Corporate Sustainability

We aim to consider the environment in every decision we make. We started small with a grassroots employee effort to reduce office waste. Today, that's expanded into a global effort to reduce product packaging, reduce energy usage in our buildings and data centers, move products from CDs to downloads, and help our employees make better decisions when it comes commute and travel. In order to institutionalize our efforts, we also crafted a GHG emissions reduction plan that impacts all Intuit offices, data and call centers in US, Canada, United Kingdom and India.

Reduce Our Environmental Impact

As the company continues to grow, the challenge to measure and reduce our environmental impact in absolute terms becomes even greater. Learn more our environmental impact areas:

Measuring and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Since 2006, Intuit has conducted an annual GHG emissions inventory that enables us to determine the environmental impact of our operations and calculate Scope 1, 2 and 3 totals (including those from our supply chain). This level of comprehensive quantification has increased awareness of our impact, and allowed us to strategically plan to reduce our environmental footprint.

GHG Reductions Goal: Reduce Emissions by 15 Percent

In 2008, we committed to an absolute reduction of our emissions by 15 percent. Our initial goal was to achieve this reduction by 2012. Although emissions have reduced year over year relative to revenue growth, our overall GHG footprint has increased. However, we are committed to meeting our goal and will pursue reduction initiatives that span across all stakeholders, allowing employees to participate in the execution of the companywide strategy.

GHG Reduction Plan

To achieve a 15 percent absolute reduction in GHG emissions, Intuit undertook a strategic planning process that included functional group leaders from various departments. It was apparent that we needed to consider many options, including facility improvements, on-site renewable energy generation, modifying employee behavior, and changing certain company policies.

After a careful review, Intuit's strategic implementation of the GHG Reduction Plan is now centered on three impact areas: Energy Usage (39%), Employee Commute & Travel (36%), and Supply Chain (20%), which form more than 95% of the overall GHG footprint. We have invested significant resources in order to better understand and reduce the environmental impact from these top focus areas.

GHG Footprint

Intuit's GHG Footprint is comprised of various activities across Scope 1, 2 and 3 categories based on the methodology developed through the partnership between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Intuit's GHG Footprint

In fiscal year 2011, Intuit's GHG inventory increased by over 6% to approximately 102,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). The total emissions were 7,000, 39,000 & 56,000 MtCO2e for Scope 1, 2 and 3 respectively. This increase in emissions is due to three main reasons: an increase in the overall size of the company, improved data collection, and an inclusion of new activities (as additional data has become available). An in depth analysis indicates that the two largest increases in emissions come from Employee Commute & Travel (as more employees are added) and Energy Usage (as more revenue is generated). In addition, the totals were higher because more data was available from our primary suppliers.

Electricity Usage and Associated GHG Emissions

Energy usage makes up 39% of Intuit's GHG footprint. Intuit has collected facility and data center electricity usage statistics for most of our largest facilities. However, we still use estimates from time to time to completely quantify our electricity usage and assess our greenhouse gas emissions.

Electricity Usage at Intuit's Data Centers and Facilities

Intuit has made steady improvements in our overall electricity usage compared to the growth in revenue for the company. Since 2007, we've reduced our facility electricity usage on an annual basis. However, our overall electricity usage has increased along with an increase in data center electricity usage.

Energy and GHG Reduction initiatives include

• Improving Data Centers: Intuit's largest data center, based in Quincy, Wash., is powered by renewable energy. Close to 90 percent of the energy comes from hydropower, We are working to reduce IT power consumption in our data centers and lab hosting environments through consolidation and equipment upgrades. For instance by upgrading the Hewlett-Packard Blade servers in existing equipment, we've achieved a 10-20 percent improvement in energy efficiency.
• Installing Renewable Energy Projects: Bloom Box fuel cells and solar panels will generate renewable energy for some Intuit buildings in California.
  
• Reducing Energy Consumption from Buildings: Intuit has six buildings in California that achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification or better, including four LEED gold buildings in San Diego. In addition, Intuit has made thermostat adjustments, lighting replacements and has installed energy conservation technologies across our campuses.
  

Employee Travel & Commute and Associated GHG Emissions

Employee Commute and Travel makes up 36% of Intuit's GHG emissions. In order to reach our GHG reduction goal, we decided to help our employees make choices that are environmentally friendly, including teleconferencing, flexible workplace, reducing business travel, among others.

• Video Conferencing Since 2009, Intuit has more than doubled the number of video conferencing rooms, from 80 to 165. In the same period, the number of video conferencing hours has increased five-fold to 3,761 per month. In addition, the usage rates for various types of video conference rooms have consistently exceeded projections, helping to minimize the amount of business travel between Intuit sites.
• Rent a Prius Intuit encourages all employees who will travel and rent a car to select a Toyota Prius hybrid. When driving more than 40 miles, renting a Prius saves money and reduces GHG emissions associated with driving.
• Alternative Transportation Intuit employees can use pre-tax income to purchase vouchers for alternative transportation to work. This benefit includes contributions from Intuit (up to $75 USD per month), U.S. federal tax benefits and a simple online system to manage transactions.
• Zimride Zimride is Intuit's social network for ridesharing, enabling employees with similar commutes to find each other and arrange carpools. To date, 1 million miles have been saved due to Zimride carpooling.
• Electric Vehicle Charging Stations In July 2011, Intuit installed our first two EV/hybrid vehicle charging stations at our Mountain View, Calif., headquarters followed by two more at our San Diego campus. Intuit employees may use the stations to charge their vehicles while they work.

Supply Chain and Associated GHG Emissions

Year over year Intuit makes an effort to reduce supply chain impacts. We are focused on driving toward digital distribution of all our products, reducing product packaging and using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for marketing materials wherever possible. The biggest reduction in supply chain has been in the Procurement Upstream category.

Measuring & Reducing Water Usage

We have launched several initiatives to improve water efficiency, such as using low-flow faucets and urinals, and turning off fountains and climate-controlled irrigation. In the near future, we expect to use reclaimed wastewater for some our landscaping at our headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Measuring and Reducing Waste Generated

Since 2008, we've collected data about the waste the company generates. Every year, we expand the number of categories of waste and the number of participating sites. For instance, the chart below reflects waste collected at Intuit facilities in five different states across US & Canada during 2011.

Waste Generated in FY11 at Intuit Facilities (in pounds):

Our landfill diversion is at 60%, and we're hoping to increase it further by expanding existing recycling and composting programs.