Corporate Social Responsibility at Graebel: Ambitious Climate Goals, Caring for Our Community and Fostering a Diverse Workforce

Graebel’s values of truth, love and integrity guide everything we do, from our people-first approach to interactions with clients, employees and supplier partners, to our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts. As 2021 comes to a close, I want to provide updates on our key CSR initiatives and what’s ahead in 2022.

Sustainability

• Participating in Global Pledges: Graebel signed The Climate Pledge in March 2021 and set a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. We also joined the UN Global Compact in 2016, which has helped guide our broader CSR/sustainability policies. We’ve since seen positive feedback from our clients, as well as increasing sustainability commitments and engagement from our supplier partners.
• Measuring Our Emissions: As part of joining The Climate Pledge, we’ve committed to measuring and reporting our greenhouse gas emissions to help us understand our baseline and establish goals. We’ve outlined a plan to measure our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and then work on capturing and calculating our Scope 3 emissions. Scope 1 emissions are from Graebel’s owned and controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions, including purchased electricity. Scope 3 emissions include indirect emissions in our value chain — this is our largest source of emissions because we work with other companies such as van lines, ocean carriers, airlines and shipping companies to help relocate and serve our clients.
• Reducing Supplier Partner Emissions: We established the Graebel Sustainability Partner program, which recognizes supplier partners committed to sustainability, including working to reduce their carbon emissions. By engaging our suppliers on our sustainability journey, we’re encouraging them to establish best practices, develop new programs and collaborate to measure and reduce Scope 3 emissions. We believe that by working together, we can reduce our collective carbon footprint and support sustainable business.
• CSR Steering Committee: We’re growing our previously established CSR steering committee, which meets throughout the year to review progress toward agreed upon goals and actions. We recently assembled leaders of local sustainability committees from our global offices, to help tailor our programs with a local perspective. We will continue to build out this function to evaluate our CSR programs globally and locally.

Community Service

• Giving Back: Graebel gives full-time employees 24 hours of volunteer paid time off to support causes of their choice. We want to empower our employees to be involved in their communities, with the time to pursue initiatives that are important to them. Employees have used this time to work for organizations including Dress for Success, Food Bank of the Rockies and Habitat for Humanity. Employees from the Dundalk, Ireland office joined the ‘I Would Walk 500 Miles’ fundraiser in September 2020 to benefit Save our Sons and Daughters, a suicide-prevention group, and walked 4,368 miles to represent the distance between their office in Dundalk and Graebel’s headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Similar efforts are taking place in each of the 17 Graebel offices.
• Fighting Hunger: Graebel has a longstanding partnership with Move for Hunger, a non-profit organization that works with relocation industry providers to collect surplus food items from families who are moving and delivers them to food pantries. Over the past four years, Graebel employees across the U.S. have participated in fundraisers for Move for Hunger, raising over $30,000. In September 2021, close to 300 Graebel employees from 14 locations in nine countries participated in a global Move2Fight Hunger campaign, generating funds to support 47,000 meals.
• Planting Trees: Through our partnership with American Forests, a nonprofit organization that helps to conserve and restore forests, Graebel has helped plant more than 37,000 trees since 2015.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Graebel formalized its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) journey in 2018, but the fundamental beliefs have always been part of Graebel’s culture. Here are some recent highlights, but check out DEI at Graebel: Reflecting Back and Looking Ahead to see a fuller update:

• New DEI Tools: In partnership with RevWork, Graebel launched an Inclusion Virtual Coach app that provides tools for integrating DEI mindfulness into everyday business. 
• Incorporating DEI into our Business: Graebel designed DEI learning opportunities for all employees, created a DEI mission and vision, and began distributing “The Power of Us” DEI quarterly updates to all employees. Each update focuses on a DEI topic and includes Something to Read, Something to Watch and Something to Do in order to educate and provide tangible action for employees.  
• DEI Council: Graebel launched its DEI Council in 2018 and has since expanded to over 35 members across seven countries in EMEA, APAC and the Americas. Council members serve as advisors to the company, providing thought leadership and DEI strategy to drive best practices, set goals and achieve objectives.

You can read more details on our CSR initiatives in our 2020-2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report. As we look ahead, we will continue to innovate, evaluate and set CSR goals to ensure we’re serving our employees, partners, clients, communities and the planet.