Kohler Co. chief sustainable living officer Laura Kohler explains how the 150-year-old manufacturer moved from footprint reduction to a company-wide sustainable living strategy, and offers ten ways to embed sustainability across a business.
00:00:00:15 - 00:00:26:21
Mike Collignon: So the title of our next session is sustainability is no longer just a footprint initiative. It's a mindset shift. And our presenter has one of the most recognizable names in the building industry, and probably in the state of Wisconsin. Laura Koehler is the chief sustainable living officer for the Koehler Company, making her symposium debut. I am personally honored to yield the stage to Laura.
00:00:26:24 - 00:00:28:14
Mike Collignon: Laura Koehler.
00:00:28:17 - 00:00:51:24
Laura Kohler: And thank you, Mike. So good to be here with all of you and to really talk about this amazing transformation we all have the opportunity to step into. And I know this symposium is all about big ideas, and that's exactly what is next on the horizon for sustainability. So today I really want to talk about the the how of a mindset shift.
00:00:51:24 - 00:01:14:27
Laura Kohler: We are on the journey, and I want to share a little bit about our journey and how it could apply to all of you. For many of us in business, sustainability started as footprint initiative, but it's become so much more and we have so much opportunity. In fact, Koehler has evolved over the past few years fairly rapidly, and I'm going to talk about that evolution.
00:01:14:27 - 00:01:26:07
Laura Kohler: It's one company's example of a mindset shift, and I'm going to give you some tips on how you could apply it to your industry. Next slide please.
00:01:26:09 - 00:02:04:05
Laura Kohler: So this is a story that continues to unfold, a story of 150 year old company whose first product was right there, a cast iron horse trough that became our very first bathtub. Although the product design has graciously evolved, we still make cast iron today, and cast iron as a material boasts an impressive 80% of recycled content. Cast iron remains one of our first sustainable products at Color Company, and it goes back for generations to my great grandfather.
00:02:04:08 - 00:02:40:03
Laura Kohler: Next slide. So even though our very first product was out of recycled content, we have always focused on community around the world. From my great grandfather to today to our fourth generation leadership today. And it and we really, truly believe that we need to make the world a better place. And in 2008, we stepped up to do that, recognizing that we had a big ambition as a global manufacturer to take care of the planet, a responsibility and a call to action to our associates, to our business and our partners.
00:02:40:04 - 00:03:02:26
Laura Kohler: We didn't know how we were going to get there. We didn't really know this concept of reduction of waste water and GHG religiously focused on that over time, but we decided to set our ambition. We took the time then to focus on understanding the environmental footprint of our operations, and we set this target for reducing our impact in these three areas.
00:03:02:28 - 00:03:30:00
Laura Kohler: Think of production locations of over and production and warehouse locations of over 70 around the world and in over 17 countries. So it was a pretty ambitious undertaking. So consequently, our reductions have been significant. We have been focused on this and measuring our impact over these last 20 plus years. We've decided, though, in 2022, that reduction of footprint wasn't enough.
00:03:30:08 - 00:03:54:27
Laura Kohler: We formally recognized that sustainability for Cola was going to be more than that. So we knew that we could make a big difference in our operations. But we also wanted to make a difference in people's lives. So in 2022, we decided to own it and create this movement of sustainable living for business and customer impact. Next slide please.
00:03:55:00 - 00:04:26:06
Laura Kohler: So sustainability is no longer just reducing the company's environmental footprint. It's about using sustainability to drive growth, to drive innovation and transformation and help our customers, our consumers, achieve their sustainability goals. Cola's journey since eight has shifted from focusing on this reduction of emissions to making innovating, sustainable products that empower customers to be successful in their own journey towards sustainable living.
00:04:26:10 - 00:04:51:12
Laura Kohler: We also see this global rise in green building certifications. Like US, GBC lead with architects and designers and homeowners across the world looking for efficiency savings. We know that they want to be provided more water efficient and sustainable product solutions, and this has become a pivotal way we believe we can grow our business and our brand and our positive impact right there in front of you.
00:04:51:12 - 00:05:36:04
Laura Kohler: On business opportunity, you see a waste lab VOC sink. We launched that in 2024. It's 7,070% recycled content from our manufacturing facilities, our pottery and our foundry. Our mindset has shifted fully to seeing sustainability as a business value driver, and it comes from integrating it into every part of our business. So it's really this idea of resiliency that we are building resiliency into our company, into our products, into our brand, and that has that concept of reinvention and and continuing to put the customer at the center of what we do has really what's what has kept us around for 150 years.
00:05:36:06 - 00:06:05:05
Laura Kohler: So on the next slide, you'll see that sustainability is all about. And we all know this improving the impact that we all have on our planet. That's the picture with the solar panels. But when you think of moving to sustainable living a more encompassing strategy, you really need to put people at the center of your strategy. Think about helping people adopt a lifestyle, adopt behaviors making choices that positively impact people and planet.
00:06:05:05 - 00:06:31:13
Laura Kohler: It's more aligned honestly with Cola's goals and our customers goals of creating incredible experiences. So not only will they have an amazing shower, or their toileting experiences will be exactly what they want it to be. They also know that they have the ability to save water or use product with recycled content. So we know that we have this now.
00:06:31:13 - 00:07:02:14
Laura Kohler: The satisfaction of knowing that every part of our business is aligned to not only performing products that perform, but also create experiences and attain results that what that is exactly what people need and they need it now. So where is the economic opportunity in all of this? It's on the next slide. And to for all of us. And many of you probably know this, but the case is clear economically that focusing on sustainable living is good for business.
00:07:02:14 - 00:07:32:21
Laura Kohler: We are hearing it directly from our customers. And this is global, and we're seeing it in customer surveys as well that are coming in from our major partners. Green building materials are defined as materials that are nontoxic, improve occupancy health, lower cost and conserve energy and water and waste. The Green Buildings market is projected to grow from $397 billion in 2022 to $933 billion in 2032.
00:07:32:23 - 00:08:04:05
Laura Kohler: This is a compound annual growth rate of about 12.2%. So we as a company see this as a building opportunity. How can coal or help people build green buildings, and how do we make sure that our products help them do that? Just by way of example, our sustainable product sales in 2024 were $1.6 billion. We're really proud of that, and we've had over a 200% increase in lead project qualifying transparency document requests.
00:08:04:05 - 00:08:31:13
Laura Kohler: So you can see that the markets around the world are hungry for products that help green building developers move their projects forward. In the next slide, I wanted to show this to you as a way to develop a strategy that incorporates all the elements of a business, potentially, you can see in that middle pillar. Number three, that's where we were.
00:08:31:13 - 00:08:55:25
Laura Kohler: We had been focusing on reducing footprint in our operations facilities around the world. And then a number of years ago, we expanded it right to decide what is uniquely owned for our brand and for what we do as 152 year old company. Well, we've figured out that own it in water as a sub strategy is essentially important to our people and to our communities.
00:08:55:27 - 00:09:24:13
Laura Kohler: We created a water ambition goal. We focus on operational water use reduction, and we also focus on watershed restoration and some of the most water stressed watersheds in the world. And we also focus on Wash projects to make water accessible in many of the communities connected to our plant locations. So own it in water is uniquely something that associates passionately believe in.
00:09:24:14 - 00:09:51:06
Laura Kohler: Then we really wanted to focus on product. We knew that we had been innovating water certified water sense product. We knew that we had been somewhat intentional on sustainable product, but not to the level we could be. So we ratcheted the focus up on sustainability and product development and and revamped our design for environment methodology that we use in NPD.
00:09:51:11 - 00:10:12:26
Laura Kohler: If you jump over footprint, which we had been doing and continue to get better at, we then said, well, how are customers going to know right about the importance of the products we have to sell and really the practice, the work that we're doing to reduce footprint. So we needed to really give more resources to sales and marketing that tell those those stories.
00:10:12:26 - 00:10:36:16
Laura Kohler: And I'm going to talk about that in a minute. We also signed up for ESG disclosure, and that our audited documents that really talk about our achievements in a way to really drive more transparency with our brand and then strengthen communities. Communities have been at the center of who we are since the days of John Michael Koehler, my great grandfather.
00:10:36:16 - 00:11:03:26
Laura Kohler: And we do believe in in this idea of a virtuous cycle with a community. And we give back to our communities, whether it's wash projects, whether it's other literacy projects, things that our communities need, that our associates identify with and that or whether it's planting trees, frankly. So strengthen communities has always been part of our strategy. We we have a five year goal and I would say put a sales target on that.
00:11:03:26 - 00:11:26:13
Laura Kohler: If you really want to drive that through your product and customer impact, then I would say focus on your pillars, then put then break it down to a three year goal for each one of the pillars, and then really create one year operational plans. That's the way that you'll start to get traction. Next slide. And this is really the last couple of years.
00:11:26:13 - 00:12:00:26
Laura Kohler: So what we did in 22 is we aligned on a three year sustainable living strategy. That's what you just saw. We were very fortunate that the company then actually set and delivered a new mission and incorporated the word sustainable lives into the new mission for the entire company. Help people live gracious, healthy and sustainable lives. That was a mandate that really aligned everyone around the globe, that the work that we do every day is helping people live better lives, improve people's lives.
00:12:00:26 - 00:12:25:24
Laura Kohler: And so that was really the, I would say, the infusion of energy and passion that propelled us into the amazing work in 24. That and you see a list there of all the things that we did in 2024 to drive this through different parts of our business. Let me call one thing out customer insights, understanding how customers want and are thinking about sustainability.
00:12:25:24 - 00:12:50:24
Laura Kohler: Are they interested in it and what do they need? We found out that many people want simplification. They want to be educated, they want to feel good about their purchase. And 55% of of people who bipolar products are very interested in sustainability. And then we focused on data management. And I'll talk about that in a second. Data management and assigning facts and data to your products.
00:12:51:00 - 00:13:18:20
Laura Kohler: Very important in terms of communicating with accuracy the facts to your customer. We also integrated carbon into decision making. We call it a carbon pie. And we attached that to major capital projects. And then we reinvigorated a design for environment methodology in both operations and new product development. And then this year it's all about the customer. We have product icons that are based off that data.
00:13:18:20 - 00:13:51:24
Laura Kohler: We have 6500 products that have sustainable attributes. We are continuing to improve our transparency documentation with a very focused team, and we are increasing our sustainability storytelling to support sales and marketing right with content so that they know how to talk to the customer and they can point to authentic work that color company does. On the next slide, you'll just see an example that anybody can use in terms of really taking, again, operational footprint management.
00:13:51:24 - 00:14:25:25
Laura Kohler: And how do you go back and work on it in your product strategy teams, your innovation teams, then your marketing, sales and your customer? We do now all the work throughout that ladder, and you can see various sustainability programs coming in at certain points, design for environment and operations and in new product design. You can see us GBC lead really being a process of educating our sales teams and getting those transparency documents to our sales teams, and then those attributes.
00:14:25:25 - 00:14:56:01
Laura Kohler: Super important to make sure that that you have identified sustainability attributes, because we can use that on color, we can use it on packaging. We can demonstrate to the customer that we are serious about what we do. So this is a way we have gone from footprint management and really to full business approach. And then this next slide is really about an example of what helps keep us on the cutting edge.
00:14:56:03 - 00:15:19:02
Laura Kohler: There might be things in your industry that you can do. To be part of that pushes you to think and behave differently and get people excited and involved. We happen to be part of a project called the 50 Liter Home. It was originally started by Procter and Gamble about almost five years ago, I think, and we've just gone finished the second phase of research.
00:15:19:02 - 00:15:46:16
Laura Kohler: It's a pilot based in LA of about 32 homes, and there's 16 of them are kind of the baseline and 16 are the ones that are changing their bathrooms with different levels of water saving products. After the second phase, there's been a 21% decrease in indoor water use just from changing the product, 14% decrease in shower water, and a 16% decrease in toilet water.
00:15:46:18 - 00:16:11:23
Laura Kohler: This quote from a homeowner the showerhead itself is actually two inches larger than the one I had before, and honestly, that's one of my favorite things that got swapped out. The water pressure is the same, if not better. So innovation product innovation really helps drive how water is used and then the person's experience. And we want people to know what the best innovations are and how they can save water at the same time.
00:16:11:23 - 00:16:42:05
Laura Kohler: And then we we also go into kind of what we can learn. This whole pilot is important because of what happened in one part of the world, Cape Town, South Africa, when they very nearly avoided day zero by limiting domestic water use through really behaviors and other manipulated interventions. They realized how important it was to get people to lower their daily water use and to get people to use 50l per day.
00:16:42:05 - 00:17:09:25
Laura Kohler: So that's really how the 50 liter homes started. We are all learning, and this next phase is about advanced innovations, and we will hopefully report back to all of you and tell you what we learned from this next phase in phase three. So did you know that if we replaced all old toilets with 1.2 gallon toilets, we would save over 1 trillion gallons of water per year, enough to supply the US municipal water system for 25 days.
00:17:09:25 - 00:17:41:23
Laura Kohler: Things like that are really important learnings. And yes, product can make a difference. And then just this last important pillar not to forget your community. And how do you bring your communities along with you if you're in a manufacturing facility, they care. Your community is absolutely care about your footprint management. We try to engage our communities in our brand around the world, and we have something called global grants.
00:17:41:25 - 00:18:16:05
Laura Kohler: We give them to those plant managers and those teams around the world. We take associates and their passion and energy, and they apply them to to really engage with communities on various topics. Many times we rebuild school bathrooms. We get access to water in the community. We help them with sanitation, we help them with water restoration. The list goes on to all the things that we've been able to do to enhance, really, the the people's lives that live in those communities each and every day.
00:18:16:07 - 00:18:38:04
Laura Kohler: And that's not not just all over the world. That's right. Here in the United States. We're working with Casa Grande, Arizona. We have a very big manufacturing facility there. The middle photo is from Huntsville, Alabama. That's a shower trailer, a cooler shower trailer that is put in the community, run by the people of the plant to provide showering for people that need it in that community.
00:18:38:04 - 00:19:06:10
Laura Kohler: And then Monterrey, Mexico, right there in the third picture, that the kids are amazing and we help them by restoring water and by planting trees and building firebreaks. And some of the soil conservation strategies also went into place. So those are ideas on how you bring the people together, how you bring them and make them part of your work and transformation and how you improve people's lives.
00:19:06:12 - 00:19:36:29
Laura Kohler: So I really will end with a slide that says ten Ways to Embed and Align Sustainability across Your business. So if you want to expand the sustainability strategy in your business, I really think you need to bring some of your thought partners together and understand and have a collective ambition and and align your strategy together. It does take everyone and it's multi function.
00:19:36:29 - 00:20:01:21
Laura Kohler: Then you would make sure that your strategy is really aligned with your business values and your brand. Will it enhance your brand? Would it be something that people want to talk about? Focus on the authentic value delivery, that that strategy will deliver and quantify that if you can. And then, you know, it's really grassroots activation because normally our sustainability teams are super small.
00:20:01:21 - 00:20:27:03
Laura Kohler: So it takes everybody. And how do you tap the hearts and minds of your population to really make it come to life? Then, you know, people respect what's measured. So I would say choose your metrics very carefully and embed them in functional in the other functions metrics. If possible, use data data, data right. Fact. What facts are the most respected?
00:20:27:05 - 00:20:53:21
Laura Kohler: So how can you track your sustainability progress with facts? We really went into product impact and went into design for environment measurement impact as well as our footprint impact. And now we have sales data, we have brand impact data and we have lead project data. Things like that are its proof that the strategy is working and then understand your customer, what your customer want.
00:20:53:22 - 00:21:17:01
Laura Kohler: How is there? How are they living differently? How are you satisfying their needs? What more is possible? Simplify your choices. How you communicate with customers. Educate them, but make it simple and easy. Develop really great solutions. After you listen to that customer and then really think about long term impact. How are you building this program so it can have impact over time?
00:21:17:02 - 00:21:48:02
Laura Kohler: And then if you really want to kind of go to scale is how do you pick partners that help you scale up, help you bring your community vision to life, help you enhance your footprint impact? Things like that can really intensify the speed. And obviously resources help as well. But hopefully these ten ideas will you can cherry pick them and figure out where you are on the journey.
00:21:48:02 - 00:22:22:17
Laura Kohler: And then finally, I would just leave you with an inspirational slide that really says the future of sustainability lies not just in what we do, but in how we enable others to do more. Together. We increase the power of our actions and it creates a ripple effect of positive change. So you and I are just individuals, but if we can activate those around us and if we can infect their desire to make change happen, the transformation is infectious and will happen even faster.
00:22:22:17 - 00:22:37:24
Laura Kohler: So, you know, it's my hope that everybody, you know, takes in some inspiration from this presentation and really can help all of you move from sustainability to a broader strategy of sustainable living.
00:22:37:26 - 00:23:06:19
Sara Gutterman: Thank you so much, Laura. This was really interesting information. We appreciate you sharing the story as a case study for how businesses can and are transforming from having sustainability as kind of a side hustle to integrating it into all of your your product development and planning and strategic development decisions. We only have just a couple of minutes before we have to hop into our next session.
00:23:06:21 - 00:23:22:08
Sara Gutterman: But I have two main questions. The first is, as consumer expectations evolve, what emerging trends or technologies do you foresee playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of sustainable living?
00:23:22:10 - 00:23:53:08
Laura Kohler: Sure. I think there's technologies we don't even know about right now, right? Especially the hardest ones are going to be the footprint, the carbon footprint, solutions for manufacturing those solutions. Those technology solutions are yet to be discovered and will be really helpful for those people making things around the world. So I would I would put that in a separate bucket, but I would say home technologies, things like that, that that right now are geared to enhance your lifestyle.
00:23:53:10 - 00:24:28:00
Laura Kohler: Think how much. We're dependent on our phones, on interconnectedness. I think some of that will then transform into conservation, usage, monitoring water, monitoring your energy. You know, just as you monitor your steps every day, you will probably be able to monitor your own water usage. And things like that will be part of a performance mechanism in products. And I think that's what will help us take a high performing product that's a luxury experience and also have it be a water or energy conserving experience as well.
00:24:28:00 - 00:24:33:21
Laura Kohler: So I think you're going to see technology being interconnected with high performing products.
00:24:33:24 - 00:24:47:22
Sara Gutterman: You talked about behavioral modification being important in this equation. What do you see as being the most effective way to impact and influence that behavioral modification?
00:24:47:24 - 00:25:23:26
Laura Kohler: I always think any behavioral modification starts with why is it important to you? Right. How do you make the whatever the the thing is important to that human being, you know, because I think we all do things. Our behavior changes if something is important to us, if we think it will of impact our lives. And I think as sustainability professionals, we have to continue to think about communication and how do we make this work, this important work resonate with each human and and why should why should they care?
00:25:23:26 - 00:25:43:18
Laura Kohler: And I think that's that's how behaviors change begins is when people care. And so I would just encourage us all to keep thinking about that messaging and continue to tailor it instead of talking at people, bringing them with you, helping them figure out how it affects their lives.
00:25:43:20 - 00:26:07:14
Sara Gutterman: Thanks, Laura. And one final question. We've been talking a lot about AI today, so I'm just curious to hear your perspective on AI, either on the back end with respect to material sourcing, product manufacturing, transportation, packaging, logistics, or on the front end with respect to some of that measuring and resource optimization in homes and buildings to help enhance that.
00:26:07:16 - 00:26:12:10
Sara Gutterman: The the water conservation and optimization.
00:26:12:12 - 00:26:47:03
Laura Kohler: Yeah, I mean, I think we don't know the answers to all that, but I think AI absolutely will be applied to everything you just talked about. And and it will help us predict model, forecast and it'll help us significantly in scope three and you know, and help us avoid impacts. So I do think future modeling capability will be very important to all of us so that we're not just making something or doing something in the moment.
00:26:47:03 - 00:27:16:08
Laura Kohler: We can actually see the impact of that action over time. And and, you know, the lifecycle of a products impact, the of material, of a process. All of that to me seems really important. And because it affects decision making. Right. And how do we get get more information to all those areas of decision making to lower the impact over time?
00:27:16:10 - 00:27:38:07
Sara Gutterman: Wonderful. Well, Laura, thank you so much for your insights today. It's been really interesting to again hear about Cola's innovation and sustainability story. I think there's a lot of lessons that we can all draw from that. Thank you for your work and for your leadership and for your time today, and forward to continued engagement and dialog with you.