Being efficient has many benefits. It saves time and money in our professional and personal lives. Prioritizing energy efficiency also creates benefits that include increased productivity for people and reduced operating costs for businesses.

Here at Civic, we not only prioritize efficiency but being good stewards of the environment. Our team has achieved two important certifications that help us bring new levels of efficiency to our colleagues, members and North Carolina communities.

Civic Achieves Certified Carbon Neutral Status

In 2019, we chose to work toward a carbon neutrality certification. Why? To help increase productivity and reduce our energy usage. Carbon neutrality is calculated by measuring the actual carbon footprint, or the amount of CO2 created from our activities and working to reduce it to zero. This is done with a combination of efficiency measures within Civic and from supporting emission reduction projects.

The certification was achieved in 2020 and helped us reduce our carbon emissions and create offsets to achieve carbon-neutral status.

Raleigh Headquarters Achieves LEED Gold Certification

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED Gold certification is the second highest energy efficiency achievement for buildings. To earn this certification, buildings are scored using a points-based system on specific categories that include indoor air quality, energy usage, water efficiency and waste management, among others.

This 2017 certification has provided Civic with a lens to help evaluate business decisions that involve commuter access and challenges, products and services, operational processes and clean transportation needs for the credit union.

Looking Ahead

As a result, we continue to prioritize sustainability to help make our region a cleaner place to work and live. Specifically, we are now considering the use of hybrid and electric vehicles for our company fleet and conducting research to possibly add rooftop solar panels to our Raleigh headquarters.