Environmental
Lamar Advertising is committed to sustainable and environmentally friendly business practices, and uses a number of innovative strategies in energy efficiency, lighting control, renewable energy and recycling to improve overall operating efficiencies and reduce environmental impacts.
Energy Efficiency
As of 2019, Lamar has installed over 78,000 LED lights on billboards across the United States, yielding a 73% reduction in energy use on those structures. The national transition to LED fixtures is expected to be completed by 2022. Once completed, this conversion to state of the art solid state lighting will reduce our energy consumption by over 100 megawatt hours (100 million kWh) annually.
Solar Power & Renewable Energy
Lamar has installed over 7,000 solar panels on approximately 2,000 billboard structures in Louisiana and Florida, with an aggregate installed capacity of 1.7 megawatts. Cumulatively, these systems annually return over 2 million kilowatt hours (kWh) to the grid.
Saving Energy / Solid-State Lighting Control
Lamar utilizes a wireless digital lighting control system to ensure that energy is not wasted. This system, which can be remotely monitored or manipulated from any computer or smart device, results in energy savings of over 25% relative to prior control methods.
Cutting Fuel Consumption
Lamar has installed a system of vehicle GPS tracking and telemetry sensors on its fleet of over 1,150 vehicles, to report vehicle location and operating characteristics in real time, resulting in reduced idle time, closer adherence to speeding laws, more efficient routing, greater productivity and safer operations.
Eco-Friendly Printing Materials
Lamar was the first company anywhere to print on polyethylene (PE) billboard materials, pioneering the use of these 100% recyclable materials to replace PVC as the standard for high-efficiency billboard printing. In 2019, Lamar will consume over 150 million square feet of printed billboard production, with over 100 million square feet printed on PE, and will recycle or repurpose virtually all of these materials.
Recycling Billboards
Lamar has a dedicated recycling program to capture billboards post-use. Billboards are either remelted into plastic resins that can be extruded or molded into new products such as rail ties, composite decking, and construction materials, or repurposed into unique eco-friendly products such as surfboard bags, totes, duffel bags and backpacks.
In 2019, Lamar donated to the Nature Conservancy of Louisiana towards permanently preserving forestland in the Atchafalaya River Basin. The protected forestland will sequester approximately 800 tons of CO2.
COVID-19 Response
As the COVID-19 crisis took hold across the country, Lamar utilized its national Out of Home network to keep communities informed, support local businesses and express gratitude to frontline workers. As part of our pandemic response, Lamar engaged in the following activities:
- Displayed PSAs from public health officials and agencies, including social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home reminders.
- Allocated space on digital billboards for use by non-profit and leadership organizations, including the Ad Council and the OAAA, to share messages of encouragement and support.
- Shared messages of appreciation and gratitude to all those on the front lines, from healthcare professionals and first responders to grocery store employees and delivery truck drivers.
- Supplied billboard vinyl to Louisiana State University for conversion into personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by medical professionals at healthcare facilities across Louisiana
Social
Lamar Advertising has a long history of public service within the hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada in which we operate, donating millions of dollars’ worth of advertising space each year to help law enforcement and nonprofit organizations communicate important information to the public.
- Lamar coordinates with the FBI to display wanted ads for fugitives, missing persons and serial criminals. To date, 57 fugitives on the FBI Most Wanted list have been captured as a direct result of billboard publicity.
- Lamar donates millions of dollars per year in space on its inventory for public service campaigns. A few recent examples include billboards donated to increase human trafficking awareness and to help a retired firefighter find a kidney match.
- Lamar helps relief agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), by utilizing its digital network to disseminate important messages and information in the aftermath of hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes or severe floods.
- Lamar digital billboards feature an Emergency Alert System (EAS), allowing FBI, FEMA, NCMEC and other organizations to distribute alerts nationally and locally.
- For 10 years, Lamar has worked with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, preempting advertising on all digital billboards and posting Amber Alert messages within minutes. In the past 10 years, more than 2,000 Amber Alerts have been distributed to digital billboards to help find missing children.
- Lamar is firmly committed to public safety, and to following external laws and regulations and adhering to the OAAA Code of Industry Principles.
Governance
Lamar's nine-person board of directors includes six independent directors. Board chair Kevin Reilly Jr. is a former chief executive of Lamar. Further information on Lamar's board can be found in Lamar's most recent proxy statement. Lamar was also named by Forbes as one of America's most trustworthy [publicly traded] companies.
Code of Ethics
Lamar’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics sets forth legal and ethical standards of conduct for directors, officers and employees and its subsidiaries. This code is intended to deter wrongdoing and to promote the conduct of all company business in accordance with high standards of integrity and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
