Creating meaningful impact and building consumer trust through action and innovation

The new financial year signals a period of reflection. Businesses consider what they’ve achieved and pencil in goals for the year ahead, which increasingly includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, as companies realise the benefit and the opportunity to build consumer trust.

In 2022, that trust is essential. Consumers are considering what they spend their money on more carefully: they want to support businesses that are reducing their environmental impact and creating positive change. While setting ESG goals is a step in the right direction, innovation, evolution, partnerships, transparency and, most importantly, action are needed.

At Dell Technologies, our recently published 2022 ESG report highlights how consistent steps toward ESG goals can lead to meaningful impact, building consumer trust and moving towards a sustainable future that drives human progress.

Consumers expect climate action

A 2021 study by Deloitte found that nearly one in three consumers said they’ve stopped purchasing from certain brands because they had sustainability-related concerns, with 48% saying they highly value a reduced carbon footprint. Similarly, a 2020 report found that 90% of Australian consumers are more likely to purchase ethical and sustainable products, with 85% of consumers wanting brands to be more transparent about their sustainability.

Consumers want businesses to take decisive action and to provide evidence of progress. This is why detailed ESG reporting is critical for businesses. Measurable goals and robust data should drive ESG practice. It should consider internationally recognised frameworks and guidelines to ensure all businesses are held accountable to the same standards, while making ESG efforts easy to evaluate. At Dell Technologies, our 2022 ESG report endeavours to achieve this.

Reduce, reuse, recycle and make it renewable

In our ESG report, using common metric standards, we’ve highlighted our progress towards our 2030 goals. Our sustainability action focuses on three key areas: reducing e-waste through reuse and recycling, using eco-friendly packaging made with recycled or renewable materials, and transitioning to renewable energy.

The idea of a circular economy underpins our e-waste reduction program, which seeks to tackle the often overlooked problem of discarded electronics. Mounting global e-waste is responsible for 70% of the toxic chemicals found in landfills. The percentage of products sold that were taken back for reuse and recycling increased by 26% compared with FY21 — with 1.1 billion kg of used electronics recovered since 2007. Our recent Sydney-based e-recycling day doubled down on our commitment to reducing e-waste.

Dell Technologies’ Concept Luna takes the idea of our e-waste program and expands on it; unveiled in FY22, it’s a sustainable design concept to inspire future laptop design, exploring ideas to make components readily accessible, replaceable and reusable. If all ideas in the prototype came to fruition, there would be an estimated 50% reduction in overall product carbon footprint compared to a similar Dell Technologies laptop. We believe circular innovation will drive sustainable progress and allow us to do more with less.

Of course, while innovation will push us towards a sustainable future, businesses must also remember the basics to create immediate change. Last year, we made significant strides towards our 2030 moonshot goal of achieving 100% sustainable packaging. In fact, 90.2% of packaging across our entire product portfolio is now made with recycled or renewable materials, with 179.8 kg of sustainable materials used in products and packaging.

We’re also shifting towards renewable sources. We’ve achieved an 82% increase in electricity generated by onsite solar panel installations compared with FY20, with 55% of electricity across our facilities coming from renewable sources. At Dell Technologies, we are proud of these achievements and are pleased to be able to highlight them in our FY22 ESG report.

Consistent steps towards a green future

In 2022, transparency around ESG goals and actions is key to building consumer trust and ensuring business resilience. At Dell Technologies, we lead with innovation to reach our ESG goals, taking consistent steps and sharing our progress. We encourage other businesses to do the same so we can collectively move towards a green future that benefits everyone, everywhere.

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