Sustainability Leaders, 2024
Sustainability Leaders, 2024
A review of sustainability initiatives by major print vendors
? Quocirca 2024
Sustainability Leaders Report 2024
Excerpt report: HP
1
LICENSED TO HP
December 2024
Sustainability Leaders, 2024
December 2024
Executive summary
Print manufacturers and their partners face a complex landscape of rising energy costs, stricter regulations, and growing demands for sustainability from stakeholders and customers. Notable regulations that can impact a global basis include the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Right to Repair, and the EU
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) being phased in for the FY24 reporting period. To address the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), the industry must prioritise carbon reduction and commit to ambitious sustainability targets. Print manufacturers are committing to reducing not only their own GHGs but also the emissions resulting from their own supply chains and customers.
While many OEMs aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, several vendors are setting more ambitious targets. HP and Xerox have committed to net-zero emissions by 2040. Lexmark has a 2035 net neutrality target,
and Epson targets carbon-negative status by 2050. These targets often re?ect the company's overall global operations, not solely the manufacturing of printing products. This acceleration towards earlier target dates is driven by factors such as increased experience in collecting and utilising emissions data. Quocirca expects that these early target dates and terminology di?erentiators will increasingly be used as competitive di?erentiators.
There is a clear trend towards increased adoption of renewable energy sources within the industry. Epson is a notable example, having achieved almost 100% renewable electricity usage across all its global sites by 2023.
This signi?cant step demonstrates the company's commitment to sustainability and its ability to implement largescale renewable energy solutions. HP follows in second place, achieving 59% renewable electricity usage in its global operations, a signi?cant step towards its goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2025.
Accelerating the transition to a sustainable print industry necessitates a shift away from the linear take-makedispose' model and towards circular economy principles, leveraging and extending the leasing, reusing, repairing,
refurbishing, and recycling services seen within mature managed print services (MPS) models.
Over the past year, print vendors have continued to enhance the environmental credentials of their product portfolio. This includes increasing the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials in devices, improving energy e?ciency, and implementing comprehensive recycling programmes for consumables and hardware. A
sustainable-by-design approach and lifecycle assessments (LCAs) have become standard practices across the industry. New refurbishment programmes were launched in 2024, such as HP Renew Solutions, o?ering certi?ed refurbished PCs and printers, further extending the life of devices and reducing electronic waste.
Remanufactured product lines from Canon, Lexmark, Ricoh, and Xerox are also available.
The print industry, while making strides in product sustainability, must prioritise providing accurate and reliable environmental impact data to customers. Currently, fragmented approaches and a lack of data standardisation
