By Kevin Poyck, President, Genlyte Solutions, Entertainment and Color Kinetics Business Unit, Signify

The electrical industry, particularly the lighting sector, has a crucial role to play in the global transition to a low-carbon economy. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), lighting alone was responsible for more than 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, essentially equivalent to the impact of the aviation industry.

Signify fundamentally believes that light can deliver so much more than basic, on/off illumination – it can help people see well, feel well and perform well; enhance community security; and even enable broadband connectivity and public Wi-Fi access, bridging the digital divide. We also believe that harnessing light’s transformative power should not come at the expense of our planet.

The electrical industry must work together to advocate for energy efficiency investment and technology improvements and for sustainability accountability and transparency, so we can accelerate climate action toward brighter lives and a better world.

Collaboration is key to making meaningful progress

This past June, Signify introduced its Climate Transition Plan, a roadmap to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across our entire value chain by 2040. It also serves as a framework to help the electrical industry (and beyond) set and meet science-based emissions reduction targets. What the plan makes clear is that achieving ambitious goals requires more than isolated efforts. It necessitates collective action – end to end.

The opportunity starts with engaging and supporting suppliers to reduce upstream emissions. By 2040, Signify plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our suppliers by just over 91%¹. We’re collaborating with them by:

• Offering incentives for taking on climate action and assessing their compliance;
• Helping them initiate Power Purchase Agreements and switch to renewable energy; and
• Identifying alternative, low-carbon product and packaging materials, where possible.

What’s important to remember is change doesn’t happen overnight – the transition needs to be managed responsibly, giving suppliers time to adjust.

If we now look at the other end of the value chain: most greenhouse gas emissions come from the product use phase. While Signify and manufacturers alike continue to drive innovation to improve our products’ energy efficiency, this is not enough to achieve net-zero alone.

Collaboration with the federal and state and local government is essential. There is significant opportunity to reduce downstream emissions by:

• Renovating buildings, street lighting and other infrastructure and phasing in LED and connected lighting;
• Educating consumers and businesses on the energy and cost savings potential of these more energy-efficient lighting solutions, and putting in place incentives to accelerate their transition; and
• Converting power grids to renewable energy.

We play an important role in creating brighter lives and a better world

As the global climate crisis becomes more acute, the electrical industry must come together to accelerate the sustainable energy transition. It’s about combining our voices to drive change with our suppliers, as well as drive the adoption of energy-efficient LED and connected lighting amongst cities, businesses and consumers – which is the single biggest opportunity to reduce the lighting sector’s emissions. There’s power in partnership; our industry stands to lead the charge on this ambitious yet necessary journey. We are convinced that it will bring clear, long-term benefits for society and the planet.