This Friday is Earth Day, a globally recognized day that raises awareness of the planet’s climate crisis and the actions needed to institute change for a prosperous, sustainable future and restoration of nature.

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, responding to rising environmental concerns and its effect on human health and the ecosystem. Now, more than 50 years later, more than 190 countries are participating to recognize the actions that we, collectively, can take to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes.

2022 Theme: Invest in Our Planet

This year’s theme is #InvestInOurPlanet, a pledge for individuals and organizations to commit to investing in our future and the future of generations to come. Companies, both big and small, have an opportunity to prioritize, invest in and take the lead on building a path toward a more sustainable future and making a positive impact on people and our planet.

However, companies are not alone; as contributors to the cause of concern, we all need to invest in taking action to find ways to affect positive change for a healthier planet. That’s why, at TD SYNNEX, we are working to embed environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics in our culture.

Key to Success: The Human Element

Across all regions and industries, the common trait we all have is the human element. The passion we see around global responsibility from our co-workers is going to be the key to the success of our recently-launched corporate citizenship program, a promise to investing in a sustainable future. As an organization, TD SYNNEX is committed to ESG goals, such as lowering its global carbon footprint, setting targets for emission reductions, achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its global operations by 2045, increasing its sustainability initiatives and supporting its customers and vendors in their efforts.

Transparency and accountability will be cornerstones to the success of our program. Now that we’ve launched, we are working to operationalize our program and identify the strategic initiatives we will need to go after to drive and report on those results. One specific initiative that I’m very excited about will be our Sustainability Champions program, which we are looking to launch a pilot in the next couple of months. This will allow us to eventually build a network of sustainability ambassadors globally across all of our locations as we work to help embed a culture of global responsibility across the organization. There will be plenty of opportunities for our co-workers to get involved.

One By One: How You Can Help

As individuals, we have the simple yet effective power to invest in a healthier planet through our choices of what we do every day. This Earth Day make a personal commitment to invest time and effort to make a change. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Pick up trash while you walk or run
• Switch to reusable bags
• Calculate your plastic consumption and challenge yourself to reduce
• Compost
• Organize a community cleanup
• Go pesticide-free
• Use a reusable water bottle
• Skip plastic, buy glass or paper products
• Plant a tree
• Use environmentally-friendly cleaning products
• Practice a simple act of green every day: Use the internet, not trees; Reduce running tap water unnecessarily, Turn off lights when not in use
• Participate in the Great Global Cleanup®

Together, we are positioned to make a positive impact at scale, and I couldn’t be more excited.