Acer's Commitment to Business Sustainability

Alex_Clark

The world’s population recently reached eight billion people. We live in a world that’s evolving quickly as its population accelerates past a milestone number. With an elevated population come opportunities. But this new population milestone is not without potential dangers. Eight billion people means a planet that’s as crowded as ever. The need for sustainability is more present than ever before. More people are walking the earth than ever before. With the quality of life for much of humanity increasing with every year, so too does the footprint of every person. This expanded footprint comes with a price. The world is speaking and it demands sustainability. With the growth we’re witnessing, there may be no other choice but sustainability. It’s not a simple process to drastically orient your company’s mission, initiatives, and goals toward sustainability but it’s rewarding in the end. In fact, both customers and employees are demanding this new business philosophy. Sustainability, however, can be seen not only as an ethical strategy but also as a profitable decision for companies.

What is sustainability?

Sustainability, as a broad concept, refers to the way we exist and how long this way of doing things can be sustained. This definition lends itself to the business world, as well. Business sustainability is a way of doing business that is less harmful to the planet and its people. To properly understand sustainability, think of the three Ps. Previously, many corporations simply had one purpose: to create as much profit as possible. This has simply been the way businesses have operated since the beginning of time. A new era has emerged though. The way we do business sustainably has revealed a new set of objectives for businesses: to take care of the three Ps. The three Ps stand for people, profit, and planet. Sustainability for businesses places importance on ensuring the people of the company and the communities in which companies exist are happy and healthy, protecting the planet, and making sure the environment is treated fairly, all while attempting to profit from the product or service being sold. This profit margin, within the context of this sustainable business model, is better received by consumers. Business sustainability aims to protect the people and the planet in the way a company progresses toward profit. Businesses striving toward a more sustainable method of operation hope to leave the earth better than they found it. A business may accomplish this aspiration by cutting down on emissions produced by production or transportation, using sustainable materials, lowering energy usage, using green products, or giving back profits to certain causes or communities.

There are, however, plenty of other ways that a business can become more sustainable in its operations while creating a better planet and healthier community. If businesses today choose not to aim for a more sustainable operation, they may not only be left dealing with a guilty conscience. With more and more consumers demanding sustainability, it will be hard for a company to continue operating successfully if they don’t make an honest and continued effort to improve their impact on the people and planet. Additionally, the internet has enabled many group conversations. It would be hard for an unsustainable company to stay out of damaging conversations if they aren’t able to maintain a healthy public image through sustainability.

Why is it so important to embrace sustainability?

What are the core reasons behind the drive toward sustainability?  

1. People care about it now more than ever. Customers are demanding it nowadays and want sustainability to rank high among a company’s values. With strong values of sustainability and giving back, a company may be able to magnetize customers.  
2. Sustainability isn’t only about reducing the impact; it can also reduce the resources required. By keeping resources down, companies can keep overhead down and improve profits. It appears that sustainability doesn’t work at odds with profit. 
3. Investors care and this can mean a lot for a growing business. Since ESG scores have become a more important factor now more than ever, companies are looking to stay in the good graces of investors by maximizing their positive impact on the environment. With a high ESG score, it ensures a company receives good investment. 
4. New regulations are coming down the pipeline in the governmental sphere around the world. By keeping sustainability at the forefront of operations, a company ensures that they stay honest to the regulations set forth by regulatory committees or governments. Keeping a company out of legal trouble is an important benefit to staying sustainable. 
5. When all is said and done, sustainability matters. It matters to the planet. It matters to the people. That includes the very people that make up an organization. If companies expect to have a healthy company culture, they will need to prioritize sustainability. Sustainability can be part of a healthy company culture, as well as a motivator for ethical individuals.

With these sustainability benefits in mind, companies might find the prospect of protecting the people and the planet attractive. But what can be done? Businesses looking to create a more sustainable business model must look at every facet of their operation. For starters, they ought to make sure they are using sustainable methods and materials for their operations. This includes their processes, their energy sources, and the packaging they provide a customer after a purchase. Companies should also discover ways to reduce their waste and recycle what they can. Some companies have found success in creating recycling programs. Organizations should also ensure that their entire supply chain is as green as possible to be sustainable.

What is Acer doing to embrace sustainability? 

Though there are plenty of other ways to create sustainability, the aforementioned efforts have helped Acer become more sustainable. Acer is pioneering efforts to bring sustainably produced electronics to the forefront of how they do business. Acer’s Earthion initiative is their dedication to tackling our environmental challenges through innovative and integrated solutions. Earthion aims to provide excellent products with decisions aimed at sustainability at every step of the way: product design, production, energy, logistics, package design, and recycling of products. Through this initiative, Acer has pledged several benchmarks such as an 80% carbon reduction by 2050 and reaching 100% renewable energy sources by 2035. Acer successfully hosted Green Day on August 24th, 2022. The event featured influential speakers who spoke alongside Acer team members and their message was broadcast to millions of viewers online. Acer sought to share updates on their progress toward a more sustainable future, as well as paint a vision for the future of sustainable electronics.

(If you’re interested to hear about Acer’s commitment to the environment, sustainability, and sound ESG practices among its organization and partnerships, watch Acer Green Day 2022 here.)

To close out their monumental event with an inspiring call to action, Acer invited those looking to further advance sustainability in our world to join a 21-day challenge for greener actions and habits. More information on the 21-day challenge can be found here. The company has shown its commitment to sustainability by launching recycling centers, trade-in programs, and eco-friendly products. Their line, Acer Vero, continues to expand. From production to recycling, sustainability is their number one priority. This product line, including laptops, monitors, and more, focuses on recycled materials for environmental harm reduction, energy effectiveness, and easy upgrade capabilities. Acer Vero products feature the capabilities you’d expect from a high-performance Acer product.

*The opinions reflected in this article are the sole opinions of the author and do not reflect any official positions or claims by Acer Inc.

About Alex Clark: Alex is a contributing writer for Acer. Alex is a Texas-based writer and B2B email marketing strategist specializing in helping technology brands connect to their customers. He has lived all over Asia and has consulted with business clients in numerous industries to grow their brands.

XdxD

To be more sustainable, I think it's important for old products to be useful for more than the support period by providing driver and BIOS updates just like Android OEMs are upping their software support period trying to be like Apple. Creating newer sustainable products while discarding older products won't be sustainable enough as the e-waste would be dumped onto this planet itself.