When it comes to the technology we consume, counting carbon will one day become like counting calories, Logitech's head of sustainability has told CRN in an exclusive video podcast.
In an industry first, Logitech last June announced plans to provide detailed carbon impact labelling on product packaging across its entire portfolio by 2025.
Such transparency will "drive competition among companies to reduce product carbon footprint levels and give consumers information to make choices not only based on features and price, but also environmental impact", Logitech CEO Darrell Bracken said at the time.
Logitech's carbon labelling scheme kicked off in earnest in April with its G PRO Wireless Gaming Mouse (pictured), whose packaging now states has a full lifecycle carbon footprint of 7.84kgs - roughly equivalent to a gallon of petrol.
During an exclusive video interview with CRN ahead of the CRN Tech Impact summit on 16 September, headline sponsor Logitech's head of sustainability Robert O'Mahony explained that the very act of publishing carbon impact information in itself will drive down emissions.
"We're sharing with you a value that's representative of the entire product lifecycle - the carbon impact of a product," he said (see clip, above).
"And we're committed to reducing that over time - we're going to re-engineer and redesign, we're going to look at supply chain and materials, how we market, energy management, end of life responsibility and so on."
During the podcast, O'Mahony addresses a range of topics, including Logitech's net zero strategy, circularity, sustainable product design and efforts to reduce its use of virgin plastics in its products and packaging.
Logitech announced last year that it is funding research into more sustainable materials at EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in its home city of Lausanne.
"They're doing some amazing work there around next-level materials - cellulose-based materials. And Logitech has invested in a sustainable materials professorship there. We're serious about this and are investing in PhD students to find new solutions," he said.
O'Mahony said he felt strongly that Logitech should not be using its innovations around sustainability for competitive advantage.
"Our CEO is really clear: we will not compete on the basis of sustainability," he said. "We share one world, we share one resource, and we should mutually respect that by sharing the knowledge that we develop to improve our collective situation. And I hope that's reflected in the approach that we take and the openness that we express. When I turn up on a panel, I'll always make a point of seeing if anybody there that wants to talk to me about sustainability."
View the full video podcast below.
