Computacenter’s new 1:1 device recovery target will ensure its execs have a sustainability-related quest they can be judged on in the short term, CEO Mike Norris has told IT Channel Oxygen.
In its recent 2023 results presentation, Computacenter unveiled a new goal of recovering a device for every device it sells.
Although Computacenter last year brought forward its net zero goal from 2050 to 2040, reaching net zero on Scope 3 is “a way away, and you and I might not be doing this by then”, Norris conceded during a wider interview.
The 1:1 device goal represents a more “practical, sensible” goal Norris can “affect”.
“As the CEO of a public company, my non-exec directors would like me to have ESG targets. We’re net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 – we got there in 2022. Obviously, getting there on Scope 3 is much more difficult because of your supply chain, and people are quoting 2040 or 2050 and it’s a bit too nebulous,” Norris told IT Channel Oxygen.
“I was happy to have a target, but I want a meaningful target. I want something I can contribute to and make a difference to.”
Ratcheting up the recovery rate
Last year, Computacenter sold 4.7 million devices, and recovered 775,000 devices via its Computacenter Circular Services arm (which was recently branded from RDC).
That equates to a ratio of about one in six.
Norris and his fellow executives will now be remunerated partly on their progress on upping that ratio over the coming years.
Computacenter Circular Services has been “brought closer to the core”, Norris said.
“We have a commitment to opening the recycling, remarketing, redeployment business throughout Europe and eventually in the States (not straight away, it’s going to take us a little bit of time to get there),” Norris said.
“We have a commitment, and we will have targets which will be set to all of our senior managers to get a 1-for-1 ratio between the number of devices we sell and the number of devices we redeploy, remarket or recycle,” Norris added.
“I like that, because I can do something with that. Over the next three or four years I can close these gaps, and I think that’s making a difference.”
The goal mirrors the 1:1 target ratio between IT units sold vs recovered being chased by Nordic peer Atea, which is lauded for being a sustainability leader. It claims it recovered 604,000 units in 2022, up from 436,000 a year earlier.
New regulations in mainland Europe compelling public sector organisations to buy refurbished, reused or recycled kit are “creeping into the UK”, a TD Synnex exec observed recently, meanwhile.
“We think it’s a good business opportunity as well,” Norris noted.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
