From goals to actions: Moving toward a more sustainable future

By Dani Sheehan. 

Dive into USG’s sustainability goals for 2030 and listen as their sustainability manager shares insights on reducing carbon emissions, creating a circular economy by reducing waste and focusing on customer and employee wellbeing. 

Sustainability is not just a buzzword for Stacy Simpson, sustainability manager at USG. She recently sat down with Heidi J. Ellsworth in an episode of Roofing Road Trips® to talk about the work she has done over the last ten years in her role and how she promotes sustainability every day. Having developed the USG 2030 Sustainability Goals, we hear about her work implementing and tracking these goals while integrating green practices into USG’s culture. 

As Stacy explains, USG has developed goals in four areas of sustainability to truly transform their carbon footprint by 2030. They’ve already taken steps to reduce their carbon wide emissions and every department within the company is united in these goals. She shares, “We have a 30% reduction in our Scope 1, which is the natural gas that we burn, our Scope 2 emissions, which is the electricity that we purchase and a 15% [reduction] in our Scope 3 emissions, which is mostly our raw materials. We verified our targets by a third-party platform that verifies that the carbon emission goals are in line with climate science.” 

Another goal is enhancing customer wellbeing. She continues, “We are also dedicating a lot of research and development to sustainable products. Delivering a circular economy, we have committed to zero manufacturing waste to landfills and a 20% reduction in drinking water intensity.” This includes a commitment to their customers to lower volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and they are striving to become a leader in take-back programs for contractors to recycle materials. 

Finally, Stacy says, “Our last [goal] is putting people first, and we want our workforce to be happy. We want to foster an engaged and diverse workforce where everybody likes coming to work and enjoys working for USG.” 

Stacy is excited about where USG is headed as a company. Sustainability is not just a buzzword. “It’s got to be a strong commitment and you got to put work towards it.” 

Read the transcript, Listen to the podcast or Watch the webinar to learn more about sustainable practices in the roofing industry and what you can do to contribute toward a greener future.