We Firmly Believe In Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Says, CBO, Acer
In an interaction with Urvi Shrivastav, Editorial Lead, BW ESG, BW Businessworld; Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India, speaks about sustainability as a part of company goals and the role they are playing in the same.
What are the initiatives undertaken by Acer to promote sustainable business practices?
It is every company's responsibility to promote a future where companies focus on a healthy environment. Being a tech-based company, we aim to offer institutions with more options to reduce their carbon footprint. Acer has recently launched its Vero series product range globally as well as in India. For this and other initiatives we have been shortlisted for RE 100 collaborator, and even awarded by the same. We have taken initiatives on our product range as well as to promote a sustainable future via our services and product range.
How does the Vero series add to Acer's sustainability index?
We firmly believe in reduce, reuse, recycle. This is firmly embedded in our Vero series, which is accomplished by using post consumer recycle (PCR) materials. 30 per cent of the material used in Vero series in PCR, that is, we have recycled the plastic. 50 per cent of key board caps are PCR compliant. At the same time the Vero series is energy efficient, while offering the same performance level to the consumer. We are ensuring by 2025, 30 per cent of all our products have PCR plastic in them. Similarly, we are co working with most of our suppliers to ensure they are all committed to RE 100 by 2025. We aim to achieve 80 per cent carbon reduction by 2050 compared to the baseline year of 2009.
What about the 2023 expansion plans for Acer, and how do you plan on making it a sustainable expansion?
One is raising awareness among people regarding the need for a sustainable future by using less plastic. We have undertaken various initiatives for this, for example, we have our ‘Project Humanity', where we educate our consumers on various forums to use less plastic. For our employees and suppliers, we have been running fewer campaigns by raising awareness about using less power and how they can help the environment and the Earth. We have been acknowledged by the industry for these initiatives.
We also encourage the consumers to practice the three Rs, that is, reduce, reuse, and recycle, in all areas of their life. For our supply chain partners, we have made it mandatory that they use more amount of recyclable products. However, this is an area where a lot of effort is required. As far as 2023 plans are concerned we have introduced the Aero series of laptops. As we move forward, all our desktops, keyboards, stationery products, and other products in the mobility category will have PCR-compliant products used.
What are the lessons you will be taking henceforth from previous practices, especially with respect to supply chain and omni channel?
We just witnessed a pandemic which is a disruption we have never seen before. It has made us all very health conscious. Recognising this, we launched ‘Acer pure' series of products, including air purifier. We are just stepping into this product category, and as time passes Acer is going to launch many products from this family. We are looking to develop clean air, clean water, and clean energy solutions.
The second part is towards the ecosystems, where everyone is making an effort towards a better environment. Our initiatives include all stakeholders across the supply chain to ensure that they become carbon neutral by 2050. We aim to achieve 80 per cent carbon reduction across our ecosystem by 2050. As far as our omni channel is concerned, it is a part of the environment today. Due to the pandemic, an even larger segment of people has moved online for their day-to-day purchases. Seeing the comfort of online purchases we are moving in the same direction. We have partnered with large e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart, and we also have our own Acer e-store. At the same time there are consumers who like to see the look and feel of the product, see its features etc. which further pushes the idea of an omni channel.
Given that Acer is a tech-first company and recent developments like the launch of 5G will have an impact on it. What is Acer's contribution going to be to this new technology?
5G is in its nascent stages as of now, but hopefully by 2023 large telco service providers have decided to make this an offering in at least larger cities before they expand. It will be a game changer because it certainly gives a better performance etc. Acer being a strong gaming brand will be utilising the 5G initiatives. Being a tech-first company, we were the first to launch a 5G laptop in 2021 itself globally.
Acer is also a proponent of Make In India, what are the initiatives Acer has taken in this field?
Acer is a strong proponent of a global brand local touch. As a result, when we started Acer in India in 1999, we started manufacturing in Pondicherry. The focus at that time was more on stationery products like laptops and servers which was the market at that time. We have been collaborating with the government to figure out how manufacturing can move to India, not just for local consumption but also exports. Last year we have gone into the manufacturing of monitors, tablets, and notebooks as product categories. We firmly believe that it is our responsibility to develop our ecosystem in India. Hence we have tied up with some of the electronic manufacturing services, where we provide them with the technology, business, etc.
