HP recently published its latest Sustainable Impact Report, highlighting progress towards its stated sustainability goals achieved in 2023. The company acknowledges the positive link between corporate responsibility and commercial success, noting that HP’s sustainable revenue – revenue from products and services that help reduce environmental impact – represented more than 60% of total revenue in 2023, the same level as in 2022.
HP highlights three key focus areas for sustainable impact: Climate Action, incorporating carbon emissions, circularity, and forests; Human Rights, centred on empowering workers, creating a culture of inclusion and belonging, and social justice and racial and gender equity; and Digital Equity, encompassing education, healthcare, and economic opportunity.
Climate Action
HP reported a range of climate metrics:
Carbon emissions
- 27% reduction of value chain GHG emissions from the 2019 baseline, against an overall goal of reducing value chain GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2040
- 62% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions compared to 2015, against a target of 65% by 2025
- 59% use of renewable energy in 2023, against a target of 100% by 2025
- 40% product and packaging circularity achieved against a target of 75% by 2030
- 87% landfill diversion achieved in 2023 compared to a target of zero waste by 2025
- HP is also working to counteract deforestation by going beyond its own fibre sourcing to include any brand of paper used in HP printing products and services
Product circularity
- Post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. In 2023, HP reported incorporating 34,400 tonnes of plastic with PCR content into its products, accounting for 18% of its total plastic usage. The company aims to reach 30% PCR content across its personal systems and print product portfolio by 2025, indicating that there is still progress to be made within the next two years. Its plastics strategy includes making products smaller, eliminating unnecessary plastic from packaging, and replacing virgin plastic with recycled plastic wherever possible.
- EvoMore ink cartridges. HP is improving the sustainability of cartridges with its EvoMore original ink cartridge range, which prints twice the number of pages per cartridge, reducing replacements and GHG emissions from plastic use and manufacturing.
- HP Carbon Neutral Computing Services. Enables organisations to offset the end-to-end carbon footprint of eligible HP PCs.
- HP Managed Print Services. Helps customers reduce the environmental impact of the print infrastructure by improving resource efficiency and reducing energy, ink, and paper use.
- HP Device Life Extension Service. This upgrades device performance and extends support, enabling customers to use their devices for longer.
- HP Renew Solution. Enables commercial customers to reduce hardware expenses and accelerate sustainability goals with HP’s flexible suite of certified refurbished devices, services, and solutions.
Supply chain emissions challenges
Despite its efforts to help suppliers avoid GHG emissions, which HP says it has achieved to the tune of 1.88m tonnes of CO2e emissions avoided in 2023, the company reports that GHG emissions among the suppliers that make HP products rose by 21% in 2022 compared to 2021. It attributes this rise to ‘increased spend on high GHG-intensity items such as LCD panels, as well as the contributions of new suppliers with high GHG emissions intensity’.
Companies as large as HP are in a strong position to influence their supply chain to reduce carbon emissions – and HP says 95% of its production suppliers had GHG emissions reduction-based goals in 2022. The company was recognised by CDP as a Supplier Engagement Leader in 2023, but the rising emission figures above indicate just how challenging influencing supply chains can be.
HP Amplify Impact channel partner programme on track
The HP Amplify Impact programme is integral to the company’s commitment to drive sustainable impact through its supply chain. Launched in 2021 for IT channel partners, it has recently been extended to include print service provider partners (PSPs). The programme expanded to 48 countries in 2023, with more than 3,900 partners (80% of HP’s channel partner revenue) enrolled. HP says it is on track to meet its target of recruiting at least 50% of all its channel partners by 2025. HP Amplify Impact provides partners with training, sales tools, marketing assets, and access to HP’s Sustainability & Compliance Centre, HP Life, and HP Planet Partners.
A key element of Amplify Impact is helping partners promote their sustainability achievements. Amplify Impact partners are invited to progress through the recognition programme from 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star status. Through each level of completion, HP provides comprehensive tools and training, and upon completion, partners receive a full social media kit with badges, certificates, and personalised tracking.
Human Rights Actions
HP reports on a number of metrics targeted at empowering its workers, creating a culture of inclusion and belonging and supporting social justice and racial and gender equity:
- 486k workers were reached in 2023 with worker empowerment programmes, against a target of 1 million reached by 2030, since 2015
- 33% of director level+ positions filled by women, against a target of 50% by 2030
- 24% of engineering and technology positions filled by women, against a target 30%+ by 2030
- 88% rating on an internal inclusion index for all employee demographics in 2023
- 4% Black executive representation, from a baseline of 3.0% in June 2020
Digital Equity and AI focus
HP reports that its digital equity programmes and partnership reached 45m people during 2023, with a goal of reaching 150m by 2030. Its programmes are focused on marginalised groups facing the biggest divide, such as women and girls, people with disabilities, systematically excluded populations, and educators and healthcare practitioners. Initiatives include HP LIFE, a free business skills training programme that provides ‘free, accessible content in eight languages that meets learners where they are – online, offline, mobile, digital hubs, and centres’.
The Sustainable Impact Report shows evidence that HP is extending some of its digital equity and community-giving targets. The target for HP LIFE users by 2030 has been increased to 2.75 million from 1.5 million, the HP Foundation contribution from $100m by 2025 to $300m by 2030.
Concerning AI, HP notes that ‘business leaders say their top goal right now is investing in AI and believe it will help drive sustainability and community goals’. HP says it ‘believes in applying AI responsibly as a force for good’ and is launching a new HP LIFE course on AI skills, as well as the HP AI in Social Impact Award in the coming year.
Quocirca opinion
HP has made significant strides in its commitment to circularity and demonstrating that sustainability can drive innovation and growth. Alongside its ambitious target to achieve 75% circularity for its products and packaging by 2030, it estimates that around 55% of plastics in its PCs and printers are recycled. Of particular note is its latest strategy to embrace the refurbishment of both its PC and printer devices under its HP Renew Solutions initiative. In addition, HP has a mature sustainability-led channel programme with HP Amplify Impact, which helps its broad and diverse channel ecosystem enhance their sustainability efforts. The success of HP Amplify with its channel partners is essential for HP to deliver on its sustainability goals. By leveraging the strengths and reach of its partners, HP can drive meaningful and widespread impact.
Ultimately, the largest companies with the greatest environmental impact bear a significant responsibility to mitigate it. They also wield considerable authority and influence over their supply chains, despite the challenges in managing them. HP stands out for its dedication and thoroughness in setting goals and transparently reporting progress.
In the next few years, we will witness key deadlines, marking a crucial phase in the evolution of ESG practices, not just for HP but for all organisations committed to impact mitigation. HP and its peers will need to either meet their targets or acknowledge any shortfalls and outline plans for improvement.
