Taylor Guitars: Leading the Way to Sustainability

As Bob Taylor looked out the airplane’s window at Yaoundé, Cameroon, he reflected on all the changes in the company, Taylor Guitars, since it was founded. Back in 1974, when he and a couple of friends began the company, he had never imagined that the company would own an ebony sawmill in Cameroon, or that sustainability would become a central focus. When he started the business, his goal was to make great guitars. Now it seemed that the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns of sustainability were at the heart of every decision. To date, Taylor Guitars’ sustainability efforts focused on specialty woods, since 90% of a guitar was built with these woods. However, according to ESG standards, other areas of Taylor Guitars’ operations also required attention, particularly energy consumption and plastic usage. Could the strategies Taylor used for wood sustainability be applied to the other challenges? By broadening their ESG initiatives, could Taylor Guitars influence not only the guitar industry, but also other sectors?