Amol Deshpande

Partner
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

The technology industry is a powerful force driving global sustainability. HP's innate strengths lie in the fact that their products and services result in efficiency gains, with meaningful returns on investment for both enterprises and consumers. The value of these solutions is often underestimated in the sustainability community, specifically in reducing environmental impact per unit of work product. Using HP Visual Collaboration to obviate the need for one trip per employee per year has a meaningful impact on the environment. More importantly, the impact is improving the quality of life for employees. Business is still done face to face, and will be forever; however, technology can help us to make all those face-to-face meetings more environmentally efficient and cost-effective, yet every bit as impactful.

HP has also been a leader in life cycles for its products. The "closed loop" ink recycling initiative has made sustainability in the printing industry more a best practice than an outlier or anomaly. This is more than a marketing initiative; it is true sustainability in the best interest of the environment, employees, and shareholders alike. The same can be said for HP's forward thinking on ewaste recycling and initiatives it has taken in this arena.

HP should continue to set the standard by which all other tech companies are measured when it comes to such initiatives. This will necessarily be done through continued focus on innovation as exemplified by systems like Visual Collaboration and "closed loop" recycling.

Besides its own core sustainable business practice, HP should stretch to influence new innovators around the world to start with a focus on sustainability from the design stage and participate in that process. With HP's considerable brand, positive influence, and global reach, it has the power to change the way business is done all over the world.