Johnson Controls, a global provider of smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, released its 2024 Sustainability Report, marking significant progress and unwavering focus on decarbonizing the built environment. Notably, the company reduced absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 43.8% since 2017, putting it ahead of schedule in achieving its 2030 science-based target of a 55% reduction. The company also reported a 27.1% reduction in Scope 3 emissions derived from the use of its products, exceeding its 2030 science-based target of achieving 16% reduction in use of sold products by 2030.

“At Johnson Controls, our focus on sustainability is a force multiplier accelerating our strategy, cutting our operating costs, and helping us attract and retain the best and brightest talent in the industry,” said George Oliver, chairman and CEO. “Putting our operating technology and OpenBlue digital platform to work achieving our own ambitious decarbonization goals enables us to be a trusted partner to our customers, accelerating their climate progress and success. I am proud of the progress we have made and am excited by the many initiatives we have underway that make the promise of sustainable buildings a reality.”

Buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions and buildings represent some of the fastest — if not the fastest — paths to meeting global climate targets. Throughout the report, Johnson Controls highlights key innovations and initiatives that deliver energy efficiency and decarbonization in buildings. This includes the solutions and services that form the smart building trifecta: energy-efficient equipment, clean electrification and digitalization. 

These solutions are making a difference in buildings like Childrens’ of Alabama medical center, where OpenBlue and heat pump technologies are delivering $450,000 in annual savings and reducing the use of natural gas by 69%. In Norway, OpenBlue is helping create the largest net energy-positive building in the northern hemisphere. In Dubai Silicon Oasis, Johnson Controls chillers and AI-driven solutions are  reducing carbon by 30% and delivering guaranteed energy savings of 4.2 million kWh per year. In 2023, OpenBlue Enterprise Manager and OpenBlue Central Utility Plant helped our customers avoid an estimated 70,000 metric tons CO2e, more than four times the avoided emissions of 2020.

“We have very purposefully created a company that is uniquely qualified to meet the needs of customers at every level—creating the products, installing and servicing them, investing in advanced technologies like AI, and creating the financing structure to support net zero journeys end-to-end,” said Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls. “The numbers show we are having tremendous impact in cutting energy, emissions, and cost in our own operations and for our customers. We are moving the needle on net zero buildings fast and we realize every day that decarbonizing buildings is a winner for the climate and for smart, cutting-edge organizations that are determined to best in class.”

Against the backdrop of the hottest year on record, Johnson Controls remains committed to innovation, investing 90% of new product R&D into climate-related technologies. The company is also addressing hard-to-abate steel production and embodied carbon with more than 80% of steel purchases in the United States and 50% globally produced from recycled scrap materials using low-carbon, electric arc furnace steel-making technology. 

Johnson Controls is also helping customers overcome financing challenges with innovative structures like “Net Zero Buildings as a Service,” which establishes outcome-based, net zero financing. It redefines risk by guaranteeing energy savings and paying project costs out of the savings. The company also offers performance-contracting projects, with guaranteed energy and operational savings realized over time. Since January 2000, Johnson Controls performance-contracting projects have helped partners and customers avoid over 39 million metric tons of emissions and they are set to save partners over $8.4 billion in energy and operational costs over their project terms. 

At NRG Park in Harris County, Texas, a 20-year energy savings performance contract is expected to generate more than $54 million in savings that will fund the entire cost of the complex-wide upgrades, while also providing surplus savings that will be reinvested back into the Harris County community. The project spans much of the complex, including upgrades to HVAC equipment, building automation systems, water conservation, life safety systems and lighting, as well as high-efficiency chiller upgrades and the integration of Johnson Controls OpenBlue Central Utility Plant. 

Johnson Controls attributes its global sustainability leadership to its global workforce. In 2023, Johnson Controls employees volunteered over 61,000 hours, the most volunteer hours recorded in one year since 2017, with more than 82% of the volunteer hours supporting one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The company is also investing in the rising generation of diverse, sustainable leaders through a wide range of scholarship, training, and community engagement programs. 

To read the full 2024 Sustainability Report, please visit: johnsoncontrols.com/2024Sustainability.