2015 Environmental Sustainability Report

Shaping a Renewable Future

Sustainability report image
Mike Castro

CFO’s Message

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Mike Castro, Chief Financial Officer

The past several years, we have been making efforts to “green up” our business, working with a sustainability partner to take a hard look at our operations and help us take steps to reduce our carbon footprint. In addition to developing a number of waste reduction programs, including recycling and composting, we continue to reduce our overall spend on resources and increase our green purchasing. We are using less paper — which means we are printing less — and we’re appealing to our providers, enrollees and employees to join us increasing the sustainability of how we do business. This includes the promotion and adoption of paperless benefit statements.

I invite you to take a look at our Environmental Sustainability Report and see the progress we’ve made over the past few years. And of course, comments and suggestions are welcome — please send them to GoingGreen@delta.org. Thank you for helping our efforts to be leaner and greener!

Highlights

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Waste Mitigation

Employee and facility programs significantly reduce waste sent to landfills.

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Recycling

Our teams are involved every day: composting, extended recycling and employee-led initiatives all help us make a difference.

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Purchasing

Overall, we’ve reduced the consumption of resources and materials.

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Facilities

Buildings recognized for a focus on sustainability make us proud to come to work.

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Energy

We invested in renewables for the first time and saw measurable impact.

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Greenhouse Gases

Improved efficiency on our biggest campus drove overall savings.

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Waste Mitigation

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Waste Diverted from Landfills

We committed to reducing the amount of trash sent to landfills and implemented better tracking to measure our progress. We continue to redirect more than 50% of our waste into reuse or recycling program.

Percentage of waste diverted

Waste diverted chart

Sustainability

Our convenient online tools plus enrollees and dentists opting out of paper mailings helped us reduce our environmental footprint. We are ramping up our paperless adoption efforts in 2016.

15.7 million mailings suppressed
= 5,649 trees saved*


*Courtesy of Environmental Paper Network

Paperless Adoption

Adult enrollees are transitioning to online-only account management. This is a large opportunity for us to pioneer this effort in a historically paper-heavy industry. We need your help! Sign up to go paperless.

Survey Circle

9%

Recycling

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Recycling Factoids (in tons)

Survey Circle

0.37
Tons Recycled

Polystyrene/Foam

Survey Circle

1.98
Tons Reused

Cooking Oil

Survey Circle

7.52
Tons Recycled

Electronics

Survey Circle

45
Tons Collected

Compost

Innovative recycling programs allow us to keep more than half of our waste out of landfills. An employee-led polystyrene/foam initiative, a regional biodiesel program, an electronics-specific recycling bin and in-office composting are reasons for our success. We are proud to partner with local experts who are taking bold steps to reduce landfill volume.

Purchasing

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2015 Purchasing Overview

Over the last five years, we have made a concerted effort toward reducing our overall consumption of supplies while simultaneously working to increase the proportion of green products we use in all of our facilities.

Purchasing

Purchasing of total goods down
15%

Facilities

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Facilities

We have 10 facilities with at least 35 employees. Six buildings are ENERGY STAR certified, and four of those achieved LEED certification. We are working to bring the entire portfolio up to these highly respected standards.

LEED certified

E-Vehicle Charging

Two of our largest facilities offer charging stations for employees’ electric vehicles.

E-vehicle charging

2,767 gallons of gasoline saved

California Data Center

Efficiency initiatives in our largest data center, a facility type that is universally infamous for high usage, achieved meaningful results quickly.

We measured a 5.5% reduction in electricity consumption in one facility, which is equivalent to 74,737 clothes dryer loads.

Data center efficiencies

Electricity Reduction

Clothes Dryer Loads

Awards and Recognition

EPA WasteWise Partner

EPA’s WasteWise encourages organizations and businesses to achieve sustainability in their practices and reduce select industrial wastes. WasteWise is part of EPA’s sustainable materials management efforts, which promote the use and reuse of materials more productively over their entire lifecycles. We have completed all program and reporting requirements to achieve partner status.

Disclaimer: Use of this logo does not imply EPA endorsement

Green Business Certified

California’s Green Business Certified program recognizes environmental sustainability programs that include purchasing policy, cleaning protocol and onsite assessments. Currently, our Rancho Cordova, CA location is Green Business Certified; our goal is to bring more facilities into this program.

TOBY Awards

The Outstanding Building of the Year® (TOBY) Awards honor the best of the best in commercial buildings. Our Alpharetta, GA, facility won local and regional TOBY Awards.

Energy

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Renewable Energy Credits (RECs)

In 2015, we took a bold new step and began purchasing RECs through the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District with a goal of further reducing our GHG emissions from electricity generation.

Energy-saving buildings

4 of 10 buildings are in this program

Energy-saving buildings

50% of electricity generated via renewable resources at these location

We now purchase credits equal to 50% of our total electricity usage, and we are looking to increase our future investment in this program.

Energy-saving buildings

Mix of natural gas, hydroelectric, wind and solar

Energy-saving buildings

Opportunity for greater investment

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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GHG Detailed Chart

  2013 2014 2015
Total Greenhouse gas emissions (metric tonnes CO2e, corresponds with Scopes 1, 2, and 3) 15,966 17,501 17,256
Greenhouse gas emissions (metric tonnes CO2e) (corresponds with Scopes 1 and 2) 7,528 7,647 6,802
Scope 1 GHG emissions (metric tonnes CO2e) by building type 379 348 383
By building type      
Headquarters 372 343 373
Data Center 8 5 10
By region      
California 269 236 270
Pennsylvania 95 90 92
Georgia 5 4 6
Other 10 18 15
By source      
Natural gas 364 338 363
Diesel Fuel 15 11 20
Scope 2 GHG emissions (metric tonnes CO2e) 7,148 7,299 6,419
By building type      
Headquarters 5,676 5,780 4,989
Data Center 1,472 1,518 1,431
By region      
California 3,577 3,500 2,787
Pennsylvania 1,652 1,668 1,466
Georgia 1,832 2,033 2,073
Other 88 97 93
By source      
Purchased electricity for operations 7,148 7,299 6,419
Scope 3 GHG emissions (metric tonnes CO2e) 8,439 9,853 10,454
By source      
Auto Commute 7,473 8,591 9,126
Public Transit Commute 205 247 313
Business Travel 760 1,015 1,015

About Us

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Our enterprise companies comprise one of the nation’s largest dental benefit delivery systems, with 34.5 million enrollees.

Our Sustainability Mission Statement:

To advance sustainability through innovative, ongoing operational initiatives and programs.