Goals & Initiatives

As a health benefits company committed to improving the lives of the people we serve and the health of our communities, WellPoint recognizes the link between our environment and our health.

To further support the pursuit of healthy lifestyles, we extend our commitment to include improving the environment. Through energy conservation, recycling, and community engagement and wellness, we are focused on the impact we have on the world around us.

WellPoint has set specific goals and identified opportunities in a number of areas where we believe our efforts can have an immediate effect:

Energy Conservation

Goal: To lower our energy consumption by 10 percent.

Recent activities: WellPoint has undertaken energy audits and is making capital upgrades to improve the efficiency of our facilities. We have added sensors that turn lights on or off in response to the presence or absence of people. And we have adjusted our temperature settings and added variable frequency drivers to heating and air conditioning systems. These improvements, along with some site consolidation, allowed us to reduce electricity consumption by 11 percent in 2010 vs. 2009. We expect to see continued reductions in our use of energy as a result of the changes we’re making.

Our information technology team has made a number of energy-efficient changes, including data-center consolidation and software and hardware upgrades with energy-saving features. For example, we have implemented a computer power policy that will save $1 million annually and reduce our carbon footprint associated with the energy used by our computers by 47 percent.

To help offset the impact of energy use from our IT equipment, we are continuing a partnership with Dell, our IT products vendor partner, in the “Plant a Forest for Me” initiative. Dell plants trees with funding provided by WellPoint and other partner companies. Since the program's inception in 2007, WellPoint has helped plant 42,200 trees.

Waste Minimization

Goal: To reduce our waste generation by 5 percent.

Recent activities: WellPoint offers electronic document distribution options for most of our member, provider, employee and investor communications, and continues to seek opportunities to reduce paper use through increased electronic messaging. All of our medical insurance members now have the option to receive paperless communications from us. To help drive adoption of this electronic method, we partnered with the American Cancer Society; for every member who chose to go paperless during September and October 2011, we gave $1 to that charity.

We have implemented a “Green Office” managed print program. We project that this effort will save up to $4 million a year in individual printing and copying costs. The goal of Green Office is twofold: to increase our efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint. We removed redundant office equipment and replaced outdated printers, copiers, faxes and scanners with newer models that minimize power consumption and paper use.

In 2010, our volume of paper used decreased by 36 percent from 2009.

Recycling

Goal: To expand our recycling programs to increase our percentage of waste recycled to 70 percent.

Recent activities: To ensure that our waste is managed appropriately and recycled when possible, we have document management programs with outside vendors. All of our facilities have recycling bins. In 2010, we recycled 57 percent of the waste we produced.

We continue to assess our partnerships with suppliers and vendors to ensure that the products we buy are environmentally responsible throughout their life cycles.

Community Engagement & Wellness

Goal: To engage with our communities to improve health and wellness and support the pursuit of healthier lifestyles.

Recent activities: WellPoint’s Community Service Day encourages our associates to give back to their communities and improve the environment in an impressive variety of ways, from helping build playgrounds and planting gardens to serving in soup kitchens and reading to children.

Our local Green Teams are groups of associates who volunteer to promote awareness of sustainability across WellPoint. They’ve devoted their energies to such worthy projects as a composting program in Denver, adoption of a highway in Indianapolis, trash audits in a number of locations, and an associate garden in Maine.

Through our State Health Index, we track and analyze health measures on a state-by-state basis, and then collaborate with community groups and local health officials to set strategies. WellPoint is focusing on the issues that have the greatest potential to affect public health in each state.

Our wellness programs support a culture of health at the workplace, in our homes and in the community. We’ve developed campaigns that motivate people to change unhealthy behaviors and adopt healthy ones, such as quitting smoking, eating right and exercising regularly. We’ve established walking programs, fitness challenges and cool ways to teach kids (and adults) how to eat sensibly – all to support healthy people and a healthy planet.