Johnson Controls’ 2023 sustainability report highlights Net Zero milestones achieved

Johnson Controls is creating and deploying technology – the smart building trifecta of energy-efficient equipment, clean electrification and systemic digitalisation – to accelerate its net zero journeys.

Johnson’s Controls’ 2023 Sustainability Report demonstrates significant progress towards the global objective of achieving net zero in buildings. The report highlights notable milestones reached in this endeavour. George Oliver, chairman and CEO of Johnson Controls, said, “Climate change is a key defining theme of this century. We have seven years to cut global emissions nearly in half to reach net zero by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. With almost 40 percent of those emissions coming from buildings, the consensus among global leaders is that there will be no net zero without decarbonising buildings. The good news is, we have the technology, financing, partnerships, and people to turn buildings from one of the greatest challenges into one of the biggest and quickest solutions toward net zero.”

Johnson Controls is creating and deploying technology – the smart building trifecta of energy-efficient equipment, clean electrification and systemic digitalisation – to accelerate its net zero journeys. The company has already reduced absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42 percent, or more than 455,000 metric tons, on the way to its 2030 Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) target of 55 percent. The company is ahead, too, on reducing absolute Scope 3 customer emissions, achieving a reduction of 14 percent, or more than 18 million metric tons, on the way to its 2030 SBTi target of 16 percent.

Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls, said, “To help lead the way to a net zero future, we have committed to ambitious sustainability goals. The numbers show that our smart building technologies and as-a-service financing and partnership models are having a tremendous impact in cutting energy, emissions, and costs in our operations and for our customers. We can accelerate climate progress and advance business objectives simultaneously – just in time for the action the planet needs now!”

Driving climate progress is a significant factor in the company’s growth and vitality. Johnson Controls continues to innovate, investing 90 percent of R&D into new sustainability-related technologies in the fiscal year 2022. The company also is addressing hard-to-abate steel production and embodied carbon. 

In addition, the company has stepped up to mobilise financing and meet the capital constraints many companies face by introducing ‘Net Zero as a Service’. This partnership model delivers on key customer performance objectives – energy, emissions, and cost reductions to healthy, smart workspaces – without upfront capital costs. ‘Net Zero as a Service’ redefines risk by guaranteeing energy savings and paying project costs out of the savings. Since January 2000, Johnson Controls’ innovative financing structures have helped partners and customers avoid over 37 million metric tons of emissions, and they are set to save partners over $7.8 billion in energy and operational costs over their project terms.

Moreover, the CEO and CSO stress a seven year countdown to cut the nearly 40 percent of global emissions caused by the global building sector.