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Environmental sustainability
The success of HP’s business requires our commitment to environmental sustainability. In a world being reshaped by climate change, volatile energy prices and growing scarcity of natural resources, we are designing our products and services to be energy efficient, use fewer materials and be more easily recyclable. Sustainable design minimizes environmental impact across the entire life cycle while helping our customers reduce costs, create efficiencies and increase productivity.
Climate and energy
We continually work to save energy in our operations and in how our products are manufactured, transported and used. The IT industry is responsible for just 2 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but has a big opportunity to help reduce the other 98 percent. HP invests considerable talent, technology and resources to develop solutions for the wider economy that will reduce energy use, such as HP Halo and HP SkyRoom which can decrease the need for business travel. We often collaborate with other organizations to meet these objectives—as in our work with the conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to advance research on the impacts of climate change and promote thought leadership on the emerging low-carbon economy.
See our Changing the energy equation issue essay to learn more.
Sustainable design
HP offers a wide portfolio of innovative products, services and solutions that help reduce the environmental footprint of businesses and consumers alike. For example, our HP Compaq 8000f Elite Business PC is the first Windows-based desktop PC in the industry to be free of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)1 from the wall to the mouse for every configuration sold. This means that all internal and external PC components, including the keyboard, mouse and power supply are BFR/PVC-free.1
The HP Deskjet D2600 uses 30 percent less energy than the previous model and is made from 50 percent recycled plastic. It uses HP 60 ink cartridges, which themselves are made from up to 70 percent recycled plastic captured from the HP “closed loop” inkjet recycling process, an industry first and only, and other sources such as recycled plastic water bottles.
In 2009, we exceeded our goal to triple the amount of recycled materials used in our inkjet printers relative to 2007, originally targeted for 2010. In 2009, we set a new goal to use a cumulative 45,000 tonnes (100 million pounds) of recycled plastic in our printing products by 2011.
See our product case studies gallery for more examples.
Highlights
- 2%
- the proportion of GHG emissions that come from IT
- 98%
- the proportion of greenhouse gas emissions that IT can help reduce
- 40%
- the amount HP plans to reduce the energy consumption of HP products2 and associated GHG emissions below 2005 levels by the end of 2011 (see Goals)
- 100 million pounds
- the amount of recycled plastic we aim to use in HP printing products by 2011 (see Goals)
Suppliers
Through our long-standing supply chain social and environmental responsibility program, we work with our suppliers to ensure they adhere to high standards and strive to reduce their environmental impacts. (See Supply chain responsibility for detail.) We received responses on energy use and GHG emissions in product manufacturing during 2008 (the most recent data available) from suppliers representing 86 percent of our material and manufacturing spend (up from 81 percent for 2007). Aggregate carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions were 4.1 million metric tonnes, which is roughly two and a half times the emissions from our own operations. See Product manufacturing to learn more.
HP operations
In addition to making our global operations more energy efficient, which helps to reduce GHG emissions, we are also decreasing the volume of resources we use and limiting the waste we produce. In 2009, we diverted 88.8 percent of our waste from landfill, exceeding our target of 87 percent.
Product reuse and recycling
We launched our first recycling program in 1987, and we remain committed to increasing the volume of our products recovered. HP now operates product recycling services in 56 countries or territories worldwide. In 2009, we recovered for reuse 3.6 million hardware units weighing 30,000 tonnes and recycled 118,000 tonnes.
- 1 HP Compaq 8000f Elite USDT Business PC is brominated flame retardant and polyvinyl chloride-free (BFR/PVC-free), meeting the evolving definition of ‘BFR/PVC-free’ as set forth in the “iNEMI Position Statement on the ’Definition of Low-Halogen’ Electronics (BFR/CFR/PVC-Free)’”. Plastic parts contain < 1000 ppm (0.1%) of bromine [if the Br source is from BFRs] and < 1000 ppm (0.1%) of chlorine [if the Cl source is from CFRs or PVC or PVC copolymers]. All printed circuit board (PCB) and substrate laminates contain bromine/chlorine total < 1500 ppm (.15%) with a maximum chlorine of 900 ppm (.09%) and maximum bromine being 900 ppm (.09%).
- 2 The average energy consumption of HP products is estimated using high volume product lines representative of the overall shipped product volume. Energy consumption has been estimated in 2005 and annually since. The high volume product lines include notebook and desktop computers, inkjet and HP LaserJet printers, and industry-standard servers.