The world’s rainforests shrunk at a rate of 10 football pitches a minute in 2021. With it, 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide were emitted into the atmosphere. The alarming rate of loss is a concern as forests are natural air filters and help cool temperatures. We are indeed at a critical juncture on global warming.
Everywhere we go today, we see a green message. The ‘sustainability’ message gained traction as increasingly more companies prioritise the impact of Environment, Social and Governance alongside a financial return.
As one of the world’s top ICT companies, Acer is leading the way in ESG adoption with its action. It walks the talk beyond just producing green products that break barriers between people and technology. Acer pays attention to the production process too.
Acer is committed to its core beliefs of creating value, balancing interests, and developing sustainably. This drives the company’s ESG strategy in the medium- and long-term which focuses on:
- Establishing a model of sustainable development by harnessing Acer’s influence to help the overall industry progress toward greater environmental, social, and economic benefits
- Leading innovation in products and services by combining low-carbon and sustainable technologies to develop a new green economy
- Deepening responsible corporate governance by strengthening management of non-financial performance and sustainability risks & opportunities
Sustainability is a collaborative effort. Mutual action is necessary to effectively create a positive impact. Suppliers are Acer’s most important partners in providing customers with valuable products and services. To facilitate the collaborative effort, Acer embeds within its value chain initiatives that enable various stakeholders to come together to create tangible and intangible value.
One key initiative is the Earthion platform on which Acer, its partners and suppliers come together to incorporate sustainability within the supply chain. Earthion is derived from the words “Earth + Mission” and combines the strengths of Acer, its supply chain partners, consumers and employees.
The Earthion platform enables Acer to provide green technological innovations that meet the changing lifestyles of the world. Acer creates well-thought-out integrated applications and products that bring together hardware, software and services to ease the use, maintenance and future upgrade processes.
An exemplary product borne of the Earthion platform is the Vero series, which encourages companies and individuals to tackle environmental challenges together. The “Vero” name is only bestowed on products that encompass the entire value process, starting from the research and development, design, material, use, and ease of maintenance to packaging, logistics and marketing.
The Vero series integrates recycled plastic, ocean-bound plastic waste, and recyclable packaging materials into its design. In fact, its packaging can even be repurposed, and soy ink printing pushes the envelope in environmental friendliness.
More importantly, the Vero series is an affordable device with an extended useful life thanks to its upgradability, durability and reusability. This makes it a sustainable option for business communities and individual consumers. It provides the first step in adopting sustainable practices towards a collective effort to address environment challenges.
Acer’s commitment to sustainability stretches as far back as 2008 and has been growing progressively. In 2017, Project Humanity was introduced as a global initiative to make the world a better place, starting with Acer’s very own staff. This project gave Acer’s staff a chance to contribute to the company’s decisions with the belief that the collective contribution of its 7,700 employees adds up and creates significant impact.
From the products Acer designs to operation efficiency, every decision counts. Project Humanity has achieved the following:
- Reduced an equivalent of 60 tons of carbon dioxide
- Shipped more than 8.8 million products utilising post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic
- Adopted recycled paper in 100% of Acer notebooks’ packaging
- Recycled and remanufactured over 20 metric tons of batteries
- More than 40 countries joined this initiative; planted over 2,000 trees in Sabah and adopted 33 trees in Taman Tugu to help conserve this urban forest in Malaysia
Additionally, Acer joined the RE100 initiative in 2021 and announced the pledge to achieve 100% renewable energy use by 2035. As of 2021, 45% of Acer’s energy usage is renewable. The company strives to achieve 60% renewable energy usage, and 45% reduction in average personal computer energy consumption by 2025.
Its pursuit of product management and environmental protection has produced devices that exemplify the circular economy concept. Low-carbon recycling strategies determine every aspect of Acer’s value chain – from product & packaging design, use of materials to responsible supply chain conduct.
Acer’s efforts are to positively impact the economy, environment and society. Sustainability is a global effort that will only succeed if everyone participates. To leave a legacy of greener future for future generations, Acer’s clarion call to all is that, “Every decision matters. Every small step counts in sustainability.”
As an advocate of sustainability, Acer is taking lead in assisting businesses that would like to refurbish or recycle their old devices by providing trade-in services. This trade-in program aims to help SMEs and businesses become more sustainable through a Circular PC approach by helping recycle their used devices correctly to reduce waste or improper e-waste disposal. Very importantly also, the program provides key benefits such as Data Protection with HDD/SDD Retention, or Data Sanitisation, which securely erase data in devices to protect the interest of the company.
To further help companies plan efficiently, Acer partners ExportXcel to provide a 10-day service level target in the provision of a report on the status and trade-in value of the devices collected. Payments are disbursed within 5 working days after report confirmation. Encouraging the practice of Circular PC use, the report will also contain a sustainability report which provides customers with the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions.
Join Acer’s effort to tackle climate change, and choose a sustainable device for your business. Visit b2b.acer.com.my to find out more about the various business solutions they provide.
