Our EnvironmentArticle
October 25, 2024
We amplify our impact on issues from global climate action to local community needs through our partnerships.
This article is co-authored by Deidra Parrish Williams, Global Corporate Citizenship Leader, Trane Technologies.
Across our global operations, Trane Technologies team members collaborate to realize our purpose to boldly challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world. Our purpose is our call to action, and it does not stop at our company doors. Every day we amplify our impact on issues from global climate action to local community needs through external partnerships. Our partners help Trane Technologies expand our knowledge, our credibility and our reach, and by working together, our impact grows by magnitudes.
Our 2030 Sustainability Commitments guide our partnership choices and actions. These commitments define the way forward through continued innovation, climate action and our culture of impact. By working with like-minded partners, we learn from one another and share best practices. And together we are achieving the system-level change required to transform our industry and the world.
In order to avoid the most destructive effects of climate change, the world must reduce carbon emissions, and the built environment has a huge role to play. Trane Technologies innovates to develop heating and cooling technology that reduces emissions, and we are an important part of the solution. But we are only a part. There are materials, such as steel and concrete, that contain embodied carbon. There are different energy sources that power a building. There can also be local regulations for the built environment. Through our partnerships, we can address every part of the built environment ecosystem, and our voice grows stronger.
Case in point: Trane Technologies engages with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) to support renewable energy policies. Together we have studied how to optimize the electric grid for intelligent energy demand management and energy storage. One solution is to load-shift electricity demand to times when more renewable energy is available, leading to fewer emissions from fossil-fuel based energy sources. By working together, we can define and promote these solutions–and advocate for better energy policy in our sector.
By walking alongside us, our partners demonstrate to our communities that we have a shared goal, that they support our work, and we support theirs.
Another benefit of partnerships is to learn from others about emerging topics. For years, Trane Technologies has been a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and in 2023 we joined the WBCSD Roadmap to Nature Positive working group. Our goal in this engagement is to better understand how we can improve efforts to support biodiversity and nature. In alignment with this working group, we completed our first nature impact assessment for our value chain as well as our manufacturing sites globally. We are excited to use the results to identify key areas of opportunity to reduce our impact as well as to support nature-related engagement at the local level.
In 2023, InfluenceMap recognized Trane Technologies as being in the top 5% of companies evaluated for positive and active climate policy engagements aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Another incredibly important aspect of partnerships is credibility. We can only do this work to transform our energy systems and make a positive impact on our communities if people trust that we are operating in good faith. This begins by listening.
Our partners educate us on their communities’ priorities and needs, and our plans evolve. By walking alongside us, our partners demonstrate to our communities that we have a shared goal, that they support our work, and we support theirs. We take these relationships very seriously.
We know our partners carefully evaluate us, and we do the same. Trane Technologies’ progress toward our 2030 Sustainability Commitments is backed by data that is rigorous and transparent, and we seek to partner with organizations who are also working in earnest toward shared goals.
Left image: Emily Vesling and Marjorie Harris, assistant director of external affairs for the Office of State and Community Energy Programs within the Department of Energy, at Climate Week NYC 2024.
Right image: Deidra Parrish Williams and colleagues volunteering at the Carolina Farm Trust.
We know that we thrive as a business when our communities thrive as places to live and work. This belief inspires how we engage as a corporate citizen in our communities. Our 2030 Sustainability Commitments highlight our plans to invest $100 million in building sustainable futures for underrepresented communities and dedicate 500,000 employee volunteer hours in our communities by 2030.
We are experts in our industry. But we are not experts in other needed areas, such as educational programming or curriculum development. For help on topics beyond our expertise, we turn to organizations with a deep history of serving their communities.
In 2023, Trane Technologies donated $18.8 million to philanthropic causes. Our team members volunteered 92, 517 hours – reaching 47% of our 2030 goal.
For many years, Trane Technologies has collaborated with the Urban League of Central Carolinas to support their work in helping nontraditional professionals develop stronger career options. We fund a vocational program that provides participants with the credentials they need to become HVAC technicians.
Not only does our company provide financial support to make this program possible, but our team members also share hands-on expertise. They routinely participate in the classes and help students understand the full breadth of opportunity and responsibility that comes with being a technician in the field. We teach customer service and time management skills, plus the technical aspects of this business. Additionally, to prepare soon-to-be graduates for the work world, we help them develop their resume and profiles on social media. Sometimes it’s a student’s first job interview, and we’ll hold practice sessions to get them ready. We’ll also connect graduates with our dealer network for potential job opportunities, and on some occasions, we hire students directly out of the program.
In this partnership, we are constantly working with the Urban League to explore how we can better serve the community. We keep an open line of communication–and an open mind about what is possible. When someone suggests a new idea for this collaboration, our organizations trust one another to thoughtfully consider it and decide together.
The work we do today with our partners to build capacity, learn together and advocate for a better future has history at Trane Technologies. When we launched the Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (CEES) in 2010, we immediately formed an Advisory Council on Sustainability with trusted experts from academia, NGOs and industry – the exact composition of the partners we seek to keep.
Ever since the first gathering of that council, we have been investing in relationships and thinking big. We are trying to change the way the world uses energy. This is no small goal. We know we can’t do it alone, and we’re grateful for our partners who walk alongside us and help us bring others into our movement to take climate action together.
“Our partners help Trane Technologies expand our knowledge, our credibility and our reach, and by working together, our impact grows by magnitudes.”
Deidra Parrish Williams
Global Corporate Citizenship Leader, Trane Technologies
Recommended for you
Our Environment Article
Trane Technologies Tackles Embodied Carbon at UNGA Goals HouseOctober 14, 2024
Trane Technologies VP of Sustainability Scott Tew discusses the company’s move to reduce embodied carbon at UNGA Goals House at Climate Week NYC 2024.
Our Environment Article
Leading on Embodied CarbonSeptember 23, 2024
Trane Technologies’ sustainability and procurement leaders on the company’s move to reduce embodied carbon by 40%.
This article is co-authored by Kinnar Ghiya, Vice President, Procurement, Trane Technologies.
Our Environment Article
Building a MovementJune 17, 2024
The technology exists today to decarbonize the built environment. How will we get to net-zero? Together.
Our Environment Article
Mitigating Food Loss with a Smarter Cold ChainMay 02, 2024
