The key to sustainability is accountability. Charissa Jaganath describes the journey Logicalis took on its sustainability journey.
Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have for businesses, it’s a must-have – especially when you consider that 84% of employees are more likely to work for companies that prioritise Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.
An organisation’s approach to being a responsible business therefore affects its ability to attract and retain talent, and companies are increasingly looking to work with others who prioritise sustainable business practices and are enabling innovation in this space.
“Creating a truly meaningful impact can’t rely on plans alone. To necessitate change, companies are required to review their operations, and embed a strategy that speaks to their own corporate culture values and way of working”
In other words, a well-executed, shared-value Responsible Business strategy has the potential to deliver impactful, sustainable value for communities and the planet, but also for businesses and corporate organisations.
Over the past two years, Logicalis has more strongly focused on Responsible Business to accelerate our journey towards sustainability and carbon neutrality.
Making the internal change
Logicalis noticed a shift in mindset among both business leaders and customers, with many wanting to know how Logicalis holds itself and our supply chain accountable for carbon emissions.
We recognised the need to take action and Logicalis had every region reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2022, creating a view of our total carbon emissions as a global organisation.
We’ve used this baseline to set ourselves the goal of being carbon neutral by 2025. Linked to this goal is a roadmap for getting there which is built on a foundation of carbon reduction through a waste policy and management plan, a renewable energy commitment, and carbon reduction projects across the world.
In 2022, Logicalis made a formal commitment to the international Science-Based Targets initiative, the world’s first framework for corporate net zero target-setting in line with climate science. We’ve officially joined the world’s largest group of companies that are actively driving the reduction in global emissions aligned to the 2030 emission reduction goals of the Paris Agreement.
The science-based target initiative establishes and promotes best practices for organisations in a science-based target setting and will ensure that we develop clearly defined pathways to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The next stage of this is doing the same with our supply chain.
Having a wider impact
Thankfully, helping to combat climate change is as big a priority for the vendors we work with closely, and they are also rolling out aggressive sustainability strategies. This collective action is likely to have a much bigger impact and it’s one that we are proactively extending to our customers.
Reporting is another core element of our sustainability journey, and we are continuously improving how we collect data and report on our sustainability metrics, giving more insight and information to our customers on how we are holding ourselves accountable to make progress and to live up to all of our Responsible Business commitments.
Our hope is to continue to collaborate with others on our sustainability goals, to which end we have joined Techies Go Green – a community of companies who are aiming to become carbon-neutral by 2030. This movement brings together like-minded companies to collaborate and share practical knowledge on being more energy-efficient and sustainable.
Having access to such insights and learning from the experience of other organisations is invaluable to making and driving environmental change. What’s positive to see is that across Ireland and the UK, companies are increasingly looking at what they can do in this space and the tech sector is coming together to support each other, as well as the planet.
Continuing the journey
What started out as a few requests from customers on our sustainability efforts has now become a core business objective for Logicalis. We are proud to be prioritising people, communities and the planet; while recognising that our sustainability agenda undoubtedly makes business sense from a financial, customer, and talent perspective.
Creating a truly meaningful impact can’t rely on plans alone. To necessitate change, companies are required to review their operations, and embed a strategy that speaks to their own corporate culture values and way of working. Impact also needs targets and measures that deliver actual results, and companies are increasingly having to look beyond the walls of their organisation, to those they work with and in their customer base.
By sharing experiences, helping others and having open conversations around sustainability, businesses can educate, measure and achieve. It’s an ongoing and ever-evolving journey, but it’s a crucial one that all companies must embrace.
