Southwire 2024 Sustainability Report: Reducing Energy & Emissions

The following is an excerpt from Southwire's 2024 Sustainability Report. To read the full report, click here. 

As a family-owned business, we are always considering how to position future generations for success. Much of the answer lies in operating sustainably; we prioritize efficiency, strive to act as stewards of the natural resources we use and take intentional steps to reduce our climate impacts.

In 2024, we deployed our new Sustainability Playbook across all of Southwire’s facilities, guiding our teams on sustainability fundamentals, including key culture, technology and programmatic initiatives. Supported by local Sustainability Champions, each site will implement universal initiatives from the playbook within the next few years. To upskill our teams, we implemented customized sustainability training to Southwire engineers and developed the curriculum for additional training to come.

Driving Energy Savings

Southwire has embarked on an enterprise-wide journey focused on energy use avoidance, and this was a focal point of our sustainability work in 2024. Building on initiatives launched in 2023, we engaged our largest facilities — covering approximately 67% of Southwire’s energy consumption — in Kaizen events that included detailed assessments, site-specific training and energy treasure hunts. This enabled sites to implement customized energy roadmaps to guide their efforts in the coming years.

Leveraging Renewables

In addition to making our operations more energy efficient, we continue to invest in renewable energy sources to power our sites. In 2024, we signed a contract to install a new solar system at Southwire’s North Campus in Carrollton, Georgia, that we expect to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026. This builds on similar projects in recent years, including our contract with the Carroll Electric Membership Cooperative utility to provide our Carrollton Southwire Continuous Rod (SCR®) plant with 100% renewable electricity. Southwire has also contracted with Constellation Energy to provide environmental attributes in the form of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) associated with the Texas-based Rayos del Sol solar installation, and we are under contract with Georgia Power for a renewable energy supply program that commenced in 2025.

Meanwhile, we installed solar-powered EV charging systems at our Carrollton Corporate Headquarters and distribution center in Fontana, California. Unlike standard EV charging stations that are connected to the electrical grid, these stand-alone units use an integrated solar panel and battery, along with two charge ports. That makes the systems more flexible, as the units can be relocated if needed. The project is currently in the pilot phase as we explore whether these off-grid systems can meet our charging requirements. If it is successful, it will support our aspiration to bring more EV charging stations to our manufacturing plants, distribution centers and large offices in the next several years.

To learn more about Southwire’s sustainability initiatives and to read the full 2024 Sustainability Report, visit https://www.southwire.com/sustainability.