The CSR Blueprint for Solar

Speakers

• Amy Galland, Research Director, As You Sow
• Lisa Krueger, Vice President of Sustainable Development, First Solar, Inc.
• Wei-Tai Kwok, Vice President of Marketing, Suntech America
• Leann Speta, Supply Chain Sustainability Manager, Sunpower Corporation
• Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, BSR (Moderator)
• Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy, BSR (Moderator)

Highlights

• The solar industry has grown significantly over the last five years. This growth is due to increased demand and reduced costs and well as the introduction of climate change into the global dialogue.
• While the solar industry provides a clean energy alternative, their sustainability responsibilities extend throughout the entire lifecycle of their products.
• The relatively young industry has been challenged to better communicate their activities to stakeholders.

Memorable Quotes

“In our 10th year of doing business, we’ve published our first global sustainability report. One of the communication questions we had was whether to report on our challenges. What we found was that being transparent was more important than telling just the good news.” —Wei-Tai Kwok, Suntech America

“How can we create momentum for change? Climate is the wrong c-word. The response is much larger when you talk about cancer risks because it becomes much more personal to people.” —Amy Galland, As You Sow

“For the cost-driven customer, how do we quantify and value other parts of the equation? For example, there is a cost element of not being subject to fuel price volatility that needs to be better communicated.” —Lisa Krueger, First Solar, Inc.

Overview

Olson kicked off the discussion by stating that widespread deployment of solar is a critical element for developing sustainable energy. However, like all industries, solar faces CSR challenges and looks to address sustainability in their own performance.

Galland then presented a number of her findings on the solar industry, highlighting their three main CSR-related challenges as: 1) materials; 2) supply chain; and 3) integrating CSR into the corporate culture. She then drilled down on the key benefits of solar over other energy forms, highlighting:

• Solar’s safety record in comparison to other energy forms: The Clean Air Task Force found that in 2010, 13,200 people in the United States died due to particulates from coal combustion; whereas since 1976, 11 deaths worldwide have been attributed to silane.
• Solar’s culture of responsibility: Unlike Chevron who has repeatedly protested its responsibility for environmental damages in Ecuador, a solar company charged with dumping in Chinese rivers took responsibility immediately.
• Solar’s reduced environmental footprint: For example, concentrated solar facilities in the desert must cover 310 square meters to get one gigawatt of electricity, and the solar infrastructure is reusable for years to come; whereas it takes 320 square meters of mountaintop coal to produce one gigawatt of electricity, and the resources cannot be reused.

Galland concluded her remarks by saying that our planet’s biggest challenge isn’t any of the above issues but rather that fossil fuels are finite and that they are going to run out. As such, our choice is between long-term access to clean energy or short-term access to dirty energy.

Next, Krueger discussed how she saw solar as a different path to get the same benefits of electrification without many of the negative side effects. Highlighting the key sustainability challenge for the solar industry, Krueger focused on the entire lifecycle of their products, urging companies to do lifecycle analyses to better understand their environmental impact. Krueger then turned her discussion to the challenges facing her company and industry in communicating their activities to stakeholders. After hearing concerns from investors because the company hadn’t responded to the Carbon Disclosure Project or published a sustainability report, First Solar began to reach out to peers and other industries to understand best practice for disclosure.

Speta then continued the presentation highlighting the challenges the industry faces in their supply chain and the efforts her company has taken with the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) to better understand the industry’s supply chain and the steps they can take to promote responsibility, including eliminating waste and setting a companywide goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 50 percent.

Finally, Kwok described his company’s significant growth over the last ten years. By addressing climate change and reducing the price of solar, Suntech has managed to double in size every year for the last ten years.

Taking the lead to initiate dialogue, Olson asked the speakers to identify the specific challenges their industry faces in the CSR space. Speta responded by highlighting three key areas her company has identified, including: 1) creating a unified code of conduct for their business; 2) effectively auditing their suppliers to drive sustainability; and 3) communicating their activities to stakeholders. Krueger concurred with Speta, reiterating the challenge of communicating effectively with stakeholders.

During the Q&A session, Laura Clise from Areva, asked whether the industry saw access to energy as a material CSR issue. Speta responded by saying that it is one of the most material issues for her company, highlighting that 1.4 billion people currently do not have access to electricity. In response to this inequity, Sunpower’s Foundation has a program focused on rural electrification.

BD’s Greg Butler asked whether the industry’s trade association was concerned with the issue of conflict minerals. In response, Speta revealed that conflict minerals is a priority issue at Sunpower, with the company currently tracing their use of tin, tungsten, and tantalum in their supply chain. While this is a first step, Speta recognized that more needs to be done within the industry.

Before concluding the session, participants broke into two groups to discuss supply chain and communication challenges. All participants recognized the challenges facing the industry but saw significant opportunity to streamline CSR throughout the supply chain and communicate more effectively with stakeholders.