The role of OEMs
OEMs are a crucial starting point for an organization’s device sustainability strategy, largely because most of a device’s emissions are released before it’s even used.
One study of desktop computers and monitors showed that around 85% of the device’s emissions were generated during manufacture and shipping, even after six years of daily use.
At the moment, this stage simply doesn’t factor into most organizations’ decision-making. Just 25% of organizations consider the impact of upstream Scope 3 emissions on their net zero commitments, even though they represent the overwhelming majority of disclosed emissions.
Now is the time to change, and awareness is the first step. Less than a quarter of organizations currently report moderate or high levels of awareness of which suppliers account for most of their Scope 3 emissions, which makes it near-impossible for leaders to make fully informed decisions.
Fortunately, this journey toward a more sustainable device ecosystem can start with a simple conversation with their suppliers. OEMs should be able to clearly lay out their devices’ carbon impact, how they’re monitoring emissions, and which measures they’re taking to reduce their footprint. By having these discussions regularly, leaders can be confident in their procurement choices while holding suppliers accountable for their own commitments.
For organizations that are looking for new OEMs, many are now exploring more sustainable designs and production practices specifically to reduce emissions and support a circular economy. Procuring new devices will almost always require capital expenditure but, by selecting those that are sustainable by design, decision-makers can minimize their costs in the long term.
Working with the IT team to establish more in-depth persona mapping can also reduce the business’ footprint at the OEM stage. Understanding the typical workload for departments within the business – salespeople, developers, and marketers, for example – can help match the right devices to the right roles.
This may lead to a broader device catalog, with different combinations of graphics cards, processors, and storage, but it will ultimately reduce the number of employees who are given a device with outsized specifications that lead to unnecessarily high costs and energy consumption. Within Capgemini, for example, a two-year project to replace nearly 30,000 ready-to-retire desktops with laptops has resulted in an estimated saving of 2,400 tons of carbon emissions each year.
Once these devices are deployed to employees, maintaining an overview of how employees in different roles actually use their equipment can help IT teams configure devices appropriately to continuously balance performance and emissions.
A combination of OEM’s monitoring software, device management platforms, and employee experience tools can help IT managers discover where broad changes, such as power-saver plans, could make a difference. Often, changes organizations make can have multiple positive impacts; when Capgemini implemented Microsoft 365 services for one leading financial institution, this helped establish full regulatory compliance and global collaboration while saving over 14,500kg in carbon emissions.
Oversight based on analytics from device management and employee experience tools can only take this so far; after deployment, much of the responsibility rests with the workforce.
