MIT Sloan Management Review

Image courtesy of Flickr user HKmPUA.

General information

• IWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss mechanical watch manufacturer
• Founded in 1868
• Employees: ~ 800
• CEO: Georges Kern
• Parent company: Richemont International SA

Key sustainability initiatives at IWC Schaffhausen

1. Carbon neutral certification
2. Day-to-day initiatives
• Innovative ventilation and insulation for building temperature control
• Heat recycling from water sewage systems and ground-water energy tapping, heat recovery from exhaust air
• High efficiency filtering for wastes, rain water recycling for toilet flushing
• Planned: Solar panels for all water heating in manufacturing areas
3. Employee initiatives
• Co-investment in personal carbon offsetting projects taken up by employees
• Mandatory public transport for business reasons and subsidy on public transport for personal reasons for all employees
• Financial support for private CO₂ measures, such as heating systems and low emissions cars
• Private emissions calculators and offset information on office intranet
4. Support for external organizations
• IWC donates portion of proceeds from Climate Action watch to The Climate Group
• IWC supports David deRothschild’s Plastiki expedition
• IWC supports The Charles Darwin Foundation

Benefits of sustainability initiatives

Environmental

• 50% carbon emissions reduction in efficiently designed buildings in 2008
• Energy consumption in manufacturing has remained stable even though effective area has increased 6,000 square meters
• Measures prevent release of 750 tons of CO₂ per year
• Estimated emissions in 2010 will be 100 tons, a 90% reduction

Cultural

• IWC is a certified carbon neutral business
• Sustainability initiatives differentiate IWC’s brand
• Employee response to initiatives has been very positive

Financial

• External aid: Swiss Federal Office of Energy funds IWC’s heat exchange plant which is based on waste water heat recycling and runs all year long
• Lowering of energy usage (measured both by employee basis and square meter)
• Same level of energy usage since 2003, despite increase in company size