How seven tech giants stack up on sustainability

Amid rising public awareness around sustainability, the world's largest vendors are on a push to reduce their carbon and ecological footprints.

The CRN Sustainability Report (link only accessible to subscribers) summarises the sustainability endeavours of seven leading tech brands, namely Microsoft, Cisco, HP, HPE, Dell, Lenovo and Amazon.

Available exclusively to CRN Essential subscribers, the report also examines the end-user appetite for sustainable IT.

As we enter the 2020s, the customer demand for sustainable technology is undeniable. Some 55 per cent of the more than 300 UK IT decision makers we questioned ranked sustainability among their top three considerations when procuring tech solutions, while 79 per cent would now be open to working with a tech supplier that led solely on a sustainability platform.

That's a picture backed up by comments from the vendors we spoke to for this report, with HP's UK boss, George Brasher (pictured) saying that just in the last year, sustainability has moved from a top 10 criteria to "being one of the top five in virtually all customer conversations".

"Increasingly, customers are choosing which businesses to engage with depending on whether they have a clear and positive sustainability strategy - and avoiding those that don't. This will start to affect the bottom line of firms across most sectors," Brasher said.

Clearly, not all vendors are moving at the same pace when it comes to reducing carbon emissions, reuse and recycling, datacentre efficiency, supply chain transparency or minimising the use of single-use plastics in their products and packaging.

Some have announced ambitious targets just this year, not least Microsoft, which threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the tech industry in January by pledging to become "carbon-negative" by 2030. Dell's initiative to use recycled material from car windshields in its laptop bags and Lenovo's invention of a low-temperature solder are among the other more eye-catching innovations.

With customers increasingly demanding to work with sustainable suppliers, resellers and MSPs must pick vendors that have a demonstrably strong story on sustainability.

The CRN Sustainability Report includes:

• Profiles of how seven leading tech giants, namely Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HPE, HP Inc, Lenovo and Amazon/AWS, are faring in their efforts to become more sustainable
• In-depth interviews with leading vendor bosses including HP's UK boss George Brasher and his opposite number at HPE, Marc Waters
• Exclusive research into the end-user appetite for sustainable IT, based on a survey of over 300 UK IT decision makers
• A breakdown of what UK IT decision makers think about sustainable IT by vertical market

CRN Essential subscribers can view the report here.

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