Hi, I’m Lynelle Cameron, VP of Sustainability at Autodesk, and CEO of the Autodesk Foundation. I’m passionate about helping customers design and make a better world – one that is sustainable, equitable and prosperous for billions of people. I’m proud to work at a company with a deep commitment to sustainability and climate action.

At Autodesk, we are committed to delivering technology to help customers in the following three areas:

1. Materials and energy productivity: Using materials and energy more efficiently – saving money while reducing waste and moving toward a low carbon economy;
2. Health and resilience: Creating products, buildings, and entire cities that foster healthy, resilient, and equitable communities; and
3. Prosperity and work: Helping people adapt and thrive in the new era of automation – combining the unique capabilities of humans and machines to make better things together.

This week I had a conversation with an Autodesk user who contacted us with concerns that Autodesk software has been used to design excavators for coal mining. We all know that mining and burning coal for fuel is harmful to the environment, and that the world’s reliance on coal won’t disappear overnight. I shared that it’s difficult to monitor every application of our software. Autodesk is part of the solution for energy producers to move to renewable energy sources, including solar, wind and hydroelectric, with our software being used to design and automate equipment and processes.

Through the Autodesk Technology Impact Program, we offer software grants to nonprofits, startups, and entrepreneurs that use design for social or environmental good, including renewable energy and efficiency. Since launching this program over 10 years ago, we’ve donated millions of dollars of our software to thousands of organizations. You can apply to the program here.

Today, Autodesk’s commitment to environmental sustainability has two focus areas:

1. Improving the environmental performance of our own business operations by:

• Meeting or exceeding all applicable environmental laws and regulations;
• Identifying and measuring the environmental impacts of our operations and products;
• Establishing annual targets to reduce our environmental impact and striving for continuous improvement;
• Integrating environmental impact as a factor in business decisions;
• Encouraging suppliers, vendors, and business partners to be environmentally responsible; and
• Communicating our policies and our environmental programs to employees and other stakeholders.

2. Helping customers improve the environmental performance of their products. Specifically, we:

• Integrate features of sustainable design into our software products. Autodesk technology automates the delivery of insights to help customers improve the energy and material productivity of everything they design and make. This helps customers reduce inefficiencies and waste, stay competitive and achieve sustainability goals; and
• Educate customers and the general public about the important role sustainable design can play in addressing global sustainability challenges.

Do you have ideas on how Autodesk and the design software industry can further contribute to and accelerate sustainability? Send us a note at sustainability@autodesk.com.