For the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), the premier benchmark is known as the Voluntary Environmental Stewardship Program (VESP). The program, which started in 2012, identifies four levels – bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

CAP has once again been recognized at the highest Platinum Level, joining an elite rank of only nine other organizations in Arizona, including APS, Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Freeport-McMoRan, Honeywell Aerospace, Intel and Ping.

VESP was designed to identify and reward organizations with a strong history of compliance with environmental regulations. To achieve Platinum status, an organization must have a fully implemented environmental management system – a set of processes and practices that represent reduced environmental impacts and increased operating efficiency. In a nutshell, the Platinum designation recognizes those organizations that truly go above-and-beyond legal requirements.

For CAP, this includes:

• Sustainable Purchasing Program – CAP identifies and procures environmentally preferable products and services. A convenient one-page checklist serves as a guide to protect the health and well-being of employees, reduce environmental impacts, lower overall costs/liability and help CAP meet its sustainability goals. When buying products and materials, CAP chooses practical materials that are recyclable, repairable, low toxicity, biodegradable or otherwise prevent or reduce waste and pollution
• Preventing pollution, reducing waste and minimizing resource consumption – CAP’s employee-led ECOTeam has implemented an award-winning recycling, commodity recovery and landfill diversion program. To cut back on emissions, the organization follows a four-day workweek, uses LED lightbulbs at all plants and recently installed electric vehicle charging stations. For 2022, through single-stream recycling, Waste Management received 22 tons of material, and CAP diverted approximately 576 tons of material from the landfill for reuse, repurposing and recycling. The sold commodities (metal, wire, and copper) covered all the costs for the recycling program, with a return of $15k sent to the CAP general fund.
• Solar energy – By adding solar into its portfolio, CAP receives about 80,000 megawatt hours/year of solar power. Since 2020, renewables (geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind) have made up 24% of CAP electricity use.
• Leading the way with a model Climate Adaptation Plan – This innovative plan, published in 2018, focuses directly on CAP’s water delivery mission and considers the effects of climate change on CAP’s ability to accomplish this mission, beyond the obvious water and power implications. This is in addition to CAP’s other climate change-related actions.

Learn more about CAP’s sustainability success stories here.