Avoiding greenwashing, and board level focus: what are the most common ways partners are making sustainability work?
In this in-depth trend feature, CRN canvassed four leading channel partners to learn some of the key ways they are reducing carbon emissions within their company
Channel partners spanning Europe and the US have detailed to CRN how they are tackling their carbon footprint and reducing emissions.
Sustainability is a buzzword among global organisations who love to showcase how they are playing their part.
While greenwashing is still an issue within companies, some major channel vendors have made great strides on the subject, with the likes of Microsoft, AWS, IBM and Google Cloud putting environmentalism at the fore.
In order to find out what the vendor partners are doing, CRN has listed five of the most common best practices partners told us they are adopting to cut their carbon emissions.
Scope 1, 2 & 3 reporting
Scope 1, 2 and 3 are categories for the various types of carbon emissions a company creates in its own operations, and in its wider value chain.
Scope 1 covers the GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions a company makes directly (from burning fuel in our fleet of vehicles).
Scope 2 emissions are caused indirectly when electricity or energy purchased by an organisation is being produced (heating and cooling buildings).
While scope 3 includes emissions that are not produced by the company itself, and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by them, but by those that it's indirectly responsible for, up and down its value chain.
Given that scope 3 is the largest category, some companies shy away from the task of reporting these emissions.
However, UK reseller Logicalis told CRN it is setting an aggressive target around all three scopes, aiming for net neutrality across scope 1 and 2 by 2025.
"We're lucky that in our supply chain, we deal with big organisations like IBM, Microsoft, Cisco and they have their own goals about how they're going to get to a carbon zero position over the course of the next few decades," said Logicalis group CEO, Bob Bailkoski.
"What I want to do is, once we've got that information about our supply chain in the scope 3 piece, set a very aggressive target.
"I don't want to set a target that's too far out of reach from a timeline perspective for scope 3, because it's easy to wash your hands of it and have somebody else pick up the challenge.
"So, as I say, our objective on that is probably going to be something quite aggressive like neutral by 2030."
Read on to learn which US reseller has sustainability representation at board-level and why investors want more published data...
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Avoiding greenwashing, and board level focus: what are the most common ways partners are making sustainability work?
In this in-depth trend feature, CRN canvassed four leading channel partners to learn some of the key ways they are reducing carbon emissions within their company
Publishing sustainability reports
Tech analyst firm Gartner said that CFOs who improve their organisation's environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting to investors will enjoy improved access to capital, stock performance, and customer loyalty.
"Approximately one in ten investors find the ESG information they are looking for in corporate disclosures," said a Gartner director.
"There is an enormous opportunity here for most companies to stand out better to investors simply by providing the information they are looking for."
This is why publishing an ESG, sustainability or carbon report in an easy-to-find place is vital for partners to showcase their progress.
Norwegian reseller Atea has taken this one step further with the launch of its ESG Overview page last month, acting as a one-stop shop for the latest updates on its progress.
The group has made it simple for people to find data, annual reports, policies, and other useful resources around its sustainability efforts and ambitions.
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Avoiding greenwashing, and board level focus: what are the most common ways partners are making sustainability work?
In this in-depth trend feature, CRN canvassed four leading channel partners to learn some of the key ways they are reducing carbon emissions within their company
Sustainability standards and certifications
Greenwashing is a term used to describe companies that convey a false impression or present misleading information about how it's environmentally sound.
Some of the ways channel partners have avoided being branded as a greenwashing phoney is through certifiable data and following industry standards.
Atea, for example, follows the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, a global standardised framework to measure and manage GHG emissions from private and public sector operations, value chains and mitigation actions.
The group also boasts an almost endless list of achievements for its sustainability efforts.
Last month it was named one of the world's top 100 most sustainable companies for the second year in a row.
Atea earned the 49th position in Corporate Knights' Global 100 Index 2023, a new best for the company after placing 51st in 2022.
It was also recognised as the most sustainable company globally within the IT Services Division for its second consecutive year.
In 2022 it earned an A- rating in the CDP's annual climate change questionnaire: higher than both the B average in regional Europe and the C average in the IT and software sector.
This is the highest ranking Atea has earned since first reporting to CDP over ten years ago.
For the past three years (2020-2022), Atea was awarded the highest rating (top one per cent of 100,000 organisations globally) in environmental and social performance by corporate sustainability evaluator, EcoVadis.
Last year Atea was also endorsed by Canalys as one of its Environmental Partner Leaders, and the year before was recognised by the Financial Times as one of Europe's Climate Leaders.
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In this in-depth trend feature, CRN canvassed four leading channel partners to learn some of the key ways they are reducing carbon emissions within their company
Board level representation
Many companies have a head of sustainability or ESG who will take charge over these areas.
However, representation at board level is a must for organisations who truly want to push for environmental sustainability to be at the core of the company and a conversation in board rooms.
This is where US tech services provider stands out, boasting Ann Marr (pictured left) as its executive vice president of global human resources as well as Erika Schenk (right), ESG executive sponsor to fight the green corner.
Stay tuned to find out which leading channel partners earned top marks in CRN's sustainability rating
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