Westcon-Comstor sustainability head: 'There are no bigger fish to fry than sustainability'

CRN caught up with Westcon-Comstor’s global head of ESG Laura Mozden to discuss distribution’s role in helping to drive sustainability practices across the channel, and why we all need to do more

Distribution is in a strong position to help the wider channel reduce its carbon footprint and one major player is leading by example.

Westcon-Comstor’s latest annual Responsible Business Report revealed that the global player has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent since 2022, with renewables accounting for 54 per cent of its global electricity consumption, up from 50 per cent last year.

The cybersecurity, networking and hybrid cloud specialist ahead of schedule on its plans to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, and be 100 per cent reliable on renewable energy by the end of the decade.

Speaking to CRN, Westcon-Comstor’s global head of ESG, Laura Mozden, says there was a collective responsibility to challenge more and do more.

Citing CRN’s recent article on the sustainablity cost of AI, Mozden says the lack of transparency at the vendor level when it comes to software and AI does make it more difficult for the channel to calculate emissions fully.

“In the past when I’ve asked large software vendors how we are supposed to calculate the cradle to grave carbon footprint of their solutions the candid response has been ‘oh we have bigger fish to fry’. Now I don’t think we have bigger fish to fry anymore,” she says.

“Our customers are saying we need distribution’s help to talk to the vendors, they want more transparency and more circularity options. Distributors are the connecting point for this, and we are definitely using the influence we have in the sphere to push the sustainability agenda.”

Looking at AI specifically, Mozden says the irony was that despite the impact AI is having on climate change due to the resources it uses and the impacts on local communities and fears about job security, people still believe AI is a key to reversing climate change.

“It may well do that,” she says.

“But we still need talk about this more, ask the questions, have the conversations, set up a working committee in your organisation and have discussions with your data and AI teams. Together we can sit down, talk about it and come up with solutions. I am an eternal optimist and I believe we will achieve this. We need to stay motivated, positive and optimistic.”

“If we can get access to better data, and enough of us put pressure on the likes of Anthropic, ChatGPT etc, we can ask what the carbon footprint of a product is, how many datacentres are being used, what amount of water is being consumed, all that stuff. The more accountability we can put on these firms, and also come at it from a compliance side as well such as the CSRD, CSDDD, the more of a difference we can make.

“We need people to be part of the conversations – talk to the senior leaders at your vendor partners, use your position in the channel to gather people together,” Mozden says.

"We can’t ignore the big techs anymore when it comes to the GHG Protocol – I always got the impression that in the early days it was focused on manufacturing and the fashion industry. Now the tech industry is having just as much impact when it comes to emissions and resource use.”