New Cisco innovation aids businesses in achieving sustainability targets

Cisco announces the Carbon Emissions Insights in Webex Control Hub that delivers actionable insights allowing organizations to meet their sustainability goals. It is the first of its kind to provide scope 2 emissions reporting and recommendations for optimizing energy consumption and usage of Cisco Webex devices in the collaboration industry. This is part of Cisco’s larger sustainability commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and to continue innovating its products with sustainability as a priority.

Gartner reported that environmental sustainability has become one of the top 10 strategic business priorities for CEOs for the first time in the past year. Among the CEOs who plan to invest in new or improved products in 2022 and 2023, 80% named environmental sustainability as the third most important factor, trailing only functional performance and overall quality. Additionally, sustainability is viewed as a key factor in setting companies apart from their competitors, ranking equally with brand trust among those surveyed.

Jeetu Patel, EVP and GM, Security and Collaboration, Cisco said “At Cisco, we’re laser-focused on helping to create a more sustainable and positive impact across the globe.”

Patel added “Critical to our mission of designing products and solutions with circular design principles in mind is helping our customers meet their environment, sustainability and governance goals, and we’re the only company to offer a feature of this kind.”

Carbon Emissions Insights in the Webex Control Hub allow companies to:

• Report estimated energy usage and related carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from Cisco collaboration devices. The calculations are based on formulas from recognized governmental authorities such as the US Environmental Protection Agency

• See emissions trends over time to track progress towards sustainability goals

• Guide administrators to enable features like Webex’s Office Hours to reduce their energy usage

For IT administrators, Carbon Emissions Insights will be accessible through Webex Control Hub and activated by default. To integrate this data into client sustainability reporting tools, an API is also available. Beginning this summer, Carbon Emissions Data will be accessible.

By 2025, Cisco aims to have all of its new products and packaging incorporate Circular Design Principles, with a particular focus on its devices. To achieve this goal, Cisco is promoting its Takeback and Reuse Program to customers, partners, and employees, which allows for 99.9% of returned end-of-use hardware to be reused or recycled. The company is also prioritizing sustainability and circularity in product design, such as using 100% recyclable packaging for the Cisco Room Bar and creating models of the Cisco IP Phone 8800 series with 100% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) resin to reduce the use of virgin plastic by over 3 million pounds annually. This commitment to sustainability demonstrates Cisco’s efforts to reduce waste and promote environmentally friendly practices.