Cox Releases 2014 CSR Report

Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Cox Communications, Cox Automotive and Cox Media Group, released its 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which includes an update on the company’s environmental progress.

Among other accomplishments, the report highlights the media conglomerate’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, conserve water and responsibly eliminate and reuse waste. From 2007–2014, Cox has reduced daily idling of its vehicles by 84 percent, prevented 120 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the environment, saved 125 million gallons of water and recycled 985 tons of materials at its corporate headquarters.

One of the most significant strategies the company employs to reduce its carbon footprint is reducing the number of miles its employees travel. Installing GPA systems in 5,000 vehicles has enabled the company to cut its carbon footprint by more than 25 million pounds. Vehicle diagnostic and traffic-mapping technologies help drivers reduce CO2 emissions by controlling idling time and navigating for increased fuel efficiency. The company also encourages alternative transportation, carpooling and telecommuting options.

Cox’s transportation fleet includes nearly 300 hybrid vehicles, 10 percent of which are partial zero emissions vehicles and LEED-ranked vehicles. Ninety percent of Cox Communications network operations vehicles utilize a new hybrid operating system and are zero-emissions vehicles during aerial operations.

Water conservation initiatives have allowed Cox to save 32 million gallons of water annually and return high-quality reusable water to the community. Manheim, Cox’s vehicle remarketing company, opened its first water conservation center in Manheim, Pennsylvania, in 2007, and its second facility in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2008. These facilities take water through a four-step process, which improves the water quality to better than its original state. The Atlanta facility saves approximately 2 million gallons of water each year, reducing water demand by reusing 60 percent of treated water and returning the remaining 40 percent to the community.

Cox says it employs a holistic waste management approach that includes waste reduction strategies, strategic partnerships for e-waste and customer engagement. At its Atlanta headquarters, the company has turned wastebaskets into recycling bins and composts cafeteria waste. The company’s e-waste program has resulted in the diversion of an estimated 1.8 million pounds of waste from landfills each year.

Additionally, the company has engaged in sustainability initiatives with 100 suppliers.

In 2014, Cox announced that it intends to send zero waste to landfill by 2024 and become carbon and water neutral by 2044.

-Environmental Leader