Many trends accelerated during the pandemic, including the degree to which vendors (and businesses all over) have integrated sustainability agendas. Prior to COVID-19, sustainability was gaining traction as leading technology organizations were starting to outline strategies and targets. In the last 12 months, sustainability has become an increasingly key area of discussion, particularly within the channel, with vendors consistently encouraging partners to hit green targets.

Rise of vendor programs supporting sustainability

From a vendor's perspective, 2021 saw the birth of programs dedicated to help partners introduce sustainable practices within their operations. HP's Amplify Impact Initiative took center stage in this arena, with Salesforce's “Lead” pillar and VMware's Zero Carbon Committed Initiative also contributing. Cisco too, unveiled a new Environmental Sustainability Specialization during its latest partner summit. All these programs have been designed to educate and raise sustainability awareness in the channel. Many vendors have the greater financial capability, as well as an established supply chain, to help partners adopt sustainable practices and sustainability programs and specializations will help put these capabilities to work for partners. HP expects that by 2025, half its partners will enter the Amplify Impact program.

Partners that have similar aspirations to those vendors directly benefit from these programs. A Canalys study in September did however find that 38% of partners still value an increase in sales and profitability ahead of business transformation when it comes to partner programs. Moving forward, it is likely such partners will fall behind and ultimately miss out on opportunities for growth as customer requirements lean towards sustainability.

Greater focus from partners and customers

Businesses that specialize in critical sustainability-related services are increasingly in high demand, particularly in parts of Western Europe where sustainability is showing up high on the corporate agenda. This includes companies that offer IT asset disposition (ITAD) or life cycle management solutions, as well as those offering metric reporting services. These companies are seeing surging demand for their services and will continue to do so as we move into the decade.

Vendors have acknowledged they can position themselves as an enabler to promote a circular framework through their initiatives, but have highlighted that channel partners must follow the trend and adopt a circular approach to eliminate waste from their operations, and moreover, provide services to help customers dispose of their old IT assets.

All actors along the supply chain agree that togetherness is key

The COP26 in Glasgow revealed that the UN's Sustainable Development Goals are currently out of reach and not enough is being done to remain within the 1.5⁰C global heating limit. Looking at the current levels of emissions being released into the environment, the earth's temperature would rise to an estimated 2.8⁰C by 2100, leading to resource scarcity, species extinctions and natural disasters resulting from extreme weather conditions.

In last year's Canalys Channels Forum, a series of expert hubs were hosted where vendors and partners were brought together to discuss the major trends of 2021. Sustainability was a key topic with different hubs being hosted around Energy, Diversity and Inclusion, Environmental KPIs, and the Circular Economy. Although these themes encompass different discussions, the same conclusions were drawn: there is an emergency, and the IT industry must come together to educate and raise awareness to ultimately deliver on green targets.

The pandemic has shown that organizations have the ability to rapidly change operations. Although it is a fact that the planet is currently not on course to limit the rising temperatures to 1.5⁰C, the pandemic has shown that under unprecedented circumstances, there can be a rapid shift if organizations come together and collaborate towards one common goal.