collaboration, and innovation.
- Enhancing Governance: Acuity enhanced several governance practices to further emphasize long-term value creation. The Company created Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and ESG Councils, both including Senior Leadership, to ensure Company-wide alignment and impact. Acuity continued its Board refreshment to ensure a variety of perspectives and a mix of experience and tenure. The Company also made changes to compensation programs based on stakeholder input. The EarthLIGHT report also includes information on Acuity’s enhanced data privacy and information security practices.
For more information and to download a copy of the 2021 EarthLIGHT report click here.
About Acuity Brands
Acuity Brands, Inc. is a market-leading industrial technology company. We use technology to solve problems in spaces and light. Through our two business segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (“ABL”) and the Intelligent Spaces Group (“ISG”), we design, manufacture, and bring to market products and services that make the world more brilliant, productive, and connected. We achieve growth through the development of innovative
new products and services, including lighting, lighting controls, building management systems, and location-aware applications.
We are based in Atlanta, Georgia, with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia and are powered by approximately 13,000 dedicated and talented associates.
Visit us at www.acuitybrands.com.
This press release and the related EarthLIGHT report include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control. We caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this press release is not a guarantee of future events, and that actual events may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements are statements other than those of historical fact and may include statements relating to goals, plans, market conditions and projections regarding Acuity Brands' strategy, and specifically include statements made in this press release regarding: 100 million metric tons of carbon emissions avoidance, reducing waste, lowering costs, minimizing carbon impacts, optimizing energy usage, and helping our customers reduce their energy use and carbon emissions to achieve their own goals and priorities, investments in forestry and landfill gas-to-energy projects that reduce atmospheric carbon, the benefits of Acuity Anywhere hybrid work model, and enhanced governance practices. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “plan,” “seek,” “comfortable with,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe” or “continue” or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. A number of important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from those contained in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those factors discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021, filed on October 27, 2021 and those described from time to time in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which can be found at the SEC’s website www.sec.gov.
Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of events, or otherwise.
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