“Johnson Controls is leading the global net zero building transformation, tackling the nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions that come from buildings by deploying the smart building trifecta of energy-efficient equipment, clean electrification and digitalization,” said Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls. “Digitalization and AI, in particular, are revolutionizing buildings, not only by radically decreasing energy use and emissions, but also by providing an unparalleled level of precision and transparency in energy and emissions measurement and reporting.”
In fact, that AI-driven smart building trifecta is creating an entirely new class of smart buildings – the “net energy-positive” building. Johnson Controls OpenBlue Pioneer Powerhouse Brattørkaia in Trondheim, Norway is a prime example as the most net energy-positive building in the northern hemisphere. Fitted with hyper-efficient equipment and systemic digitalization, it only uses half of the energy it generates, feeding the surplus to neighborhood buildings and electric vehicles to help the wider community move on its carbon reduction goals faster.
In addition, as business leaders are faced with the move from voluntary to mandatory climate action and risk disclosures, in early 2023, Johnson Controls released enhanced capabilities in its OpenBlue Net Zero Advisor, bringing customers an all-in-one tool for carbon footprint assessment, target setting, emissions management and tracking. Net Zero Advisor automatically extracts data from monthly utility bills, on-site renewable energy sources and local emissions factors, including the local power grid contribution. Based on that data, it calculates Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Aggregating and analyzing data from one building or across a global portfolio of buildings, Net Zero Advisor can help building managers oversee and summarize climate progress for the entire portfolio.
Johnson Controls has also used this smart building trifecta to accelerate its own net zero journey. The company is ahead of schedule on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emission targets approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The company has committed to a Scope 1 and 2 reduction of 55% by 2030; it has already reached 42% and has saved over 455,934 metric tons of absolute emissions across operations. The company’s 2030 Scope 3 target is to reduce customer emissions by 16%, and it has already achieved 14% from the use of products – over 18 million metric tons of CO2e. The company has pledged to use 100% renewable energy and drive Scope 1 and 2 emissions to net zero by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
Since this is just the beginning of an era that will be defined by deep decarbonization and sustainability, Johnson Controls continues to innovate. In fiscal year 2022, the company invested 90% of new product research and development into sustainability-related innovation. The company is also addressing hard-to-abate steel production and embodied carbon through low-carbon steel purchases, closed-loop steel recycling and material recycling – all of which serve to make its product footprints smaller.
Johnson Controls is also innovating in financing, overcoming capital constraints that can make businesses hesitant to start their net zero journeys. OpenBlue Net Zero Buildings as a Service redefines risk by guaranteeing energy savings and paying project costs out of the savings. Since January 2000, such innovative financial models have helped partners and customers avoid more than 37 million metric tons of emissions and are set to save them more than $7.8 billion in energy and operational costs over the project terms.
For more on Johnson Controls’ sustainability milestones, see the
2023 Sustainability Report.
