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Computacenter races ahead with sustainability goals
Firm updates its progress on carbon targets and indicates it is ahead of schedule as measures it has taken to reduce emissions start to deliver
Computacenter has become the latest channel player to announce progress in meeting ambitious sustainability goals, aiming to make the business carbon neutral this year for Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
The firm informed investors of its aims, saying that if it hit that target, it would be five years earlier than it had originally planned.
The business has been moving in that direction for a while and the channel player’s Sustainability report for 2021 indicated that Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which include direct emissions such as facilities and indirect including electricity used, were about 74% lower last year than in 2019.
The firm is also a decade ahead of its aim of being net zero with Scope 3 emissions – covering things like travel and transportation and supply chain activity – also being actively reduced.
Tony Conophy, group finance director and chair of Computacenter’s climate committee, said the firm was in a position to start to reap the rewards of a long-term sustainability strategy.
“Achievement of carbon neutral Scopes 1 and 2 in 2022 will be a major milestone on our journey to net zero, based on years of carbon reduction efforts across the business that we are confident can be sustained and improved upon,” he said. “We’re proud that we will be one of the first companies in our industry to achieve this.”
Steps the firm has taken include getting 73% of its power from renewable sources in 2021 and making investments in facilities to gain more efficiencies in power consumption.
The business has also invested in solar at its Hatfield HQ, saving about 400,000kg of annual carbon emissions.
Computacenter’s group development director, Mo Siddiqi, said it was a business-wide effort to hit sustainability targets.
“We are proud of what our people have achieved to hit this milestone,” he said. “We haven’t talked much about it, we’ve just delivered. We will continue to improve, invest and innovate in all areas of sustainability in line with our broader sustainability strategy. We’ll be the best that we can be – a company that our people, customers, partners and communities can be proud of.”
Others in the channel have also publicly set targets for getting to net zero and it has become increasingly clear that this issue resonates with customers. An inability to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability has already cost some in the channel business.
