How ecobee Applies Business Lessons from a Sustainability Giant.

In his ground-breaking book, Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist, the late Ray C. Anderson reflected on his transformative experience in the early 1990s when he became aware of the global ecological crisis and his company’s role in worsening it.

Anderson had just read The Ecology of Commerce in which author Paul Hawken argues that business and industry are the main culprits in causing the decline of the biosphere and “the only institutions big enough to fix it.” The message hit Anderson like a “spear in the chest.” He immediately began setting ambitious sustainability targets for Interface. Over the next 15 years, the petroleum-intensive business cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 94 percent, waste and water use by 80 percent, patented new machines, materials, and manufacturing practices, all as sales increased, and earnings doubled.

Like Interface, Inc., ecobee is also on a sustainability journey, one that’s been years in the making, marries to our principles, and informs everything we do. A key difference is that, unlike the carpet tile manufacturer, at ecobee, “working for the planet” has always been one of our core values. Since our founding, ecobee thermostats have averted 6.2 million tons of CO2e† and delivered over 31.3 TWh‡ of energy savings, which is like taking all the homes in LA and Chicago off the grid for one year.

As we evolve and grow from the company best known for inventing the Smart Thermostat to providing Smart Home solutions for the whole home, Coline Roux, ecobee’s Senior Sustainability Manager explains that it continues to be our duty to make eco-conscious decisions every step of the way.

“Like Anderson and Interface Inc., we believe we have a responsibility to our customers and the planet to eliminate as much waste and find as many efficiencies as possible. This means weaving sustainability into everything we do, from how we design, build, package, and ship our products to how we manage our operations,” said Roux.

In developing our sustainability plan, ecobee has been inspired by Anderson, and the circular economy movement his ideas helped shape.

Since the Industrial Revolution began nearly 300 years ago, the economy has been built on the assumption of an unlimited supply of energy and material resources to be tapped. This paradigm has resulted in incredible prosperity, but that prosperity has been bought at the expense of environmental degradation, resource depletion, climate change, and other problems.

In the dominant “take-make-waste” paradigm, we take material from the earth, make products, and eventually throw them away, making waste. Taking direction from nature where nothing is wasted, in the circular economy, there is no such thing as waste, and all materials must circle-back, that is, re-enter the economy by being repurposed at the end of their use.

Anderson was a proponent of educating others about sustainability and advocating for industry changes. ecobee not only sells energy efficient products but educates customers about the benefits of energy conservation and sustainable living. We provide resources and information to help our customers make more environmentally friendly choices.

Innovation in sustainability was a key focus for Anderson, who transformed his company into a model of sustainable business practices. ecobee continuously innovates to improve energy efficiency and sustainability. Our smart home products incorporate advanced technology like eco+, a set of features for ecobee smart thermostats that takes the energy-saving burden off your shoulders by using your routines, comfort preferences, local weather, and grid activity to make better energy decisions on your behalf. This improves your comfort and boosts energy savings. Learn more about eco+.

Anderson advocated for businesses to minimize their environmental impact and operate sustainably. At ecobee, we are committed to sustainability by actively seeking ways to reduce the environmental impact of our operations and products. For example, we design each new product to use less power and packaging than its predecessor if possible and use recyclable material and even compostable materials in our products and packaging.

At ecobee, we always keep the environmental impact in mind and empower our people to be innovative and make better business decisions for people and the planet. By integrating these business lessons from Ray C. Anderson, who died in 2011, we are part of a growing movement keeping his vision of a greener future alive and delivering on that promise.

‡ Not inclusive of the impacts delivered by eco+. Savings data as of March 31, 2024, subject to biannual updates.