Do you are feeling a bit misplaced when folks discuss with sure environmental sustainability matters and aren’t certain the place to begin in the case of studying extra? Sustainability 101 is a weblog collection which you could flip to for details about completely different environmental phrases which will come up at work, throughout discussions with mates, and even at your annual vacation gathering.
A lot of the local weather change dialog is concentrated on the impacts of actions we take day by day — selecting automobiles that run on low-carbon electrical energy or inexperienced hydrogen as a substitute of gasoline or diesel, shifting to electrical energy from much less emissions-intensive sources, or utilizing merchandise manufactured from recycled content material and/or which might be recyclable.
Nevertheless, shifting to services and products that generate decrease emissions whereas they’re in use tackles solely a part of the greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions puzzle — what’s known as operational emissions. The opposite a part of the equation — and one which Cisco has additionally been working to scale back by way of how we design, manufacture, ship and handle our merchandise at finish of life — is what’s known as embodied emissions.
Embodied emissions are the GHG emissions generated when manufacturing a product (or the parts that go right into a product), when transporting it and when it’s handled on the finish of its helpful life. These emissions are already a part of it before you purchase and/or use it [1].
A key focus space for a lot of expertise firms is to handle the operational emissions of gadgets in use at this time by enhancing the power effectivity of those merchandise. Nevertheless, the place firms have the best means to have an effect on emissions is thru the design, manufacturing, transportation (together with reverse logistics) and reusability/recyclability of merchandise. To make a product with a decrease carbon impression over its lifecycle, now we have to grasp what makes up the embodied emissions in a product and the way we are able to design or modify the methods we make and transport it to scale back emissions.
A not-so-small step for humankind: quantifying a product’s embodied carbon emissions.
The complete scope of emissions generated by the manufacturing, transportation, use and finish of lifetime of a product might be quantified by way of a lifecycle evaluation (LCA). This includes assessing what emissions resulted from manufacturing a product: from extracting or manufacturing its base supplies (e.g., plastic for laptop circumstances, battery supplies like lithium), to the share of power utilized in factories to remodel supplies into parts after which assemble parts into that single product. Emissions may also be generated when producing packaging for a product, when transporting it to the end-user and from therapy on the finish of its helpful life.
In a approach, measuring operational carbon is probably going extra easy — based mostly on measurable metrics similar to supply and amount of electrical energy used, gallons of gas consumed, and the emission components related to them. By comparability, assessing embodied carbon of a product requires a spread of actions:
- Defining the system boundaries, i.e., which course of steps are included and excluded;
- Utilizing a acknowledged methodology for the gathering of information and emissions quantification — for instance, steering from the Greenhouse Gasoline Protocol (i.e., Product Lifecycle Accounting and Reporting Commonplace), Publicly Accessible Specification (PAS) 2050, the ISO14040-44 requirements or the ISO14067 normal;
- Gathering information on the amount of supplies used and power consumption at every lifecycle stage, in addition to the carbon dioxide equal (CO2e) emission issue for every materials and course of to quantify whole CO2e emissions; and
- Ensuring the information for the chosen evaluation is constant (e.g., useful unit, timescale).
Upon getting that data, you may quantify the embodied carbon emissions in a product and begin the actual work — utilizing that data to determine methods to scale back these emissions.
The suitable information can level the way in which to focused emissions reductions.
With a wealthy understanding of a product’s embodied carbon emissions, product designers can then doubtlessly make selections that cut back that product’s embodied emissions shifting ahead. Throughout product design, firms can take into account substituting lower-carbon supplies into merchandise. That substitution can take the type of utilizing the identical materials(s) produced in a much less emissions-intensive method (i.e., through the use of recycled materials, extra power environment friendly industrial processes and/or lower-carbon power on the manufacturing facility stage) or through the use of an alternate materials that’s much less emissions intensive to supply.
As well as, producers can optimize processes and implement design adjustments to scale back the general use of supplies and the quantity of waste generated throughout manufacturing. Embodied emissions may also be diminished through the use of extra power environment friendly manufacturing processes and applied sciences, and utilizing low-carbon sources of power for these processes. The impression of transportation too might be diminished by implementing adjustments similar to utilizing low-carbon modes of transport and gas varieties.
Closing the loop.
Cisco’s group has been exhausting at work performing its personal lifecycle assessments and product carbon footprints assessments to account for the greenhouse gasoline emissions from its manufacturing, transportation, and end-of-life therapy for its merchandise. Details about these processes might be discovered on Cisco’s ESG Hub.
Manufacturing, transport, and end-of-life emissions could make up roughly 1 / 4 of whole emissions in Cisco merchandise [2], which is why it’s important to account for and work to scale back emissions not ensuing from product use. Calculating the impacts of Cisco merchandise allows our groups to not solely perceive the lifecycle carbon impacts of our merchandise, however to mannequin the impacts of varied design, materials and course of adjustments that may be made to our merchandise.
Cisco has a public purpose for 100% of recent Cisco merchandise and packaging to include Round Design Rules by FY25. Cisco has recognized 25 Round Design Rules, organized throughout the 5 focus areas beneath. These Rules play a pivotal position in enabling the discount of GHG emissions throughout the lifecycles of Cisco merchandise, particularly their embodied carbon emissions. Go to the ESG Hub for extra particulars on Cisco’s purpose and its Round Design Rules.
Cisco additionally has applications to encourage product returns, reuse, and recycling to scale back emissions from product finish of use. When merchandise are returned to Cisco, we consider their situation and eligibility for reuse. If the product is in usable situation or repairable and there’s demand for the product, it undergoes a testing and/or restore course of to fulfill Cisco’s high quality requirements. One of many major objectives of product return course of is to redeploy as a lot materials as doable, thus decreasing the manufacturing of virgin supplies and subsequent emissions.
- Product returns: Varied applications provided for patrons to return merchandise again to Cisco to make sure that they observe the best worth finish of use pathway.
- Product reuse: Reuse is at all times a prime precedence. Returned gadgets that may be reused are remanufactured, refurbished, or repaired, and resold by Cisco Refresh, or utilized by Cisco service operations or our inside labs.
- Product recycling: Any merchandise that aren’t reusable are harvested for parts that may be reused, and remaining supplies are recycled the place doable by considered one of our licensed recyclers. We presently have two contracted e-scrap recyclers. Every recycler makes use of each company-owned services and subcontracted recyclers to supply international recycling protection.
Please go to the ESG Hub for particulars on the varied returns and reuse applications provided.
Calculating product embodied carbon emissions is important for Cisco to assist our prospects in quantifying the carbon impression of the merchandise they buy, and it additionally supplies Cisco with data that’s necessary in our efforts to scale back the GHG emissions related to our merchandise.
[1] Carbon Herald, https://carbonherald.com/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter/
[2]That is based mostly on lifecycle greenhouse gasoline emissions quantified for Cisco ICT merchandise utilizing international electricity-use emission components. Go to the ESG Hub (“Environmental Footprint of our Merchandise”) for extra particulars.
Share:
