Dell has revealed a long-term corporate responsibility framework, dubbed the 2020 Legacy of Good plan. The plan entails recovering two billion pounds of used electronics, and increasing university hiring to a rate of 25 percent of external hire, among other things.

David Lear (Executive director, Sustainability, Dell): More than 75 percent of our requests-for-proposal include a CSR element. Customers also tell us they lack a means to capture and demonstrate how their own smart IT strategies often lower overall costs and energy use while benefitting the environment.

The 2020 Legacy of Good plan  is divided into three areas – the environment, people (which includes Dell’s 100,000-plus team members worldwide), and communities.

A look at some of the initiatives:

The Environment

Dell’s 2020 environmental aspirations focus on three areas: reducing the environmental impact of company operations – and enabling customers to do the same, driving social and environmental responsibility in the industry and supply chain, and promoting technology’s role in addressing environmental challenges. The plan outlines 12 goals tied to its environmental agenda, each to be achieved by 2020, including:

• Reducing the energy intensity of its product portfolio by 80 percent.
• Using 50 million pounds of sustainable materials, such as recycled plastic, in products, and recovering 2 billion pounds of used electronics.  
• Ensuring waste-free packaging, with materials like wheat straw, mushrooms and bamboo, which are sustainably sourced and 100% recyclable or compostable.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from its facilities and logistics operations.

People

• Increasing eligible team member participation in flexible work programs to 50 percent.
• Increasing university hiring to a rate of 25 percent of external hire.
• Achieving 75 percent favorable responses, or higher, in team member satisfaction annual surveys.

Communities

• Committing to engage 75 percent of team members in community-service initiatives.
• Applying education technology and expertise to projects that reach 3 million young people.

Dell says it will also work with industry stakeholders, including suppliers, partners and competitors, to develop a method for more accurately assessing the ‘net positive’ impact of IT on society, including the ways IT customers use and benefit from increasingly environmentally-sustainable and efficient IT solutions.

Beginning next year, Dell will organize its annual corporate responsibility report around tracking performance against the 2020 Legacy of Good plan. The company will also continue to provide a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Report each year, following the GRI sustainability reporting guidelines.

[Image courtesy: Dell]