Channel player looks to mark itself out as a leader on the issue of sustainability, with carbon commitments and plans for the way it chooses those it works with
Some of the big vendors have talked about how they plan to reduce their carbon footprints and make the world a better place, but the topic has not been as publicly discussed at a reseller level.
Softcat has taken steps to remedy that with a bold ambition to implement a net-zero carbon supply chain by 2040. The firm is also the only FTSE 250 company that has committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and received a five-star rating.
The channel player is already carbon neutral, having reached that milestone last year after reducing CO2 emissions by 37% over the past five years, despite increasing headcount by 49%. Other notable stats include the achievement of removing 2.5 tonnes of paper waste through better printing solutions and running its Marlow headquarters entirely off renewable energy.
The plan is to extend that further and use renewable energy at all of its office locations by 2024. The business is going to be reducing business travel, upgrading its carpool fleet to electric vehicles and offering staff more flexible working arrangements.
It will also be turning the spotlight on its suppliers and partners as it seeks to have a net-zero carbon supply chain by 2040. Part of that process will include carrying out a full supply chain review.
Softcat also plans to launch its own sustainability awards to encourage and reward best practice in the industry and will draw up a scoring system to rank the sustainability of the IT solutions and services it offers customers.
“We want to be known as an organisation that allies socially responsible actions with successful business operations to benefit people, deliver sustainable performance and protect the planet for future generations”
Alastair Wynn, Softcat
“Social responsibility isn’t a particular programme – it should be what we do every day, maximising positive impact and minimising negative impact. We want to be known as an organisation that allies socially responsible actions with successful business operations to benefit people, deliver sustainable performance and protect the planet for future generations,” said Alastair Wynn, operations director at Softcat.
“We can drive this change within our own organisation, working with our partners and our supply chain, as well as supporting customers on their socially responsible journey through the technology we provide,” he added.
Just a few hours after Softcat shared its sustainability ambitions, VMware also declared that it was involved with a Zero-Carbon Committed cloud partner initiative that had already been backed by Equinix, IBM, Microsoft and OVHcloud US.
VMware is looking for a commitment from its Cloud Verified partners that the infrastructure, energy and carbon-efficient datacentres they run are based on its software-defined datacentre (SDDC) technologies and that they will power those datacentres with renewable energy sources by 2030.
“It’s crucial we make significant progress on climate action as soon as possible, so it’s encouraging to see more and more companies, including VMware customers and partners, as well as countries, committing to reach net-zero carbon,” said Joe Baguley, vice-president and chief technology officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at VMware.
“This initiative builds on VMware’s history of helping customers reduce their environmental impact through the more efficient use of IT infrastructure, and will make it easier for our customers and partners to accelerate their transition to a low-carbon economy.”
