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When the world's largest PC manufacturer issues its review of environmental and ethical activities, it's worth a flick through. The HP Global Citizenship Report is one of the most transparent and comprehensive in the business, and it may surprise some readers just how deeply rooted these activities are throughout this vast organisation, which has around $100bn (£51bn) in revenues and fingers in every pie: PCs, printers, servers, databases, software and IT services.
Some vendors may be ahead of HP in reducing harmful chemicals or monitoring the working conditions of subcontractors, but we do respect HP's openness and the comprehensive nature of its CSR report. One criticism, though, is that HP should disclose the monetary value of its green and ethical activities -- if CO2 emissions reductions have saved money, it should be trumpeted. The bottom line is the only issue on the minds of most manufacturers, and if the market leader can save money through recycling, so can anyone.
HP is locked in a fight with Dell, number two in the PC market, for the title of green king of the computer industry. Both companies have been competing neck and neck to recycle more than the other. A useful side-effect is that industry leaders tend to drag the others with them, so a glance at the recycling and emissions reductions of other computer manufacturers like Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo and Fujitsu-Siemens reveals significant increases in their recycling efforts.
Greenpeace produces an interesting report on the greening of consumer electronic goods manufactures, which focuses on the elimination of toxic chemicals from production and reducing greenhouse gases. HP slipped to 11th in Greenpeace's rankings this year, penalised for not removing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from all its equipment, though it wins plaudits for its take-back scheme.
Highlights of the HP Global Citizenship Report 2007 are:
Emissions Reductions
HP is three years ahead of its own carbon reduction targets. It has reduced emissions of its operations and products by 20 per cent of its 2005 levels ahead of 2010. A key part of this strategy is reducing the number of data centres it operates from 87 to six. HP's operational activities produced 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 in 2007, down five per cent on 2006. When adjusted for increased unit production, this reduction is close to 17 per cent. More emissions -- around 2 million tonnes of CO2 -- are caused by transporting HP products. It hopes to reduce this figure through 'modal shifts', moving air freight to sea, and road freight to trains.
Supply chain transparency
The $50bn (£25bn) supply chain has also received attention -- 150 suppliers were audited and provided with training. The audit is intended to ensure that "HP's suppliers provide a safe work environment, prohibit child labour, treat workers with respect, pay fair wages and benefits, and reduce or eliminate waste." To back up the transparency claims, HP recently disclosed its major suppliers and contractors, presumably hoping to enrol activist groups to help in their policing. We'd guess that HP doesn't want to be engulfed in the sort of scandals that hit major clothing brands who were using sweatshops in Asia and Central America.
Computer recycling
HP is tackling re-use and recycling with gusto. Between 1987 and 2007 it had recycled 450,000 metric tonnes of electronic products and supplies, and set a goal of a further 450,000 metric tonnes by the end of 2010. HP reckons for re-use and remarketing alone it has collected around 3 million boxes, and in 2006 it refurbished and resold 2.5 million of them (however, many of these would have originally been faulty returns). In Europe, it held 100 direct take-back events where people could return any brand of IT equipment for recycling. However, it must be put into perspective just how little of the global PC market is recycled or reused. According to Gartner, despite global economic slowdown, PC sales globally grew 13 per cent in 2007 to 270 million computers, the vast majority of which will end up in landfill or gathering dust in garages.
Product innovation
Conservation may be an important issue to HP, but its primary goal nonetheless is to sell more boxes. Thankfully, many of its new products are designed to be more energy efficient and to use fewer materials. These include low-power microprocessors, more efficient PC power supplies, smart cooling systems for data centres and massive increases in the percentage of recycled plastics used in print cartridge manufacture. HP reckons that its notebooks are 90 per cent recyclable, and for its efforts in green product innovation, many HP products can wear eco badges such as Energy Star and EPEAT.
So what's your opinion on HP's environmental and ethical activities? Is it any better than rest? Or should we be doing our best to extricate ourselves from the vicious upgrade cycle that the computer industry seems to have us locked into?
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Got a green product that you love or hate? Share the word by writing a review and telling the world.
