Transcript 0:00 [on-hold music] I want to start with the consumer electronics space, because this is really interesting. 0:07 At the moment, from where I'm sitting, it seems like consumer electronic businesses appear to be more concerned about selling the latest and greatest model of their gadgets than making their devices upgradable or even more easily repairable. 0:23 So if consumers can't easily repair or upgrade their existing devices, then they'll be pushed into buying more new ones. 0:30 [on-hold music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:54 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. 1:00 Last week in segment one, I introduced the topic of a circular economy, which fits nicely into our broader discussion of sustainability for twenty twenty. 1:09 Sustainability is about finding ways to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 1:19 In a circular economy, resources are used and reused again in a systematic approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society, and the environment by improving sustainability. 1:33 So today, I'd like to take a look at some specific industries and even some businesses and talk about how they fit in this picture of a more sustainable future, either by contributing to more of a circular economy or by pursuing their own sustainability goals. 1:50 Later on in the show, I've got a great guest, Pamela Cortez, Azure IoT Senior Program Manager, and she's going to spend the day with me. 1:58 She's at Microsoft, and we're going to take a deep dive into RTOS and how it relates into the IoT. So all of you IoT fans, stick around. We're going to have a really awesome discussion. 2:09 So let's get started and continue our discussion about a circular economy. If you didn't listen to the show last week, I encourage you to go back and listen. 2:17 It'll help you kind of understand and frame our discussion here. 2:20 As a really quick recap, though, a circular economy differs from a typical linear economic model of use, discard, repeat, because it follows a circular path instead of a one-way road to a landfill. 2:36 It prioritizes designing out of waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. 2:45 So let's talk about what industries and individual businesses can do to move to a more circular economy. I want to start with the consumer electronics space because this is really interesting. 2:56 At the moment, kind of from where I'm sitting, it seems like consumer electronic businesses appear to be more concerned about selling the latest and greatest model of their gadgets than making their devices upgradable or even more easily repairable. 3:12 So if consumers can't easily repair or upgrade their existing devices, then they'll be pushed into buying more new ones, and this isn't really a sustainable model. 3:22 So, however, I am seeing some companies making an effort to incentivizing reusing and recycling consumer electronic devices. 3:32 So many companies like Apple, for instance, have trade-in programs and recycling programs to try to decrease the impact of their devices on the environment and allow used devices to return value back into the economy. 3:46 And that's a good step in the right direction. Now, some companies which I like to see now are taking a step even further. Now, here's a question for all of you. Have you ever heard of the company Fairphone? 3:58 Now, Fairphone is based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and this is what's interesting. 4:03 It actually started out as an awareness campaign about the conflict of materials, and as it turned into a company now today that has over a hundred thousand customers. 4:15 Fairphone builds sustainable smartphones sourced from responsible materials with a focus on reducing waste and making hardware as durable and long-lasting as possible. 4:27 Now, repairs are designed to be easy and the eventual end of Fairphone's life, recycling is free and effective. 4:35 Now, I think this is a pretty cool company, one that's dedicated itself to solving a critical problem in the consumer electronic space. 4:44 But let's broaden the scope just a little bit here, because at the beginning of this year, Forbes put out a ranking of the one hundred most sustainable companies in twenty twenty. 4:54 Now, if we focus just on the US-based companies, the top-ranking American company, fourth overall ranking company, is Cisco Systems. 5:03 And next, number five on the top one hundred list and number two of for the American companies is Autodesk. So let's just talk about those two companies just for the moment. 5:13 Cisco's sustainability initiatives are pretty easy to track because guess what? They're pretty transparent about them, which I think is really important when we have a transparent company. 5:24 So Cisco's latest corporate social responsibility report, which they call the CSR, details the company's efforts at things like socially responsible supply chains, leveraging IT solutions for the environment, making efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing material use and waste products and packaging, which I think is really important when you look at the big scope of this. 5:49 So Cisco actually aligns its sustainability goals with the UN's SDG Sustainable, which are the Sustainable Development Goals, which I talked about last week. 5:59 A circular economy contributes to the SDGsGold, and here's a couple of them. 6:05 They align them with number 11, which is the sustainable cities and communities, number 12, responsible consumption, and number 13, climate action. So those are all pretty important. 6:18 Cisco's first established its environmental goals back in 2006. It also has an enterprise-wide circular economy program that it launched back in 2018 that operates under a dedicated program management office. 6:33 So you can see they've got a lot going on. Cisco also prioritizes its life cycle assessments, which estimate the greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts of Cisco's products throughout their life cycles. 6:47 Now let's go to Autodesk, which I mentioned is second highest on the list. And first off, Autodesk also releases an annual sustainability report. 6:56 The company has already achieved some great things in terms of sustainability. It has 100% of its office and data center electricity come from renewable sources. 7:07 As of 2020, it's achieved 43% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fiscal year 2009. Its goal is to achieve climate neutral greenhouse gas emissions, both direct and indirect emissions, by fiscal year 2021. 7:24 I think that's pretty great when companies are looking at what they can do. And Autodesk is also focused on material efficiency and circularity in its product design and manufacturing. 7:37 I think all of this is great stuff when we look at what's happening right now and what we think we want to do for the economy. 7:43 Now, another company, Microsoft, is one that I want to mention as well, because earlier this year, Microsoft announced its plan to be carbon negative by 2030. 7:54 It launched an aggressive plan alongside its goal, which kind of details how it's going to go about achieving this feat, which I find interesting because some of the components on Microsoft's plan include investing one billion dollars, yep, you-- we talked about this before, in carbon reduction and removal technology via its new Climate Innovation Fund. 8:15 A billion dollars. I think that's great. 8:17 It's also committing to transparency by publishing an annual environmental sustainability report, and Microsoft also vows to be more vocal about supporting public policy initiatives that accelerate carbon reduction and removal. 8:35 The company also is going to be developing and deploying technologies that will help customers and suppliers reduce their own carbon footprints. 8:44 I think this is so important when you go about and help your partners and your customers do it, because I think there's so much in the ripple effect here. 8:53 Just think about that for a second, what the ripple effect really will be. 8:57 Furthermore, I think Microsoft is also committing to enlisting its employees to help by creating opportunities for them to contribute to the corporation's overall sustainability efforts. 9:09 Now, what's really great is these are just a few examples of what companies are doing to promote sustainability and a more circular economy. 9:18 And the more and more I talk to companies, it's great to hear what they're doing. 9:22 In fact, just last week, ThyssenKrupp, I learned, was doing some really amazing things, and they have a very detailed sustainability effort. 9:31 Last week I spoke to one exec who shared, since the, uh, elevator group broke away from its parent in February, they have a very, uh, different piece of a... 9:41 I guess they're part of a very different piece of a much larger puzzle. 9:45 And while continuing to be transparent as possible, ThyssenKrupp has set its goal, among a whole host of other things, to get an A rating for the Carbon Disclosure Project. 9:56 And that's not an easy task, so it's pretty neat to hear what they're doing. So I guess here's what I want to ask all of you. What examples do you know of? What are you all seeing? 10:05 I'd love to hear what companies are doing. So, you know, most important, I'd love for you to tweet at me after the show is over and tell me what's going on. You know, tweet at me at ConnectedWMag. 10:14 So since I'm running out of time here, uh, I, I want to ask, you know, if there's... What comes to mind when... What is your company doing in the realm of sustainability? You know, are you behind? 10:26 Are, are you starting to catch up now? Sustainability isn't a passing phase. It's going to become the new norm for companies in all industries, so I think that is something that you need to be thinking about right now. 10:38 But here's my tip for today, which I think is really important. If you're looking for a place to start, start with investing your company's carbon footprint. You know, I think that's important. 10:49 Then try creating some goals for your organization. Perhaps line your goals up with the UN's SDGs. I mean, those are pretty impressive. We've written about them. They're on Connected World's website. Check those out. 11:02 Then create a plan to reach those goals. You know, make a detailed plan. Next, increase your transparency. Transparency, transparency, transparency. 11:12 It's like location, location, location, but transparency is so very important. Tell your customers, suppliers what you plan to do and impact you plan to make, because that's going to be very vital to this. 11:25 Set that bar and then find ways to help your customers, suppliers, and employees to set and meet those sustainability goals, because you're going to need their help in all of this. This is how we change the world. 11:38 We all have to work together to do this, but if you have a vision, if you have a plan, you will absolutely achieve that. We're already seeing that. 11:47 It's so important that we talk about this, even though it's not always easy to put into words and get those actions out there, but we're seeing these amazing companies right now who are doing it. 11:57 You can see what Cisco and Autodesk is doing. You're hearing what ThyssenKrupp is doing. You're hearing what Microsoft's doing. Everybody's talking about how they do it. 12:05 You know, when Forbes put out that list and they're talking about how this detailed plan is, it's not easy to see the top one hundred companies globally. 12:15 So when we talk about how this list is achieving the top sustainability efforts, it's pretty complicated, and companies know in order to do it, they have to make the right investments, they have to work with the right partners, and they have to be as transparent as possible. 12:31 And that's what I think is so interesting, is now we're seeing with things are changing right now in our economy, sustainability is going to play such a critical role in giving back to our environment, and that's what we all need to be thinking about. 12:45 All right. As always, I'm running out of time, but I want to know what you think about this. So I want you to tweet at me at ConnectedWMag. And again, check out our website, check out the articles on Connected World. 12:56 Those are the things. Check out the past show segments at thepeggySmedleyShow.com because those are going to help you understand what we've been talking about and the great guests that we've been talking to. 13:04 But most importantly, I want you to stick around because we've got a whole great show here. 13:08 We're going to be talking with Microsoft, and we're going to be talking about some of the technologies that can help you achieve some of these sustainability goals. 13:14 So all right, we're going to take a quick commercial break, but we're going to be right back. And remember, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 13:22 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Go get that quick cup of coffee. We'll be right back after this quick commercial break. [upbeat music]
