Sustainable Resource Management Report: Disney Company Analysis

This report provides an analysis of The Walt Disney Company's approach to sustainable resource management. It begins with an introduction to the company, highlighting its diverse operations across media and entertainment. The report then identifies key stakeholders, including Coca-Cola, Bob Iger, and other executives, while also acknowledging the often-overlooked influence of the company's founder, Walt Disney. A significant portion of the report focuses on Disney's environmental stewardship goals, particularly its commitment to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The company aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and manage waste effectively, with specific targets for reducing emissions, diverting waste from landfills, and conserving water. The report details Disney's use of thermal waste-to-energy facilities and water conservation plans. It concludes by emphasizing how Disney's practices align with international standards and goals, such as the sustainable development goals, and the importance of protecting the environment through these efforts. The report uses data from the Disney Environmental Stewardship Goals and Targets document, as well as external sources, to support its findings. The report underlines Disney's dedication to environmental protection through waste management, emission reduction, and efficient water usage, aiming for a sustainable future.

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Introduction
Disney Company is a multinational organization which was founded by Walt Disney in
the year 1923. This company is sometimes known as The Walt Disney Company. Disney
Company is widely known for its entertainment and media services which it offers in more than
100 countries across continents. This company operates through five divisions which include
parks and resorts, media networks, interactive, studio entertainment, and consumer products
(Kraak and Story, 2015). Disney Company also operates cable television networks which include
the ABC Family, Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, and Disney Channel (The
Walt Disney Company, 2019b). Park and Resort is a division which manages Disney World
which is found in Florida and Disneyland which is in California. The division on Studio
Entertainment is concerned with the production of Disney motion pictures which are both
animated and live-action. The Disney Company has the mission of offering entertainment,
informing, as well as inspiring people around the world through storytelling, reflecting on iconic
brands, use of creative minds as well as innovative technologies. All these are aimed at making
the company the premier entertainer around the world (Mannheim, 2016). The company is also
committed in the protection of the environment through wise utilization of resources, as well as
conservation of nature (Bohas, 2015). Disney Company has a leadership team which comprises
of executives and board of directors who have great experience and who make use of visionary
thinking and shared commitment in order to make the day to day operations of the company
successful.
Stakeholders in Disney Company
Stakeholders in a company are entities who have an interest in its operations and who
benefit from the success of the company. Disney Company has several stakeholders some of

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whom have shares in the company while others have an interest in its operations (Greenfield,
2015). Coca Cola Company is one of the stakeholders of Disney Company. The Coca Cola
Company benefits from this company through the advertisement of its products. The success of
Disney Company is, therefore, of great importance to the success of Coca Cola Company since
the various drinks, offers and promotions are made known to the public through advertisements
offered by the Disney Company. Bob Iger is another stakeholder at Disney Company. He entered
the company as an executive in the year 1996 (Maverick, 2019). He has been promoted through
appointments where he has served as the company’s COO. Currently, Iger is the CEO of the
company and has made the company have several acquisitions such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm,
and 21st Century Fox. He has great interests in this company since he had planned to campaign
for presidential elections in the country in 2020 but he has changed his mind in order to serve the
company until at least 2021 (Garabedian, 2015). Other stakeholders of Disney Company include
Christine McCarthy who is the senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, Alan
Braverman who is the senior executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Aylwin
Lewis who has been the director of the company since the year 2004, and Robert Matschullat
who is said to have served in the board of directors for the longest period (Maverick, 2019).
However, the founder of the company, Walt Disney, is a stakeholder who is often overlooked
because he died a long time ago and other stakeholders succeeded him (Goldsby, 2019).
Achievement of Goals
Through the environmental stewardship goals and targets, the Disney Company has
focused on complying to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on its
scientific recommendations to reduce and stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide. Disney
Company has aimed at reducing the emissions and wastes which it emits to the atmosphere as

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well as to various dumping sites. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is the main aim of
Disney Company which will be achieved by the year 2020, according to the plans mentioned in
the Stewardship Goals and Targets of the company. the Disney Company makes use of
electricity and energy in its operations in heating buildings, operating machines, running cruise
ships, as well as in hotels and restaurants (The Walt Disney Company, 2019a). These operations
lead to the emission of gases to the atmosphere. The Disney Company has made plans in order to
manage these gas emissions and reduce them in order to cut economy-wide emissions. This is
significant in that the atmosphere would be less polluted and the life of living organisms would
have been saved.
Additionally, the wastes which are emitted by Disney Company are planned through the
Disney Environmental Stewardship Goals and Targets to be reduced in compliance to the
requirements of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (The Walt Disney
Company, 2019a). Municipal waste which is in solid form is generated in parks and resorts
which are managed by Disney Company. Due to the high number of visitors who are
accommodated in these parks and results, large amounts of solid wastes are accumulated
(Manoiu and Antonescu, 2017). Additionally, solid waste is generated in office locations as well
as in studio locations. Statistics show that the total weight of solid wastes generated in FY12 was
314,551 tons. In order to manage this waste, the Disney Company has made use of thermal
waste-to-energy facilities in the management of solid waste is unrecoverable. The company has
also made attempts to divert waste from landfills as well as waste from thermal waste-to-energy
in order to achieve zero waste which is a long term goal. The Walt Disney Company (2019a)
argues that the diversion of the solid wastes has been targeted by Disney Company in order to

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meet the standards set by environmental organizations as well as other emerging zero waste
certification bodies.
Additionally, Disney Company uses a lot of water in its Parks and Resorts more so in
irrigation and hotels. Statistics show that Disney Company used approximately more than 10
million gallons of water in the year 2012 (Manoiu and Antonescu, 2017). This is following the
water Conservation plans which the company had implemented. Comparing to the amount of
water which the company was using in the past years, the water conservation plans are seen to be
very effective. This is because the company was previously using about 8 billion gallons of water
per year in all its operations. The company still strives to develop more best management
practices which would lead to greater impacts in water efficiencies and conservation.
By observing water conservation, management of gas emissions as well as solid wastes,
the Disney company meets the standards that are set not only by the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change but also by other international bodies and goals
such as the sustainable development goals and the development goals. The protection of the
environment is the main focus of the Disney company. This is because by reducing the rate of
gas emissions to the atmosphere, the climatic effects are reduced. This involves reduction of such
effects as destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, greenhouse effects, as well as the
change of rain seasons. Additionally, the solid wastes which are released from the parks and
resorts of the company are managed in order to avoid pollution of natural water sources such as
rivers and oceans. This means that both aquatic and terrestrial living things are secured and that
the natural environment is protected in return. This is done through recycling of these solid
wastes as well as redirecting the thermal waste-to energy wastes in order to ensure that they do
not bring up negative effects to the environment.

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Conclusion
Disney Company deals with entertainment and media services and products. It has packs
and resorts, media networks as well as studio entertainment. It has several stakeholders such as
the Coca Cola Company, Walt Disney, Christine McCarthy, Alan Braverman, Bob Iger, Aylwin
Lewis, and Robert Matschullat. The Company has complied to several environmental
organizations such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This has
been done through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, management of
solid wastes as well as water management and conservation. The Disney Environmental
Stewardship Goals and Targets is a department which has been set by the company in order to
ensure that goals and targets are set in order to meet the standards of protecting the environment.

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The Walt Disney Company., 2019a. [online] Available at:
https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/wp-content/uploads/envirogoalsandtargets.pdf
[Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].
The Walt Disney Company., 2019b. The Walt Disney Company. [online] Available at:
https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/ [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].