The last time you changed a light bulb chances are you were staring at the General Electric logo before seeing the light. But perhaps you didn’t realize that this company is about a lot more than just light bulbs. General Electric has a range of different businesses in a variety of areas: energy, finance, healthcare and media. (Did you know that they own NBC Universal?) They employ 304,000 people worldwide (as of Dec 2009) and operate in 160 countries.
GE traces its roots to one singular and brilliant man, Thomas A. Edison. Edison is considered one of the most influential inventors in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name. Edison invented the phonograph, a battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music, motion pictures and the most practical of all, the electric light bulb. He established Edison Electric Light Company in 1878; fourteen years later in 1892, a merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company created General Electric Company.
Yesterday GE released it’s sixth annual Citizenship Report so I thought it would be a good time to check out all the latest and greatest from this influential company. To check out the full report filled with good stuff about the company’s CSR priorities, metrics to back things up, a statement of the principals of human rights and much more go here.
People
- The GE Foundation Developing FuturesTM is a program that aims to improve math and science curriculum, provide teacher professional development and improve college readiness. GE has $200 million invested in specific school districts nationwide. Check out a video about the program here.
- GE believes strongly in volunteerism and has pooled resources to create responses tailored to local and individual challenges. GE employees volunteer over 1 million hours of community service every year, and during Global Community Days, they coordinate efforts company-wide to address urgent projects around the world. To find out about recent volunteer projects like community development in India, disaster relief and sustainable food development go here.
- Investing in their employees is not something that GE takes lightly, annually the company spends $1 billion on training and education programs for the people of GE.
Planet
- GE has committed to reducing their water footprint 20 percent company-wide by 2012. That’s enough water to fill 3,000 Olympic sized swimming pools.
- GE just announced the first ever Wattstation — a charging station for electric vehicles. We have a long way to go until electric cars are the norm but developments like this one make electricity accessible and the likelihood that we will more electric cars on the roads soon.
- GE announced on July 13th a $200 million open innovation challenge that seeks breakthrough ideas to create a smarter, cleaner, more efficient electric grid and accelerate the adoption of more efficient grid technologies. Check out more about the program here.
Profit
- In 2009, GE delivered earnings of $11.2 billion.
- GE employees have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 250,000 metric tons and have saved the company over $100 million by organizing “energy treasure hunts” worldwide.
- Healthymagination is GE’s six-year, $6 billion commitment to healthcare innovation that will help deliver better care to more people at lower cost all while growing the company’s business. Check out more about this program here.
These things represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to CSR initiatives by GE. The CSR program is so robust it’s hard to think that they get anything else done over there! But the innovations keep coming and hopefully they will continue to surprise us with more transparency and imaginative ways to positively impact people and the environment through good business.
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Image courtesy GE.