From Open Sustainability
Wikisourcing Sustainable Enterprise Profiles Initiative- TRANE
1. Enterprise Information
Name: Trane, a business of Ingersoll Rand
URL: www.trane.com
Size: Global- "400 locations in more than 100 countries" (from trane.com)
Headquarters location:
Industry: Commercial Systems
Initiative contact person, if you know.:
Name: John Conover IV, President, Trane Commercial Systems Business in the Americas
Recent presenter at Sustainability Program sponsored by the Institute of Sustainability at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Phone/email:
Related links to articles about this enterprise's work:
Corporate Sustainability Site: http://www.trane.com/Corporate/Citizenship/index.asp
Notes from Breakout Session at release of Hudson Gain Corporation's Chief Sustainability Officer Research, FDU ISE January 2009 (Access requires registration.)
2. Sustainability Initiative that Caught your Attention
Please describe including if possible:
i. What did this initiative set out to accomplish, or what problem was it addressing (if you know)?
There is a need for engineers in the future and at the present time, only a small percentage of engineers are female. Trane realized that 50% of the population was missing from the equation and wanted to address this segment to the field
ii. How?
Trane:
a. Embarked on recruiting efforts from colleges and universities.
b. Came up with a creative initiative to target young females to not only get them thinking about the sciences as a career but also as a subject of interest by creating an Environmental Merit Badge for the Girl Scouts. To earn the badge Girl Scouts do energy audits in their respective communities and design an energy plan.
iii. What outcomes/results did it achieve, against what measurable standard or target or goal (if you know)?
Girls gained confidence in their science and math skills and applied this new learning in their respective communities.
iv. Regardless of the results, how was the initiative received inside/outside the organization?
3. Why? What impresses you about this enterprise's sustainability initiative?
An example of a decision based on life-cycle analysis of Corporate Sustainability thinking:
It identified and addresses the issue that women make up 50% or so of the population, and only 6% of the construction industry.
4. Rate this company as a Sustainable Enterprise?
Please use the following 1-5 scale:
1. Thinking about 2. Projects underway3. Some results/successes 4. Lessons learned and willing to share 5. Model for others to follow.
5 This initiative is a nation-wide model to roll out by summer 2009
5. Summarize this Sustainable Enterprise using 3 Tags '(or short phrases) to describe the essentials of your Sustainable Enterprise Profile?'
Mentoring: Passing on skills and knowledge to the young generation using a collaborative cognitive model.
Sustainable Value: Knowledge is intergenerational.
6. Questions and or Suggestions?
If you had a chance to sit down with this enterprise's senior management what topics would you raise? Please limit to 3.
i. What have your learned from meetings around the world? What, if any, have you observed as strengths that other countries apply to sustainability?
ii. How do you rate the level of collaboration and transparency between the United States and other countries in addressing issues of sustainability?
iii. Has Trane initiated any transdisciplinary approaches to sustainability by partnering with nontraditional partners that are out of industry such as scholars in the humanities or other disciplines other than technology or science?
7. In writing your profile what measures did you use for judging a sustainable enterprise?
The holistic approach to sustainability. Not just reducing carbon footprint but taking steps toward sustainability rather than reducing unsustainability.
8. What underlying principles guide this enterprise in their sustainability initiatives?
Its collaborative mode in not only sharing knowledge, but also recognizing the value of input from college students
9. About the Profile Contributor
Name: Terri McNichol
Your relationship to company profiled e.g, employee, consultant to, investor, supplier, partner, customer, industry observer, other (please specify).
Roundtable Participant- FDU Institute for Sustainable Enterprise event
A link/s to tell us about you e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, your blog, company's web site
http://www.renassociates.com
http://tmcnichol.wordpress.com/
http://imaginement.wordpress.com
10. Other?
Please use this space to add your observations about items that the questions above omitted.
Thank you for taking time to contribute. Please visit regularly to further input as the Sustainable Enterprise Profiles collection grows. Your suggestions for making this "Wikisourcing Sustainable Enterprise Profiles" initiative more valuable are also welcomed.
READER QUESTIONS & OBSERVATIONS
Please add questions for the profile author or insights you have about this enterprise and their sustainability initiatives.
