Global Environmental Initiatives

Taking small steps that have a big impact

Shrinking our environmental footprint is less about sweeping, systemwide change and more about the hundreds of small, but meaningful, steps taken by individual employees companywide. We’re tapping the skills and imaginations of employees to reduce resource consumption, cut air emissions and minimize waste. Here are just some of this year’s accomplishments from our facilities around the world.

2010 Global Environmental Initiatives
  • Reducing waste, increasing recycling
  • Protecting habitats
  • Reducing carbon emissions
Reducing waste, increasing recycling
  • Employees at our Korean facilities collected and recycled used printer cartridges and mobile phones. Funds generated from recycling helped support Child Fund Korea’s programs for disadvantaged children.
  • Our Canadian offices eliminated bottled water and distributed reusable water bottles and coffee mugs to every employee. They also replaced Styrofoam coffee cups used by visitors with compostable paper cups, distributed shredders for recycling confidential documents and installed composting stations and bins for used batteries.
  • In addition to our regular corporate recycling program, several of our U.S. offices host free, quarterly personal e-waste recycling events. In 2010, our offices in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas encouraged employees to bring in used computers, TVs, cell phones and other electronics. Altogether, our U.S. employees recycled just over 35,000 pounds of personal e-waste.

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Protecting habitats
  • For the second year, Bangalore employees and their families helped reduce their carbon footprint and provide a habitat for numerous species by planting 250 saplings at Gowramma Lake.
  • In Hong Kong, employees planted 60 trees as part of “Plant a Wish for a Better Climate,” an annual endurance event that combines tree-planting with a 13-kilometer hike.
  • As part of our first annual Global Volunteer Week, employees in San Diego pitched in on a variety of environmental cleanup projects. They removed more than 1,000 pounds of trash and planted native vegetation at San Diego River Park; helped restore a native-plant demonstration garden and build fencing on property owned by San Diego Audubon Society; trimmed brush from a trail at Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, adjacent to our San Diego campus; restored an acre of habitat at the San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve; and helped make numerous improvements to a San Diego neighborhood canyon park, including removing 600 pounds of trash and 40 cubic yards of invasive plants, improving 50 yards of trails and rehabilitating an outdoor classroom where students can learn about the environment and canyon habitat stewardship.

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Reducing carbon emissions
  • In 2010, The Climate Registry welcomed us to the Cool Planet Program, an energy-efficiency and climate-change mitigation initiative that rewards customers who install significant energy-efficiency projects by providing assistance with measuring, managing and reducing their carbon footprint.
  • Our Hong Kong office has enrolled in the Low-Carbon Office Operation Program, or LOOP, organized by the World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong. LOOP helps companies change their behavior and reduce their carbon footprint by adopting managerial and technological best practices. The program also uses four-tiered labeling—from “certified” to “platinum”—to certify companies based on their carbon emissions. To date, Qualcomm Hong Kong has achieved “silver,” the second tier of LOOP status. In addition, our Hong Kong office replaced traditional halogen light bulbs with LEDs, which use less energy and cost less to operate.
  • We continued to encourage employees to explore alternatives to the one-car/one-driver mode when they commute. Our U.S. employees are eligible to receive a 25 percent subsidy and pretax purchase of transit passes and vouchers for bus passes, train tickets or vanpools. Employees in Ireland participate in the government-led Bike to Work initiative, which encourages people to cycle to work and enables participants to purchase a bicycle and associated equipment at substantial cost savings. In the United Kingdom, the Season Ticket Loan program promotes use of public transportation by offering employees huge savings on the cost of an annual ticket.

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