Sustainability
Our Sustainability Efforts
SCI believes in the responsible use of natural resources to reduce adverse impacts on the communities in which we live and operate. We continue to look for opportunities to improve our end-to-end supply chain processes and reduce our environmental impact.
Understanding Our Carbon Footprint
We continue to evaluate and measure our carbon footprint through the examination of processes within our business operations that include, but are not limited to, key drivers such as cremation, utilities and fleet. To better understand and meaningfully address our climate impact, we began gathering carbon emissions data. Our estimated Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been calculated in line with the GHG Protocol, totaling approximately 172,438 metric tons for 2022 and 149,659 metric tons for 2023. While we expect GHG emissions to vary year to year based on the amount of services and cremations we perform, we are looking at reducing our carbon impact by exploring multiple initiatives to aid in operational efficiencies.
Additionally, we believe in continuing to preserve local environments and to offer natural habitat areas at many of our cemeteries. We manage approximately 35,500 acres of land, most of which is green space within our cemeteries that provides families a natural and peaceful environment to grieve the loss of their loved ones. As our cemeteries often serve as community parks in certain urban areas, we believe these open green spaces make a valuable environmental contribution to help reduce concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Energy
Our sustainability efforts include monitoring and evaluating our use of natural resources and its potential impact on the environment. In order to accurately track and measure our energy usage, we began implementing a utility usage reporting solution in 2021 to capture consumption across our almost 2,000 funeral homes, cemeteries and crematory locations. This new system and process helps us to better understand our energy consumption and focus on our natural gas and electricity use.
Water
Water is an important natural resource that we are dedicated to tracking at our funeral homes and cemeteries. We have developed methods to understand and report on our water usage from metered utilities and freshwater sources, as well as how much is recycled for irrigation purposes. As we get a better understanding of our climate impact, we have initiated water reduction pilots through implementation of new irrigation systems at select cemeteries with advanced water monitors and controls that create more efficient water usage.
Environmentally-Friendly Products and Services
We recognize the importance of integrating innovative solutions that are beneficial to the environment and offer families the opportunity to honor their loved ones with green, biodegradable products at many of our locations. Eight percent of our product sales of caskets and urns comes from eco-friendly or biodegradable products that families have selected. Furthermore, with the purchase of select caskets, families may request a tree to be planted in a national forest. In 2023, families elected to have their casket purchases contribute to approximately 2,300 tree plantings per year.
Partnering with Ethical Suppliers
Our Supplier Code of Conduct reflects our core values and conveys our expectation that our strategic suppliers maintain safe working conditions and treat their associates fairly and with respect. We also encourage responsible and environmentally friendly production processes.
We are committed to creating a supply chain of local, diverse and qualified suppliers and continue to foster an inclusive procurement approach engaging businesses owned by minorities, females and veterans.