We take a closer look at The Walt Disney Company’s environmental goals, and its progress so far
Sustainability in the attractions industry is a key issue. As such, it is vital that industry leaders get on board. The big players need to show what they are doing to make their operations greener and more ethical – and they don’t get much bigger than Disney. In 2020, the Walt Disney Company announced a set of sustainability goals for 2030. These focus on five areas: greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, materials and sustainable design.
Walt Disney Imagineering’s design studio executive, Emily Dow, and Caitlin Krasovic, senior architect, spoke at greenloop 2022, setting out the progress to date. Dow is the co-leader of the global Design & Delivery Studio, where she heads up the interdisciplinary design team behind the built worlds of Disney’s theme parks, resorts, and cruise ships. Krasovic is responsible for integrating The Walt Disney Company’s 2030 Environmental Goals into Imagineering’s global portfolio of projects via sustainable design.
Walt Disney Imagineering is the creative force behind the parks, resorts and cruise ships across all of Disney’s global portfolios. Imagineering is a place where innovation and storytelling combine to bring Disney stories, characters and worlds to life for guests, explains Dow:
“The way that we create these incredible guest experiences is by bringing together designers, artists, engineers and innovators across so many different fields, such as design, architecture, construction, project, management, delivery, robotics, ride, theatre, media, arts, gaming, and so much more.
“Looking to the future, we’re going to need even more diverse thinking and to collaborate with even more industries. So, it’s a pretty exciting time for us.
“We have Imagineers all over the world. Our global Imagineering team ensures that we have the right local talent at each of our different sites. This means we can develop authentic and resonant experiences and stories, ensure our global brand in that market, and then also align with the local industries. That, of course, is very important as we’re thinking about sustainability relative to each of our various global markets.”
Making a positive impact on the environment is a core value for Disney and its identity. In December 2020, the company announced an ambitious set of environmental goals for 2030. These focus on net-zero Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030, zero-carbon electricity, water stewardship, low-impact materials, zero waste in operations, and a science-based target for Scope 3 emissions by the end of 2022.
“We’re also striving toward 90% construction waste diversion in our US and in our European markets this decade,” says Dow. “We added this very specific focus and call to action for sustainable design. It holistically brings together all of these different goals to make sure that we have a clear mission. Every single new project that we deliver at Walt Disney Imagineering is designed to meet our commitments.”
These sustainability goals apply across the Disney company, not just Imagineering, she adds.
“Due to the pandemic, we actually deferred a few remaining environmental goals, and we’re working to establish those now. So one of those remaining items is actually the Scope 3 emissions goal. We intend to announce our Scope 3 targets across the entire company by the end of this year.”
The majority of the Walt Disney Company scope one and two emissions are created by the built environment.
“This includes the direct and indirect operations of our theme parks, hotels, office buildings and our other facilities,” says Dow. “And since that was our biggest area of impact, we focused our efforts on scope one and two emissions initially. What we’ve done is developed the right foundation kit and global standards to ensure that we’re able to launch every new project with the mission to meet the 2030 goals.
“We’ve now started to turn our focus to Scope 3 emissions. This is an area where we have a real opportunity to address supply chain emissions around all of our diverse lines of business.”
This ranges from the fabrication of Disney’s consumer products and the manufacturing of the raw materials that the company specifies in its building construction, to the productions in its movie sets and streaming content, and more.
We are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions beyond our direct operations to include the production and delivery of our products and services, commonly referred to as Scope 3 emissions. Our intention is to define a science-based reduction goal for The Walt Disney Company’s Scope 3 emissions footprint by the end of 2022.
“Across the company, we are well underway to define science-based approaches to how we’ll reduce our scope three footprint.
“As we’re exploring our Scope 3, we’re finding that many operators are also taking on the same challenge. So I really hope we can work together to push the industry to really look at scope three emissions. I hope we can encourage the manufacturers and suppliers to provide greener alternatives. I also hope we can encourage our government partners and our regional agencies to invest in sustainable infrastructure projects.”
In order to meet their Scope 3 strategic targets, Disney and other operators like PortAventura will need to call on suppliers to report the GHG footprint of their goods and services.
I really hope we can work together to push the industry to really look at scope three emissions. I hope we can encourage the manufacturers and suppliers to provide greener alternatives.
It’s not just empty promises; Disney has been working hard to achieve these sustainability goals. Dow takes a look at some of the terms of the successes and challenges it has encountered so far:
“Sustainable design has truly become embedded into our design, ethos and culture at Imagineering. Over this past year, we’ve launched some key initiatives and implemented sustainable solutions on our projects around the world.
“In 2022, we focused on building a strong foundation for our new projects. Now, every single project for us that launches in blue sky starts with sustainable design goals and parameters. We now have a system for rigorously tracking sustainable design through the project design life cycle. And we’ve ensured that each leader, at Imagineering and across the Walt Disney Company, is well versed in our goals.”
“We’ve had some great successes. One is Lighthouse Point, where we’re working toward 90% onsite renewable. But then we’ve also identified some real areas of opportunity.
“For instance, we are building even stronger partnerships with our park partners. Together, we can strategize how to address ageing assets, especially when we’re looking at maybe a renovation coming from the Imagineering side in the parks, taking the work forward as they operate, maintain and sustain that asset. It’s more complete closed-loop thinking.”
Dow also identifies some pinch points:
“What we found with Imagineering is a very project by project mindset: what is this project going to achieve? What goal can this project hit? We found that sometimes in the tight time frames of our design phases or our decision-making process, we can’t solve all the problems or challenges right there on the project.
“So, we’ve actually created a research and development process and workflow that pulls out topics. It allows us to ideate both with inside and outside partners on how to best solve the problem.”
“Over the past year, we’ve also found that we needed to be really diligent about adapting our mission target to each unique project type and building type. As a result, we’ve taken a deep dive into attractions, hotels, new development, and adaptive reuse of buildings. We have been able to work with the project team to look at the scale of the project, and the type of project and allow them to really hone their focus on their greatest areas of impact directly on the project.
“We’re also focused on water conservation and the use of non-potable sources. That’s a balance between looking at project-based solutions and holistic solutions across our broader sites. Plus, we are working to ensure that every single project is designed to support zero waste and operations. A good example of this is we’re looking at using or implementing reusable dishware at our food and beverage facilities.”
One of the ways that Disney is communicating paths for its projects to achieve these sustainability goals is through its design standards. Krasovic is responsible for ensuring that Disney’s 2030 environmental goals are met on every Walt Disney Imagineering project. She explains:
“For this past year and probably a little beyond, we’ve been crafting a robust set of global sustainable design standards. We’ve aligned these with the categories of the 2030 environmental goals to include detailed descriptions of the minimum requirements. This includes lessons learned and best practices that our project teams around the world can implement.
“We are also kicking off every single new project with an overview of the company’s commitments. We are highlighting these standards and starting to brainstorm early in that blue sky process the various ways that they can integrate sustainable design to their story and to their scope.”
To partner with the standards, Disney also has a checklist tool that helps support project teams:
“It’s a system that they can utilize to really track how their specific scope is progressing towards achieving the environmental goals. It’s also a way to capture the sustainable stories that have inherently been woven into their designs. We found it’s been beneficial to engage the project teams and have some ownership with the project teams together to move forward toward an environmental design.
“These are living, breathing documents. We continue to update them and evolve them as new materials or new technologies are advancing within these markets.”
In order to achieve its sustainability goals, Disney needs its teams around the world to work together.
“We’ve been leveraging a network of our sustainable design community across all the different segments of the company. We meet regularly to share lessons learned, best practices, and successes we’ve all had along the way,” says Krasovic.
Collaboration is a key building block to creating successful, sustainable themed experiences.
“This is ensuring that we’re all aligned with the company’s public policies, our social responsibilities, finance operations, as well as all other environmental integrations that we have spread around the world. And these relationships have continued to strengthen. They have led to really engaging discussions and some collaborative solutions within our projects. Collaboration is a key building block to creating successful, sustainable themed experiences.
“We recognize that we truly are all in this together as we charge towards near net-zero emissions.”
As Disney continues to grow and build new experiences for guests to enjoy, committing to implementing sustainable design in these new projects is a critical foundation for reducing its footprint. Meanwhile, it also has a large portfolio of existing assets globally. Many of these could require updating in order to meet these sustainability goals.
“We’re also looking at ways to optimize our current building systems. We are doing this through renovations or adaptive reuse projects, finding additional operational efficiencies and looking holistically at the sites for other strategic opportunities and strategies that we can leverage,” says Krasovic.
Getting to near net-zero direct emissions and 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2030 is a huge focus for Disney.
“A great example of this is how we’ve expanded our existing solar presence on Castaway Quay in the Bahamas to now provide 70% of that island’s power. This additional five-acre solar array with a battery storage system was just completed last summer. And then our newest island destination [Lighthouse Point] coming to the Bahamas is currently in design. This has a strong focus on the natural environment and celebrating the local culture and the spirit of the Bahamas.”
“At Imagineering, we do view every project as an opportunity for storytelling. Lighthouse Point will be a shining example of blending those powerful stories of the Bahamian culture and art together with our shared goals for environmental responsibility.
“The current design plans call for only developing less than 16% of the site. This does leave the overwhelming majority of the site undeveloped and natural. Disney is also going to be donating back more than 190 acres back to the Bahamian government and the people of the Bahamas.
“For the areas that we do intend to develop, the project team is focused on employing sustainable design and building practices and using architectural styles that visually speak to the landscape and blend in with the landscape. We are ensuring that we reduce any impact to that ecosystem.”
Recently, one of the biggest transformations of any park in Disney history has been taking place at Epcot in Walt Disney World. Walt Disney himself said that Epcot would always be in a state of becoming; it is a place that changes with the times.
“This really speaks to one of the core aspects of our DNA at Imagineering, which is innovation,” says Krasovic. “Our Imagineers are continuing to innovate new design and construction techniques. These are both supporting our environmental goals and streamlining project processes.”
“We are reducing the overall material consumption, leveraging offsite fabrication to minimize those onsite timelines, optimizing repeatable panel moulds and geometries that create a seemingly custom pattern, and implementing sustainable and recycled content materials.
“We are also finding creative ways for our guests to also be part of that story. So, they can interact with water in such a way that they’re also learning about the importance of the natural water cycle, as well as through earthwork management and reuse efforts.
“The project is currently tracking to a net-zero net fill. They haven’t imported any outside soils. Then, wherever possible, the project teams have created beautiful ways to adaptively, reuse and retain some of the existing buildings, but required them to speak to the evolving vision of Epcot.”
Elsewhere at Walt Disney World, a new vacation club tower is coming to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. This new design is looking back on the early concepts of the resort for inspiration. It aims to honour the past while furthering the resort story with an innovative addition to evoke the spirit of the Pacific Islands.
“This project was very early in stages of development and design when our 2030 goals were announced. So, this project team have been instrumental partners as we’ve piloted many of our sustainable design strategies together with them.”
“They’ve done early energy modelling analyses to help inform some efficient systems decisions or resource conservation measures. Low glazing LED lighting, reclaimed water for irrigation, and leveraging some prefabrication components to again reduce that onsite construction waste are also being integrated into the design plans.
“We’re also exploring opportunities for creating some open-air spaces on the ground floor. That will strengthen that connection to nature while also minimizing the need for mechanical conditioning. So, we’re hoping that this will make a vibrant space that brings guests into that narrative of conservation and sustainability.”
In addition to the increased solar at Castaway Cay and Disney’s sustainability plans moving forward at Lighthouse Point, Walt Disney World has also teamed up with some local utility partners. Together, they are beginning the development of two new 75 megawatt solar facilities in the state of Florida.
“They will come online next year. These new facilities, with our two existing facilities, will provide up to 40% of the Walt Disney World theme park’s electricity needs. That is about the equivalent of avoiding the emissions of 40,000 cars on the road annually.”
“We also are looking holistically at global sites for the most effective way to reach our 2030 environmental goals.
“A big learning we’ve had this year, as we’ve been implementing a lot of the sustainable design on projects, is this project by project approach lays a phenomenal foundation to build upon, but it’s pairing those project scale efforts with the broader regional strategies that we think will truly make an impact towards realizing these goals.
“We’re leveraging our broader master planning strategies across global portfolios and partnering with those sites to understand what are those unique opportunities for optimization that best fit that site to deliver the most efficient way that we can comprehensively meet our environmental goals.
“We are mainly a project-driven practice. So we have also been leaning into and finding benefits in leveraging our research and development pipelines to help us study new systems or technologies before fully implementing them at a project scale.”
“One of these efforts we’re currently investigating centres around the embodied carbon of major building materials,” continues Krasovic. “This is in support of our work towards defining Scope 3 emissions reductions.”
Many operators are now taking on the challenge of quantifying their scope 3 footprint:
“The adventures around finding that right data and setting those right boundary points are quite interesting. But we are in it together. Each step that we are all taking will help push our industries forward.
“When it comes to scope three for design and construction perspectives, concrete and steel are notably large contributors. These also offer a great area of opportunity for advancement in the building industry. We are seeing that some manufacturers are moving towards offering steel with more recycled content. Or they are producing more sustainable concrete mixes.
“Some of them might even be investing in their own renewable energies so their plants operate on cleaner power. So, their Scope 1 & 2 comes down, and that also helps our Scope 3.”
Krasovic also points out that the availability of sustainably-minded suppliers varies across different global regions.
“We are hoping that as we get closer to 2030, more and more opportunities for these sustainable building materials will be prevalent in all of the markets and will start to saturate everywhere so that as we’re looking to source locally and regionally, there are plenty of opportunities available to the project teams.”
“Concrete and steel are major components in most of our structural designs. But they’re also quite prevalent in another aspect of placemaking in our themed built environments, and that’s our rock work. We can look back to the Matterhorn at Disneyland to see some early methods of rock work installations.
“But over the decades, our interdisciplinary teams have evolved and streamlined the fabrication methods. They are developing patent-pending technologies and innovating new workflows for increasing those efficiencies and minimizing material waste and different times needed on site, and then focusing again on how we generate paths to near net-zero emissions and zero-carbon electricity.”
Different lines of the business are also working together to research opportunities for electrification within Disney’s kitchen environments and decarbonisation in its boilers, says Krasovic.
“For our boilers, we’ve been analyzing against different ages of our systems, different use cases, whether they serve just a single facility or they’re part of a larger plant system. To really understand what those performative aspects are, to make that shift, what are the options? Is there a variety? Is it actually more efficient or less cost as a lot of the industry goes in this direction as well?”
“Then for our kitchens, we’ve been engaging with our food and beverage partners. We are driving chef-centric studies and test kitchens to pilot this effort.
“Our chefs have also explored the kitchens on our Disney Cruise Lines. Those have already been all-electric facilities for quite some time. So they can really see how the food is prepared on the ships. They can savour those flavours and reference the types of equipment, to see what we can translate to mainland installations.
“It’s exciting to see this progress and to see how many of our chefs are on board to push that envelope.”
There are also broader sustainability actions taking place across the Walt Disney Company.
“The environmental goals span across all aspects of the Walt Disney Company,” says Dow. “In February, we released our 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report. We also launched a new social responsibility website at Impact Disney. This website is a place where we’re going to share stories and updates. It will look at the environmental, social and community work that we’re doing throughout the year.”
“Disney’s purpose is to inspire a better world through the power of stories and to have a positive impact. We actually have three core focuses and these go across the entire Walt Disney Company, not just Walt Disney Imagineering.
“So, the first one of our focuses is to inspire a world of belonging. We’re committed to reimagining tomorrow through the stories and storytellers that reflect the rich diversity of our world today.”
“The next focus is around inspiring a world in balance. We are doing this by joining forces with guests, consumers, NGOs and others to alter the course of our planet’s story. We want to create a healthier home for people and wildlife. On the website, you’re going to see our environmental goals and sustainable design progress publicly showcased and highlighted. And this will consistently get updated and keep us on track to keep this momentum going.”
“Finally, Disney is committed to inspiring a world of hope. We do this by bringing comfort, optimism and joy into our communities and especially to children. To celebrate Earth Month, Disney launched a brand new platform. We plan to use it to communicate all the actions we’re taking to help positively impact our planet’s story.
“This platform is called Disney Planet Possible. Here, we’re going to communicate ways we’re conserving natural resources holistically. We are working to protect wildlife and their habitats, and striving to use and waste less.”
The last two years have been a challenging time for the industry. Has the global pandemic changed Disney’s sustainability goals, or challenged its ability to meet them?
“There was a delay in announcing our scope three emissions goal,” says Dow. “Most of our parks were closed or were opening and closing. So, we weren’t able to get some of that real-time data that would cement our science-based target. But we are committed to releasing that information this year.”
“I wouldn’t say COVID impacted or really changed our ability to hit the goals. It put some of our focus on the projects that were in flight that we needed to complete. Then we started new projects this year that probably would have started at the beginning of COVID.
“A bit of a delay allowed us to impact even more of the projects with our 2030 goals.”
Setting and working towards its sustainability goals is a priority for Disney. Meanwhile, it also recognises that it needs to communicate this work to guests.
“Our guests, our investors, our community and the world are looking for Disney to not only take action but also share this action transparently,” says Dow. “Whether on a project scale or on a global scale.
“We have many impacts that we are looking at holistically across the Walt Disney Company. And when we publish our scope three targets, we are going to be very clear on our science-based approaches to each of those categories.”
“We’re really excited, of course, about what we’re doing as a company,” concludes Dow. “But actually what we’re more excited about is what we’re all doing as an industry and as a world. We can all continue to positively impact the story of our planet together.”
We’re really excited, of course, about what we’re doing as a company. But actually what we’re more excited about is what we’re all doing as an industry and as a world. We can all continue to positively impact the story of our planet together.
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