TJ DiCaprio Awarded C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership

| Josh Henretig

0474.image_thumb_70F4A845Yesterday, the Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) awarded our colleague Tamara “TJ” DiCaprio with the 2014 C.K. Prahalad Award. The award, presented at the Corporate Eco Forum’s fifth annual C.K. Prahalad Awards ceremony, recognized winners for demonstrating “globally significant private sector action that exemplifies the fundamental connection between sustainability, innovation and long-term business success in a globalizing world.” The two other recipients of the award included Robert Carter, executive vice president of information services and chief information officer at FedEx, and The Global Water Challenge.

TJ, who is senior director of environmental sustainability at Microsoft, was recognized for being the chief architect and driving force behind Microsoft’s internal carbon fee program, which is a key element of our environmental sustainability strategy. According to founder of CEF, M.R. Rangaswami, “Microsoft’s carbon fee program has proven to be one of the most innovative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a major company, and TJ deserves major praise for shepherding the program from its earliest stages, gaining buy-in from key managers and stakeholders by making the business case.”

Since its inception, this program has funded 20 carbon offset projects, helped to fund our 20-year power purchase agreement for 110 megawatts of wind energy in Texas, and has enabled Microsoft achieve carbon neutrality in fiscal year 2013 and become the second largest user of renewable energy in the United States. TJ has also written the “Carbon Fee Playbook,” which provides a guide for other companies to implement their own carbon fee programs.

The C.K. Prahalad Award was created to honor the vision and life’s work of the late Dr. C.K. Prahalad, one of the world’s most influential business strategists. Later in his career, much of his work was focused on the link between sustainability and long-term business success. The awards were presented in Virginia during CEF’s annual retreat, which brought together more than 150 senior executives to focus on “The Next Frontier of Sustainability Strategy.”

Congratulations to TJ for this well-deserved award and recognition!

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