In 2022, Cintas (asi/162167) made strides in reducing its emissions, energy and water intensity, among other achievements detailed in its latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report.

Cintas has deployed 16 electric vehicles into its fleet, as part of a multiyear pilot program on its journey to reduce emissions.

This is the third such report from the Cincinnati, OH-based corporation, a Top 40 promo products distributor best known for its uniform services, and it covers the company’s fiscal year 2022, which ended May 31. The report details the implementation of Cintas’ ESG governance structure and strategy, shares updates on new and ongoing environmentally focused initiatives and discloses information about the company’s employee-partner training and development, among other data and insights.

“ESG has become a strategic focus for us at Cintas,” said Todd Schneider, Cintas president and CEO. “We have taken a wider, more holistic view of our company. We’ll continue to strategically evaluate every input and output of our business to further identify opportunities for advancement.”

Schneider added that Cintas has “made impressive progress over the last few years by operating our business with a critical lens and by leveraging our positive discontent to seek and achieve constant improvements.”

Cintas shares highlights from FY2022 in its ESG report.

According to the report, Cintas achieved a 27% reduction in emissions intensity since its base reporting year of FY2019, including a 7.5% decrease in FY2022. Cintas has previously announced an intention to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and noted in the ESG report that it’s been “hard at work building an enterprise-wide environmental impact strategy.” Among its efforts to reduce emissions is a multiyear pilot program to incorporate electric vehicles into its commercial fleet of more than 14,000 vehicles. So far, the company says, it’s deployed 16 EVs from multiple manufacturers into service in various markets around the country and plans to add more in 2023.

Cintas also noted that more than 60% of its carbon footprint comes from its supply chain, so it plans to implement broader monitoring and tracking programs to help support its global vendors in lowering their global emissions.

The firm achieved a decrease in water intensity of more than 20% since FY2019, as well.

In addition, Cintas noted that 44.2% of its U.S.-based employee-partners self-reported with minority status, and the company launched new business resource groups for its Asian-Pacific Islander and LGBTQ+ communities.

“Our sustainable business model dates back to Doc and Amelia Farmer in the Great Depression, and it’s helped us grow our business in a responsible manner for almost 100 years,” said Christy Nageleisen, vice president of ESG and chief compliance officer. “As we continue our ESG journey and especially our path to net-zero, we know we have to remain critical about how we run our business and embrace opportunities to think and act bigger and better.”

The full ESG report from Cintas is available here.

With estimated 2021 North American promo product revenue of $177 million, Cintas ranked 14th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry

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