Kyocera Document Solutions boss calls for carbon negative to be the goal

Kyocera Document Solutions UK is urging those looking at carbon levels to go beyond simply aiming to offset emissions and to set a goal of being carbon negative to get to a place where the market is likely to settle over the next few years.

Sustainability continues to be a topic the channel is being challenged on by customers, with 10% revealing in a recent DataSolutions survey that they had lost business as a result of not being robust enough on the issue.

Print player Kyocera has added its view to the debate by making it clear that offsetting, while an admirable ambition, is not one that will go far enough.

Becoming carbon negative means offsetting will need to be combined with more efforts to improve sustainability across the business and that would beef up the green credentials of those that opt to go further.

“Carbon negative is an ambitious goal, and one that most of us are still some way from achieving – including us at Kyocera. However, there are several ways that it can be done,” said Rod Tonna-Barthet, CEO of Kyocera Document Solutions UK.

He said the actions that could be taken should start with an assessment of business practices and working out energy usage and waste reduction options. For those in the print channel, this could involve a conversation with a customer around the idea of using refillable ink and managed services to improve sustainability.

“It’s also just as crucial that business leaders are more ambitious in their thinking when it comes to more subtle changes, such as increased digitisation and automation of internal processes, added Tonna-Barthet.

Another area where carbon emissions could be reduced is through customers encouraging hybrid working and giving staff greater flexibility.

“A report from last year found that transportation – of which the daily commute is a major part – produced the equivalent of 122 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the UK in 2019. This represents around 27% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions,” said Tonna-Barthet.

“A reduction in travel, particularly by car, has been instrumental in driving these numbers down in the last couple of years. As long as employees maintain the right to hybrid working, businesses can reap the sustainability rewards for many years to come.”

He said customers’ increased efforts added to the growing chorus of voices across the industry that have underlined how this issue is an opportunity for those channel partners that have a strategy to get to carbon net zero.