Speaking on The Leaders Council Podcast, Circularity First founder, Anthony Levy, discusses the themes of COP27, why the circular economy is important for every business, and sustainable IT and how this can form part of the solution to the climate crisis.
Anthony’s Circularity First organisation is a specialist in helping other businesses make their IT more sustainable through transitioning to the circular economy and making their IT strategies and processes more resilient, cost-effective and above all, better for the planet.
Sitting down with host Scott Challinor, Anthony explained why the technology sector has become one of the more polluting industries, driven by a “take-make-waste” mentality of throwing away tech after a short period of usage. This, as he goes onto explain, has major repercussions for the planet’s natural resources.
Levy said: “A lot of the focus around climate change is around carbon. ICT is already contributing between two and four per cent of the emissions we’re creating as a species. As a benchmark, that’s more than aviation. So, it’s already significant in terms of that and it’s growing.
“By 2040, ICT is projected to be creating 14 per cent of total emissions, so it is one of the fastest growing emissions streams. It’ll be creating more than cement and steel combined by 2040. On top of that, there’s a limited amount of resources available to build technology and while that would be bad on its own, the other big thing we need to do to limit the impact of climate change is the energy transition. The same shopping list of materials you need for IT is what we’ll need to complete the energy transition. So, we’re facing a real collision course there around resources if we aren’t smarter about how we use technology.
“‘EWaste’ is forecast to be at about 75 million tonnes by the end of 2030 and it is very poisonous and not easy to recycle. Yet, we use our tech for a short time and then throw it away. This ‘take-make-waste’ cycle is particularly bad in technology, and it makes it one of the more polluting industries that’s growing quickly.”
With the recent COP27 climate summit coming with the theme of “implementation” and turning plans into tangible action on the climate emergency, Levy explained that technology would form part of the solution, but it had to do more to become sustainable to truly be an effective force for good.
“The world has woken up to the need to urgently address the climate crisis. At COP27 we highlighted the need to move from words to action. Technology is undoubtedly part of the solution, but it cannot truly be a force for good if it leaves carnage of its own in its wake.
“IT is up to 20 per cent of an organisation’s carbon footprint, and ‘eWaste’ is one of the world’s fastest growing waste streams. Circularity First works with forward thinking leaders to enable them to use technology in a more sustainable way.”
Of course, for any entrepreneur that wishes to go on a journey to make their business more sustainable, transitioning to the circular economy may seem daunting and complicated, with questions around cost efficiency.
Highlighting some of the practical steps that businesses can take to make their technology more sustainable, Levy said: “One of the things we deliver for businesses is the most demanding environments is the utilisation of non-new technology. So remanufactured tech as opposed to new. This isn’t to say you’d use old technology that isn’t fit for purpose. We’d specify with businesses exactly what they need but instead of buying it in brand new, we look at how much is available through remanufactured technology.
“We’ve done the maths behind this, and an independent environmental consultancy has evaluated that a remanufactured device versus an old one saves on 90 per cent of the carbon embedded within. One network switch or box that you might plug your laptops or wireless devices into has an embedded two tonnes of carbon within it. That is the same as running one household for a whole year from an electricity perspective. So, this simple step of using remanufactured over new has a material impact in reducing your footprint and comes with cost savings and numerous other benefits.”
Photo by Jonathan Velasquez on Unsplash
