Signify cuts emissions from phones and laptops
Signify has cut its emissions from the mobile phones and laptops used by its employees by 20 per cent.
The plan is part of the company’s broader push to reduce the environmental impact of its operations.
With a presence in 70 countries and 32,000 employees, the challenge was significant. Signify uses 20,000 devices including desktops, laptops and workstations, mainly from the Chinese technology company Lenovo with whom it worked on the project.
A team from Lenovo helped manage the complex carbon footprint of the organisation’s devices, taking in everything from packaging to shipping to what happens to the devices at end-of-life.
Signify has been a long-term user of ThinkPad laptops, ThinkCentre desktops, ThinkStation desktops and ThinkVision monitors. Lenovo worked with Signify to reduce the impact of the devices, with an integrated approach which included carbon offsets.
The tech firm oversaw every stage of the product life cycle, including how to get devices to users in the most sustainable way, and what happens to the devices at end of life.
Ensuring that technology is recycled and reused where possible is a part of the sustainability picture, with just 44 per cent of the 50 million tons of e-waste produced worldwide currently recycled, according to the World Economic Forum.
Lenovo managed to reduce Signify’s IT carbon footprint by 20 per cent in just 12 months compared to a planned timeframe of two years.
‘It was a year sooner than we expected,’ said Ron Broeren, VP Head of Digital Services at Signify. ‘Considering we weren’t starting from scratch, but instead were dealing with an IT estate that had been in use for some time, this is a significant achievement.’
Broeren says that such progress would not have been possible without Lenovo’s help. Lenovo says it hasa goal to improve energy efficiency by 50 per cent in desktops and servers and 30 per cent in laptops and Motorola products by 2030.
Lenovo also uses recycled materials and has plans to use recycled packaging in 100 per cent of products this year.
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