Q&A: CVS Health's Eileen Howard Boone discusses sustainability
As previously reported by Drug Store News, CVS Health recently announced that its CVS/pharmacy store in West Haven, Conn., has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification, making it the most energy efficient CVS/pharmacy store in the country. To learn more about this model store and CVS Health’s overall commitment to sustainability, DSN turned to Eileen Howard Boone, SVP corporate social responsibility and philanthropy for CVS Health and president of the CVS Health Foundation, for insights.
DSN: Tell us about CVS Health’s sustainability efforts? Why is this important for the company?
Howard Boone: As a pharmacy innovation company, CVS Health is uniquely positioned to address sustainability issues and use our collective resources to make a difference. As part of our CSR strategy, “Prescription for a Better World,” we focus on three key pillars:
Building healthier communities — which we call Health in Action;
Protecting the planet — or Planet in Balance; and
Creating economic opportunities — called Leader in Growth
At CVS Health, we recognize human activity plays a role in climate change and that operating our business has an effect on the environment. We address this challenge by reducing impacts across our company, including energy use, water use and waste output, and targeting the primary source of our greenhouse gas emissions: the 75 million sq. ft. of retail space that comprise our CVS/pharmacy stores. Although they have a smaller footprint, we also focus on reducing the impacts of our distribution centers and transportation network. We are addressing our impacts as they pertain to our direct operations. In 2013, we continued to make significant progress against our greenhouse gas emission goal of reaching a 15% reduction by 2018. Our Planet in Balance strategic priorities include:
Climate Change and Natural Resources:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions/Energy;
Water; and
Waste & Recycling
Product and Supply Chain Sustainability:
Ingredients;
Packaging; and
Sustainable Sourcing/Supply Chain
DSN: How does this tie into CVS Health’s overall purpose of helping people on their path to better health and how does the company work to integrate sustainability across the organization?
Howard Boone: CVS Health’s purpose is helping people on their path to better health, which we believe is intrinsically linked to the sustainability of our planet. Environmental sustainability is embedded in this approach, which focuses on addressing enterprise-wide, climate-related impacts and investing in improvements that contribute to the sustainability of both our company and our communities.
Our efforts to pursue green building practices are at the cornerstone of this work, and we are constantly testing new innovations that reduce costs and further green our stores’ infrastructure. We also rely on input from internal experts to help us identify and address opportunities and gaps in our company’s sustainability strategy, including our:
Sustainability Leadership Council, which is a team of leaders who meet on a quarterly basis to discuss our sustainability strategy and goals;
Executive Environmental Management Council, which is comprised of senior-level corporate executives representing all business units of CVS Health. The Council directs the overarching strategy, policy and implementation of our Environmental Management Program and advises our CEO on the program’s performance;
Energy Technology Assessment Committee, a cross-functional team that monitors sustainability initiatives, emerging technologies, trends in energy efficiency and evaluates opportunities for our company to pilot potential improvements in our facilities; and
Sustainability Committee, which is part of ETAC and is a cross-functional team that drives sustainability initiatives across our enterprise. This committee is focused on initiatives, such as recycling and lighting efficiency and evaluating performance indicators and metrics.
DSN: This marks the first CVS/pharmacy store to be awarded the Platinum certification and is the company's eighth LEED-certified building. Can you elaborate on what sets the West Haven location apart from the LEED-certified CVS Health buildings?
Howard Boone: The West Haven store is the most energy efficient CVS/pharmacy in the country. The LEED rating system — which includes Platinum, Gold and Silver — awards points to projects that go above and beyond the standard LEED requirements.
As a LEED Platinum building, this means the West Haven store is exemplary when considering the conservation of water and energy, the use of sustainable building materials, and responsible waste management and environmental impact evaluation. In fact, we used recycled materials in the building design and recycled 98% of demolition and construction debris. Features like solar panels, day lighting and high efficiency plumbing fixtures allow this store to use 40% less energy and 50% less water compared to a traditional building of a similar size.
DSN: It has been said that the store model allows CVS Health to pilot environmental innovations and uncover best practices that can be applied to other facilities. Can you elaborate on some of the best practices we might see emerge in other locations?
Howard Boone: CVS/pharmacy’s West Haven store is exemplary in its sustainable design and operations as a result of innovative features. We began by choosing a site with contaminated soil that needed remediation, as opposed to developing on virgin soil. Not only did remediation help revitalize this area of West Haven, but it also makes this piece of land safer for future generations.
Then we carefully chose building materials that would minimize environmental impact. This included materials that contained recycled content, were sourced as locally as possible and wood materials grown in sustainably-harvested forests.
Next we had to consider resource efficiency for both exterior and interior features. We picked high-efficiency plumbing fixtures to save more than 50% of the water typically used in a building of comparable size. Outside, we planted hardy, drought-tolerant landscaping native to Connecticut that doesn’t require irrigation, saving thousands of gallons of water. We also encourage our customers to use greener transportation by offering preferred parking to carpoolers and a charging station for electric cars.
In addition, high-efficiency lighting and HVAC systems, day lighting, light sensors, superior insulation and rooftop solar panels help the store use 40% less energy than a traditio