Microsoft and IBM have seen their status downgraded in Canalys‘ latest sustainability benchmarking study, with AWS also losing ground.
The analyst’s 2025 Sustainable Ecosystems Leadership Matrix looks at how the world’s largest technology vendors are embracing sustainability internally and via their partner ecosystem (see more here).
Four vendors (namely incumbents HP, Schneider Electric and Lenovo, alongside newly promoted Dell) were held up as ‘Champions’ this time around.
“Low channel engagement on sustainability”
But Canalys branded it a “challenging year for sustainability” as it downgraded or repositioned several vendor giants.
Having been ranked as ‘Scalers’ in Canalys’ previous Sustainability Matrix in October 2023, Microsoft and IBM were both relegated to the bottom-left ‘Foundations’ segment this time around.
The position of the vendors was based on “the feedback of channel partners, the assessment of Canalys analysts and industry-wide leadership in sustainability”.
Foundation vendors have a “less robust, more basic sustainability strategy”, typically displaying “low channel engagement on sustainability”, Canalys explained.
AWS’ positioning within the ‘Foundations’ quartile moved significantly further down and further left, meanwhile.
Half of the 14 vendors assessed placed in this bottom quartile, with Huawei, Broadcom, Oracle and Apple completing the Foundations line-up.
“Crucially, some of these companies have previously demonstrated maturity in sustainability but recent events, including commitment walk-backs and sky-rocketing emissions, have eroded some of this progress,” Canalys analysts Elsa Jasmine Nightingale and Ben Caddy wrote.
Favoured foursome
On the other hand, the Champions segment welcomed in a new entrant this time around, with Dell joining HP, Lenovo and Schneider Electric in the top-right quartile.
Canalys gave the eponymous vendor a head pat for investing more heavily in sustainability education, recognition and “to some degree, partner financial incentives on circularity”.
HP won plaudits for ramping up circular IT with its new HP Renew Program, while Lenovo was praised for its Lenovo 360 Circle framework. Schneider Electric “stands out for its long-established corporate-level commitment to sustainability – particularly on efficiency and decarbonisation”, meanwhile.
Canalys urged these ‘Champions’ to up their game futher by reporting more widely on the “tangible outcomes” of their partner-focused sustainability events, initiatives and incentives.
The second priority for them must be to invest more heavily in data-reporting support for partners, the analyst added.
2025 “is set to be a promising and challenging year for sustainability”, Nightingale and Caddy wrote.
“A new US administration will likely withdraw from the UN Paris Agreement. CSRD will continue to require more from companies, and this is happening against a background of mounting AI emissions. In 2025, vendors must report on the partner program sustainability progress made and the impact of AI on the integrity of their sustainability goals,” they concluded.
Neither IBM nor Microsoft immediately responded to requests for comment as this article went to press.
