Written by Peter-Jan Roose
Tech companies still have a lot on their plate to reduce direct emissions from business operations and energy sources’ emissions (e.g. electricity of data centers). These so-called ‘Scope 1’ and ‘Scope 2’ emissions are the low-hanging fruits.
Many companies actively work on reducing Scope 1 & 2 emissions for more than a decade. An example of an easy fix is to purchase renewable energy for the supply of buildings and data centers. Google, a leader in those actions, already runs on 100% renewable energy for its operations and data centers since 2017. [1]
A major source of carbon emissions for tech companies is the indirect emission linked to activities along its value chain, better known as ‘Scope 3’. A tangible example of this is the induced electricity consumption at the end-user stage of the product. Think about electricity to power your laptop, phone, internet router, etc; or the energy to store your data, emails, pictures, etc. In 2017, Scope 3 accounted for approximately 90% of tech companies' emissions, reaching 723 859 825 metric tons of CO2 [2]. This is comparable to the total yearly emissions of Germany! [3] Hence, consumers’ and suppliers’ emissions are the high stakes, high rewards.
Here are 3 actions tech companies can take to incentivize consumers to reduce their emissions [4]:
Put a price on carbon
It is possible to price the carbon emissions of a product and to allow the consumer to take on this cost. Companies can then reinvest 100% of the gains in carbon capture technology funds. Stripe, an online payment platform, is an excellent example of this practice. They allow the consumer to contribute a percentage of their payment to such a fund. [5]
On the one hand, this initiative reduces the consumption of carbon-intensive products. On the other hand, it brings investments in new technologies that are still in the development phase.
Increase product lifespan
Did you know that doubling the life span of a smartphone, from one year and a half to three years, would be the equivalent of removing two million cars off the road annually? [6] Teracube[7], a smartphone manufacturer, provides a warra