A Giant Passes: RMI Trustee Ray C. Anderson

A statement by Amory B. Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) commemorating the life and environmental achievements of Ray C. Anderson, founder of Interface, Inc.

• Following an epiphany in 1994 triggered by Paul Hawken's 'The Ecology of Commerce', Ray C. Anderson sought to transform Interface, Inc. from a company that produced five billion pounds of carpet destined for landfills into a sustainable enterprise.
• Over a sixteen-year period, Interface, Inc. achieved significant environmental reductions: absolute greenhouse gas emissions fell by 35 percent, energy intensity decreased by 43 percent, and both water use and waste to landfill were reduced by 82 percent. Additionally, over 100,000 tons of carpet were diverted from landfills, and eight of the company's nine plants operated on all-renewable electricity.
• Ray C. Anderson established 'Mission Zero', a goal for 2020 aimed at ensuring the company took nothing, wasted nothing, and did no harm, while remaining profitable.

APA

Lovins, A. B. (2011). A Giant Passes: RMI Trustee Ray C. Anderson. RMI. https://rmi.org/resources/giantpassesrmitrusteeraycanderson/

Chicago

Lovins, Amory B. A Giant Passes: RMI Trustee Ray C. Anderson. RMI, 2011. https://rmi.org/resources/giantpassesrmitrusteeraycanderson/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Lovins |first1=Amory B. |title=A Giant Passes: RMI Trustee Ray C. Anderson |publisher=RMI |date=9 August 2011 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/giantpassesrmitrusteeraycanderson/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{lovins2011giant, author = {Lovins, Amory B.}, title = {{A Giant Passes: RMI Trustee Ray C. Anderson}}, publisher = {RMI}, year = {2011}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/giantpassesrmitrusteeraycanderson/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }