Donny Simmons on how Trane Technologies is leading transformation with the ROI of sustainability

Many people perceive sustainability as having a “green premium” or requiring high upfront costs. How do the economics actually play out, based on your experience? 

Donny Simmons: There’s a real misconception around sustainability costs. In fact, we frequently see paybacks in two to three years — sometimes immediately. Consider buildings: from day one of commissioning, they begin to operate less efficiently. Often, improving building performance doesn’t require new equipment or systems; it’s about analyzing data to uncover inefficiencies. 

We all know supply-side flexibility is important, but let’s not overlook the huge opportunity hiding on the demand side. Today, it is estimated that 30% of electricity is being wasted in the built environment. This equates to hundreds of billions of dollars per year in waste. That’s money—and emissions—we will not let our customers leave on the table.  

We conduct thousands of energy audits each year, helping customers find opportunities to reduce emissions and operational costs—sometimes without needing significant investments. The technology to achieve major efficiency gains already exists; often it’s not about new technologies but about smarter use and integration of existing solutions. 

Take 55 Water Street in New York. We’ve been working with them for more than a decade, and we recently reduced their steam consumption by 70% — saving $1.5 million in annual utility costs. By introducing a storage source heat pump, we leveraged their existing thermal storage (typically used for cooling) to also provide heating. This kind of simultaneous heating and cooling — reusing heat instead of wasting it — radically improves building efficiency. These solutions demonstrate that substantial savings and emissions reductions are achievable with today’s climate technologies. 

 

And what about new technologies? How are you using AI in your business?  

Donny Simmons: I’m proud to say we really are on the frontier of AI and digital in our industry. We are applying AI across our business to accelerate efficiency and reduce costs for our customers every day. Earlier this year we launched BrainBox AI, Trane Technologies’ AI Lab to advance technologies and lead the market toward fully digitized building operations in alignment with our sustainability strategy.  

By combining building data and weather forecasts, artificial intelligence can optimize how we heat and cool our spaces. That means smarter, more flexible systems and significant reductions in cost and overall electricity demand. In fact, AI-powered energy management in commercial buildings can cut energy usage by as much as 20%, as our BrainBox AI team has achieved with Dollar Tree. Thermal management systems and AI aren’t just theoretical—back to the ROI of sustainability and the importance of demand-side management—they’re proven ways to take pressure off the grid during peak demand.  

 

But what will this cost? Does the economic logic of climate action hold in the current operating environment?  

Donny Simmons: In our view, when it comes to sustainability and growth, there is no tradeoff. Without question, sustainable innovation is a significant business advantage. Since 2020, Trane Technologies has achieved a compounded annual growth rate of 12%. In the same time frame, we have reduced more than 250 million metric tons of emissions from our customers’ carbon footprint toward our Gigaton Challenge.  

Our ability to innovate — we launched 190 new products last year alone — is central to this success. Every product we introduce prioritizes sustainability and efficiency. Over the past five years, our product portfolio’s energy efficiency has improved by 70%. 

Remarkably, our shareholder return over five years is 286%. We’re creating tangible value for both our customers and our shareholders, proving that sustainability doesn’t just yield environmental results; it drives financial performance too. 

 

Energy demand for data centers in particular is becoming a hot topic. Tell us about how climate tech plays a role there.   

Donny Simmons: We believe that climate innovation is fundamental to building a sustainable future—especially as the digital economy grows, and advances in artificial intelligence create an ever-increasing demand for data centers. These data centers form the backbone of our technology-driven world, and they also generate significant amounts of heat as a byproduct of their operation. 

Our advanced solutions turn this challenge into opportunity by capturing and repurposing waste heat from data centers to strengthen community infrastructure—such as local community heating systems that deliver warmth to local schools and other facilities. Thermal management systems increase efficiency and reduce cost for data center operators. And by harnessing this otherwise wasted energy, we are helping increase grid resiliency and create more sustainable, connected communities. In the case of our customer Infomaniak, a data center operator in Switzerland, they were able to transfer waste heat to warm a nearby daycare center.  

The demand for sustainable, resilient infrastructure is greater than ever and expanding at an unprecedented pace. Trane Technologies is at the heart of this evolution, helping customers transform their operations for greater performance and sustainability. Our high-efficiency solutions help our customers save energy and reduce operational costs. We’re proving that there is no trade-off: what’s good for the environment is good for the bottom line.