Gannett Fleming is first AEC firm to join GEMI

Harrisburg, Pa. — Gannett Fleming has joined a global network of sustainability leaders dedicated to developing and sharing solutions-based tools and information that help companies improve the environment, their operations, and add business value. Gannett Fleming is the first firm in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction industry to become a member of the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI). The organization provides a forum for companies across a wide range of business sectors to work together in a cost-effective manner to address strategic and tactical issues impacting corporate environmental, health, and safety activities in their companies.

Joining GEMI was a natural fit for Gannett Fleming, based on the two organizations’ long-term working relationship and like-minded philosophies to achieve environmental sustainability excellence. The development of an interactive web tool is a result of past collaboration.

Partnering with the GEMI Water Sustainability Work Group, Gannett Fleming was the prime developer of Collecting the Drops: A Water Sustainability Planner. The web-based tool is tailored for facility managers or owners and guides them through the process of assessing water use and impacts from their operations. With this tool, users gain a better understanding of the quality and quantity of water available for use, the cost of water, environmental sensitivities of the region, current/projected community development, and the adequacy of their current infrastructure. The interactive water sustainability planner enables users to access the tool regardless of location.

Armed with this information, facility owners can better understand the many circumstances that may affect the adequacy and quality of their supply, their facility’s impact on the local water supply and quality, and ways to manage water resources wisely. 

“Like GEMI, we are committed to staying on the leading edge of sustainability issues and developing world-class solutions. Connecting with other industry leaders who share the same passion enables us to expand our knowledge and connections and thereby our ability to deliver the most efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions for our clients,” said Mark Johnson, a vice president and Gannett Fleming’s corporate sustainability officer based in North Andover, Massachusetts.

“We are very pleased to welcome Gannett Fleming to GEMI,” said Roland Mostovy, sustainability program manager, Ashland Inc., and GEMI’s membership chair. “We are particularly pleased that we will have the opportunity to work with, learn from, and share with the Gannett Fleming sustainability team led by Mark Johnson, who has a solid history of working with GEMI and a number of our member companies,” Mostovy continued.

Also, joining GEMI is another step forward in Gannett Fleming’s corporate sustainability program. In 2010, the firm formalized its approach to sustainability and formed a Corporate Sustainability Team to record and measure its impact on the environment, set realistic reduction goals, and promote sustainability among employees, clients, and colleagues.

Gannett Fleming remains accountable to those goals through an annual reporting process, in which the results are published in a corporate sustainability report. Through the yearly audit, the firm continues to adjust and invest in its ongoing sustainability program that advances the Gannett Fleming Vision: To be a driving force in improving our communities and sustaining our world through an uncompromising commitment to growth, innovation, ethics, and technical excellence.