Interview: Intel's sustainability goals are pursued companywide

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Intel's Michael Jacobson talks about Intel's sustainable employee networks. 

The New Mexico Business Weekly interviewed Intel Corp.'s Director of Corporate Responsibility, Michael Jacobson who has been with Intel for more than 15 years.

The following are questions Jacobson answered about Intel’s commitment to sustainability:

How does Intel tell its sustainability story both internally and externally? And why are both important?

Michael Jacobson: Externally, being a sustainable corporation is becoming more and more critical to our consumers, and our customers and our communities. In some ways, I think it is the differentiator with Intel. People know that information so they can make that decision. I think that is critically important, but to be successful, all our employees have to recognize that it matters. I would first off want to make sure that our employees know that and are aware that these practices are important before we go out and tell that story ... We create sustainable employee networks, so our employee groups focus on sustainability, and we create opportunities for them to come together and share info and learn from each other and learn form Intel and make recommendations to Intel.

Have you found an effective way to talk about sustainability so that it is easier for business people to wrap their minds around it?

MJ: Intel and a lot of companies have spent time trying to determine the value of being a sustainable corporation. And the value could be a financial value, it could be the social impact, so when you are communicating to business people and engineers, it is really critically important that you can speak in terms of the impact, so they understand the actions they are being asked to do make a difference. So we do have the integrated value framework, which helps us look at the way we generate value. We look at the benefits from efficiency. We look at our reputation and the value of our reputation, and how doing the right thing impacts our consumer and brand value. And the other important point is that there is an opportunity to generate revenue by creating products that people want.

Read more in the New Mexico Business Weekly.