Media contact
Tim Lucas
(919) 613-8084
tdlucas@duke.edu
By: Brandon Gertz, MEM 鈥21
Nicholas School Communications Student Assistant
DURHAM, N.C. 鈥 As the maker of one of the world鈥檚 top-selling organic energy bars, San-Francisco-based CLIF Bar & Company has a commitment to sustainability. Reducing carbon emissions throughout its operations and supply chain is a big part of that commitment.
Second-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) student Ben McCormack spent the summer of 2019 interning at Clif Bar. His job: To help the company create its first Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report, a critical step toward achieving its emissions-reductions goal.
Duke Environment recently sat down with McCormack, who is pursuing his MEM in Business and Environment, to learn more about his experience.
Q: Why does Clif Bar, or any company, care about lowering its emissions?
A: 鈥淎ctually, many companies care a great deal about being more environmentally friendly these days. A big part of that is a reflection of consumer behavior: customers, especially young people, care about where their products come from and ensuring that the businesses they buy from are being responsible.
鈥淎s an outdoors-focused company, Clif Bar especially has environmentalism engrained in its values. They know that it鈥檚 not an option for companies to stick their heads in the sand as climate change gets worse, and they have always been committed to doing their part. This internship represents part of their real, concrete effort.鈥
Q: How were you able to get your foot in the door at the company?
A: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 recall exactly how I found out about the summer internship position; it was probably either through the Nicholas School鈥檚 Career and Professional Development Center or through an online group where Nicholas School students share career and internship opportunities.
鈥淎fter my first interview with Clif Bar, I was able to connect to a Nicholas School student already working at the company. That was amazingly helpful. I reached out for an informational phone interview and received a lot of great information about Clif Bar and their sustainability initiatives. After two more interviews with the company, I was offered the position and ended up working in San Francisco!鈥
Q: What skills or experiences from the Nicholas School were most helpful?
A: 鈥淲hat helped the most in securing the internship were the school-based projects I was already working on for business clients at the time. In my sustainability strategy class with Professor Deborah Gallagher, for example, I was working on a carbon emissions reporting project with a Durham-based electronics company called Cree. That was real, practical experience that Clif Bar wanted to see.鈥
Q: What did you accomplish at Clif Bar?
A: 鈥淚 created and presented the company鈥檚 first Carbon Disclosure Project, or CDP, report. It was a 45-page document outlining all of Clif Bar鈥檚 carbon emissions and the actions they鈥檙e taking to be more sustainable. It establishes a big picture of where the company currently stands on sustainability and where it wants to go. CDP reports are important because they can help companies establish science-based targets for lowering emissions even further. I was able to provide a preliminary benchmark of these targets for Clif Bar as well.鈥
Q: What are you working on now?
A: 鈥淩ight now I鈥檓 in the middle of my Master鈥檚 Project, working with Cree again to calculate CO2 emissions from certain parts of their business. Once that鈥檚 done, my team will be able to help them set emissions reduction targets to improve the sustainability of their company.鈥
Q: What would you like to do with the experience gained from your internship?
A: 鈥淚鈥檇 really like to continue working on corporate sustainability. I had a great experience with Clif Bar and felt like I made a real difference with concrete results.
鈥淭he private sector has a huge role to play in fighting climate change. I want to work with another company that has values aligned with my own and that is doing good work on making business more environmentally friendly.鈥
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