SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability Timeline: Greif, Inc. traces its roots back to 1877. The idea of being a conscientious global citizen, a responsive community neighbor and a responsible steward of the earth’s natural resources has been ingrained into the company’s DNA since its inception by the Greif brothers. Today, we honor our history as we focus on our future. We use financial, natural and human resources wisely without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The following is a chronicle of our sustainability journey and accomplishments. 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 1999 2016 Greif Lockport Facility Receives 98% from TfS Audit Greif's Lockport facility in Illinois received an outstanding score of 98 out of 100 from the Together for Sustainability (TfS) audit proving to have best in class CSR practices in place. Find out more » Greif Scores “A-” in the CDP’s 2016 Climate Change Report Greif was awarded an A- for environmental leadership, management and best practices by the independent non-profit organization CDP as part of CDP's renowned annual assessment of more than 20,000 companies. With an overall score of A-, Greif outperforms the container and packaging industry with its leadership, governance and strategy, and environmental best practices. The container and packaging industry average CDP score is a C, on a scale from A to F. Find out more » Greif Receives Two Awards from Eastman Chemical Company Eastman Chemical Company awarded Greif’s rigid industrial products and services North America team with the Innovation and Sustainability Award for delivering value-added contributions and improving Eastman's supply chain sustainability. As a recognized supplier of NexDrums, Greif earned the status assigned by Eastman to their most valued suppliers for providing consistent performance in furnishing Eastman with high quality materials and services and working on Eastman's behalf to improve their efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness. Eastman also recognized Greif's Delta Chemical team with the Supplier Excellence Award for delivering innovations and value-added services. Greif Receives Silver Recognition From EcoVadis Greif’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) received Silver Recognition from Ecovadis, which operates the first collaborative platform enabling companies to monitor the sustainability performance of their suppliers, across 150 sectors. Greif is in the Top 9 percent of suppliers assessed by EcoVadis in its category. Find out more » Greif Joins UNGC Greif has become a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative. Greif pledges to support and promote the compact’s 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. The UNGC is a leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible corporate policies and practices. Launched in 2000, it is largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, with over 8,000 companies and 4,000 non-business signatories based in 160 countries. Find out more » Greif Attendorn Facility Receives 96% from TfS Audit Greif Attendorn facility located in Germany received an excellent score of 96 percent from the Together for Sustainability audit proving to have best in class sustainability practices in place. Find out more » Greif Castenedolo Employees Win the 2016 Michael J. Gasser Sustainability Award Greif's Castenedolo plant employees in Italy won the 2016 Michael J. Gasser Sustainability Award by fully embracing sustainable innovation principles to manufacture products that have a reduced negative impact on the environment while maintaining Greif’s commitment to only produce products of the highest quality. Find out more » 2015 Greif Receives Premio Eco Brasil 2015 Award Greif received the prestigious Premio Eco Brasil 2015 Award in the Sustainability Practices – Products or Services category for packH2O, a product that incorporates sustainable attributes across its entire lifecycle—design, development, distribution, use and reuse. Premio Eco is the first Brazilian initiative recognizing companies that adopt socially responsible practices. It was created by Amcham-Brasil (American Chamber of Commerce) in 1982 and has generated a rich reflection on sustainable business development in Brazil. Find out more » Greif Scores “92B” in the Carbon Disclosure Project’s 2015 Climate Change Report Greif was recognized for the second year in a row for its commitment to reduce its environmental impact by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). For transparency in climate change reporting, Greif received a score of 92 out of 100, higher than the CDP program average of 84. For efforts in energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction, Greif earned a “B” topping the industry and CDP program average “C” grade. Find out more » Greif Europoort Facility Receives 97% from TfS Audit Greif Europoort facility located in the Netherlands received an excellent score of 97 percent from the Together for Sustainability audit proving to have best in class sustainability practices in place. This success was made possible by all the Europoort employees who work hard to integrate sustainability to their work every day and to the safety first culture at the facility that serves as the backbone of its operations. Find out more » Greif Sultanbeyli Facility Receives 100% from Sedex Audit Greif Sultanbeyli facility located in Turkey received a perfect score of 100 percent from the Sedex Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) audit proving to have best in class CSR practices in place. Find out more » Greif Receives Silver Recognition From EcoVadis Greif’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) received silver recognition from Ecovadis, which operates the 1st collaborative platform enabling companies to monitor the sustainability performance of their suppliers, across 150 sectors and 99 countries. Find out more » Greif’s Global Packaging Accessories (GPA) Business Wins the 2015 Michael J. Gasser Sustainability Award. Greif’s GPA business won the 2015 Michael J. Gasser Sustainability Award by investing in multiple aspects of sustainability including resource consumption reduction, employee health & safety, waste reduction and innovation. Find out more » 2014 Greif Achieves High Score on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s 2014 Climate Change Report Greif's commitment to sustainability received public recognition. For the transparency of its climate change reporting, Greif received 87 out of 100 possible points. In addition, its efforts to reduce CO2 emissions enabled Greif to reach performance band B, the second highest performance band. Find out more » Ivan Signorelli and the Greif Green Tool Team Win Annual Sustainability Award Ivan Signorelli and the Green Tool team have been selected to receive the 2014 Michael J. Gasser Sustainability Award for their visionary work with life cycle assessments (LCA) and the practical application of this science at Greif with The Greif Green Tool. Find out more » Greif Holds 1st Latin America Sustainability Meeting In Sao Paulo, Brazil, 30 global Greif customers, including representatives from Dow, Syngenta, Bayer and Dupont, gathered for the 1st Greif Latin America Sustainability Meeting. The event featured key thought leaders who discussed moving from sustainability policies to actions and how this positively affects business, the path toward more sustainability in industrial packaging and key updates on Greif’s sustainability journey and what the future holds for the company and its customers. The event helped to strengthen Greif’s position as a sustainability leader with its customers and demonstrate its commitment to improving sustainability across the company. Greif Receives 2014 IAIR Awards The DoubleGreen™ COEX 10-liter plastic jerry can was recognized with the 2014 IAIR Award. Find out more » EarthMinded Life Cycle Services Expands to Northeastern US EarthMinded® LCS industrial container reconditioning network has expanded its market reach to the Northeast United States. Find out more » Greif Receives 2014 Manufacturing Leadership Sustainability Award The DoubleGreen™ COEX 10-liter plastic jerry can was recognized with the 2014 Manufacturing Leadership Sustainability Award. Find out more » Forbes Names Greif One of "America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies" Greif was named one of America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies by Forbes, in partnership with GMI Ratings. Find out more » Greif Receives 2014 PackTheFuture Award Greif's PackH2O backpack was recognized with the PackTheFuture 2014 Award and honored with the special jury prize. Find out more » 2013 packH2O Receives People's Design Award packH2O water backpack garnered the most votes by the public to receive the 2013 People's Design Award in the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Award competition. Find out more » 100,000+ packH2O Backpacks Delivered By the end of 2013, this life-altering backpack could be found in 24 countries on five continents. By working through non-governmental organizations such as Habitat for Humanity International, Operation Blessing, Partners In Health and Partners for Care, Greif has ensured delivery of more than 100,000 water backpacks to regions where water must be transported by foot from source to home. Find out more » Soterra & Pollinator Partnership Receive Conservation Leadership Award SFI recognized Soterra and Pollinator Partnership with its coveted Conservation Leadership Award for their research of pollinator habitat in a managed forest ecosystem. Find out more » Riverville Mill Team Wins Greif Sustainability Award The Riverville Mill team won the 2013 Michael J. Gasser Global Sustainability Award for their energy reduction transformation project that began approximately five years ago. Find out more » Greif Hosts Third WBCSD Midwest Conference Greif hosted the third WBCSD Midwest Conference. Find out more » 80% Use of SmartWay Carriers Greif achieved 80 percent use of SmartWay carriers. Find out more » EarthMinded Life Cycle Services Expands EarthMinded® Life Cycle Services, Greif's joint venture business that reconditions and remanufactures industrial containers, expanded its network of services in Latin America and the United States. EarthMinded added Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and the Southeast United States to its footprint, which allows it to serve more customers and increase its capacity to meet the needs of current customers. Find out more » Greif Netherlands Innovation Greif Netherlands Tri-Sure® Closures team developed a new plating process, Chromium 3 passivation. This process improves product performance, is better for the environment and safer for our employees than the old process. Find out more » EarthMinded Awarded The EarthMinded DIY diverter kit was awarded honorable mention in the Lawn, Garden & Outdoor Living Innovation Awards. Find out more » Greif Brazil Innovation Our team in Brazil developed DoubleGreen COEX 10 liter and DoubleGreen MONO 20 liter jerry cans that use fewer raw materials, reduce waste and are made from a renewable resource, sugarcane, with a stackable design that eliminates the need for a carton during transport. Find out more » SEED Recognizes packH2O packH2O was recognized with a 2013 SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design®) Honorable Mention for Excellence in Public Interest Design. Find out more » 2012 packH2O Receives Popular Science's Best of What's New Award packH2O was honored with a Best of What's New Award in the Green category by Popular Science Magazine. packH2O Receives Global Green USA Industrial Design Award The packH2O received Global Green USA's Industrial Design Award. CorrChoice Receives Greif Sustainability Award Watch: LeaderCorr Greif subsidiary CorrChoice won the third 2012 Michael J. Gasser Global Sustainability Award for developing the game-changing product LeaderCorr™. LeaderCorr replaces foam board used by the retail industry and others for printed signs and in-store displays. Find out more » Greif Hosts Second WBCSD Midwest Conference Greif hosted the second WBCSD Midwest Conference. More than 80 organizations participated. Find out more » EarthMinded Consumer Products Expands Portfolio EarthMinded™ Consumer Products expanded its product offering to include a 45-gallon version of the rain barrel and DIY rain barrel kits to provide a responsible rain management system for consumers. Find out more » NexDRUM® Watch: NexDRUM Greif introduced the NexDRUM® plastic drum to the market. It is manufactured through a process that provides excellent durability maximizing consistency in diameter, wall thickness and weight using less resin. Despite its lighter weight, it is sturdier and handles the rigors of stacking better than traditional plastic drums. Find out more » Greif Expands Flexible Product Portfolio LiquiBag, Smart drum and Ocra BOC Containers are foldable containers with solid side walls suitable to transport liquids and pastes. Find out more » Habitat for Humanity's Carter Work Project Greif future leaders participated in Habitat for Humanity's 2012 Carter Work Project in Léogâne, Haiti, which was at the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. They worked side by side with 600 other volunteers and 100 Haitian families to build homes for the displaced families. Find out more » 2011 Greif Receives 23rd Dupont Award for Packaging Greif was honored as a Gold winner in the 23rd DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation. Find out more » Greif Hosts First WBCSD Midwest Conference Greif hosted the first WBCSD Midwest Conference. Find out more » Greif Delta Companies Group Receives Greif Sustainability Award Delta Companies Group won the second Michael J. Gasser Global Sustainability Award for their work in developing more sustainable engine lubricants and automotive fluids for the future. Find out more » Greif Creates World's Largest Reconditioning Service Greif created the world's largest industrial container reconditioning service through its subsidiary EarthMinded™ Lifecycle Services. EarthMinded LCS collects, cleans, reshapes, reconditions or remanufactures and tests industrial containers for reuse and recycling, extending the life of the products and responsibly recycling their component raw materials at the end of their life cycles. Find out more » Greif Designs packH2O Greif committed to addressing pressing humanitarian issues such as safe water transport. Greif leveraged its expertise in flexible industrial packaging and designed the first for-purpose water transport product that is also economically viable. Collapsible and sanitary, the packH2O™. Find out more » Zero Landfill Waste by 2020 Greif announced goal of zero landfill waste by 2020. Find out more » Soterra SFI Certification Our Soterra land management business in the United States passed its third Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) surveillance audit and maintains approximately 232,700 SFI-certified acres of timberland in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Find out more » Massillion Mill SFI/FSC/PEFC Certified Our Massillon Mill (Ohio) was re-certified for the SFI/FSC/PEFC (Forest Stewardship Council/ Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) in October. SFI Certificate for Wood Procurement Our Riverville Mill (Virginia) re-certified its SFI sourcing certificate for wood procurement under the new 2010-14 standards in June. The mill's triple Chain of Custody certification issued by the SFI, FSC and PEFC organizations for using 100 percent post-consumer recycled fiber has been renewed under the latest revision of each of those standards. 2010 Greif Forms Global Energy Team Greif formed the Greif Global Energy Team, comprising engineering representatives from all our business segments. The team guides energy-related decisions made at factories around the world. Find out more » Greif Establishes EarthMinded Greif established its new subsidiary, EarthMinded, a company dedicated to developing environmentally responsible products. Find out more » Greif Green Tool Greif developed the proprietary Greif Green Tool that helps us counsel our customers on selecting the right container for their needs while reducing their carbon footprints. Find out more » First Greif Sustainability Award Greif Latin America strategic business unit won the first Michael J. Gasser Global Sustainability Award. The organization has tackled the reduction of their energy use, embracing energy excellence to the extent of taking their commitment home with them. Find out more » 2009 SmartWay Transport Partnership Greif joined the SmartWay® Transport Partnership. Find out more » Pollinator Partnership Soterra, our subsidiary engaged in Land Management, started working with the Pollinator Partnership and embarked on a three-year study to learn how pollinators impact wildlife food availability on timber landscapes. Find out more » Greif Introduces Global Sustainability Award Program We introduced a program to encourage all Greif associates to consider the sustainability of their decisions at work. We call it the Michael J. Gasser Global Sustainability Award program. Find out more » Greif Announces New Targets Established new goals for the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Find out more » 10/2 Initiative is Declared a Success In December 2009 we declared the "10/2" initiative a success with a reduction of energy consumption of 10.1 percent, which is equivalent to energy savings of 259 MWh. 2008 Sustainability Agenda We developed our sustainability agenda in partnership with the Conservation Fund, Battelle and other experts. Greif Joins World Business Council for Sustainable Development Greif accepted an invitation to join the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Find out more » Soterra SFI Certification Soterra, our subsidiary engaged in Land Management, achieved Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) certification. Find out more » 2007 10/2 Initiative At the end of 2007 we challenged our employees to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent by January 2010 and referred to this program as our "10/2" initiative. 2006 Carbon Footprint Report Greif completed its first carbon footprint report. 1999 Greif Transfers Management of Timberland to Soterra LLC Greif has been purchasing timberland since the 1930s and in 1999, it began to actively manage its timber portfolio through its subsidiary, Soterra LLC. Established in 1970, Soterra currently owns and manages more than 250,000 acres of timberland in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Ontario, Canada and provides wildlife, recreational land use and forestry management services. 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