News Corp. Shows Its Deeper Green Colors

OK, so we can’t all be Rupert Murdoch and have companies as big as media giant News Corp. (annual revenues of $33 billion). And regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum—for or against the Wall Street Journal and FOX TV—you can learn from the strategies that the global organization is putting into place.

News Corp.’s green targets for 2015 are:

• Reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent.

• Reduce emissions intensity by at least 15 percent.

• Invest in clean energy equal to 20 percent of our electricity use.

• Actively engage 100 of our largest suppliers in improving their environmental impacts.

• Measure waste footprint and develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce it.

While News Corp. is claiming to be the first global media company to achieve neutrality, that accomplishment is based on carbon off-sets. Now it is working on reducing absolute emissions.

To reach that goal, News Corp. has implemented a number of efficiency projects, which generally have an ROI of two years. Activities include:

• Simple solutions like lighting retrofits and automatic PC shutdown.

• FOX29 in Philadelphia eliminated all plastic bottle vending machines and bottled water, switching to a filtered water system.

• Systemic changes like installing telepresence and videoconferencing technology to reduce the need for air travel.

• The company’s global data center consolidation will save approximately $20 million per year and reduce data center emissions by almost 15 percent when completed later in 2011.

• News International built one of the largest and most energy-efficient print plants in the world, representing a 30 percent increase in energy efficiency over the old facility.

• Dow Jones is completing a 4.1Mw solar power system on its campus in New Jersey—the largest solar installation of its kind in the United States—and at peak production, it will provide 50 percent of the site’s electricity needs.