Wells Fargo – Shinu Thomas – 2010

Goals

Shinu Thomas, an MBA candidate at Thunderbird School of Global Management, spent her summer at Wells Fargo, a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company. There, she was asked to support the company’s greenhouse gas emissions task force.

Solutions

Wells Fargo’s more than 10,000 locations collectively represented a vast opportunity for energy efficiency and related cost savings. Thomas was challenged with measuring the potential financial, energy and greenhouse gas savings from more efficient use of non-essential office equipment – everything from coffee makers to vending machines.

Working closely with the Environmental Affairs department and multiple internal stakeholders, Thomas developed multiple tools to help the company measure and forecast its kilowatt hour and dollar savings as well as related reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This helped with internal tracking as well as reporting initiatives.

In addition, a marketing campaign was subsequently developed leveraging the highly successful Wells Fargo Green Teams to encourage behavioral change throughout the company.