At Costco, we understand that we impact the environment through operating our 850 locations worldwide — and we are committed to running these in an energy-efficient and environmentally responsible manner. These efforts support our mission to remain a low-cost operator, while serving our communities, promoting environmental stewardship and reducing our carbon footprint. In our operations, we focus on these areas:
We are aware of our responsibility to design and construct our sites and buildings in an energy-efficient, sustainable and environmentally responsible manner. This can include preserving natural habitat or adaptive reuse and preservation on certain sites.
Costco’s core objectives include optimizing and streamlining our ordering and distribution systems. We aim to reduce our carbon emissions by seeking ocean, rail and road transportation efficiencies, including with our delivery fleet. At our corporate and regional offices, we support our employees’ efforts to reduce their transportation energy consumption.
We have implemented comprehensive energy and refrigeration programs to help us continuously improve our operational energy efficiency, which also helps us reduce our carbon emissions.
Acknowledging the importance of water conservation, we have adopted Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 — Clean Water and Sanitation— as one of our SDG goals. We have implemented comprehensive water management programs, while also taking steps to use less water overall.
Costco understands our potential impact on the global waste stream and greenhouse gas emissions caused by waste generated within our global operations. Our goal is to continually decrease the amount of our waste going to landfills. Here, we'll explain the steps we are taking to reach that goal.
Our Code of Ethics calls for us to obey the law, and complying with environmental regulations is an example of that mandate. Our environmental compliance efforts are integral to our sustainability initiatives. Compliance is supported by our Sustainability Technical Assistance Review (STAR) program.
