HP announces ambitious climate action goals

April 20, 2021

Ahead of Earth Day, HP outlines broad plans to combat climate change focused on carbon emissions, circularity and forests.

HP Inc. announced a series of goals to drive “a net zero carbon, fully regenerative economy, reduce its overall environmental footprint, and strengthen its long term business and create a sustainable portfolio of products.

The goals are:

Achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across HP value chain by 2040, beginning with supplies business achieving carbon neutrality by 2030
Reduce HP value chain GHG emissions 50% by 2030
Reach carbon neutrality and zero waste in HP operations by 2025
Reach 75% circularity for products and packaging by 2030
Maintain zero deforestation for HP paper and paper-based packaging
Counteract deforestation for non-HP paper used in our products and print services by 2030

At the same time, HP will expand its sustainable forests collaborative and sponsor the Forest Stewardship Council’s Digital Marketplace and join Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas Alliance Steering Committee.

Enrique Lores, HP Inc. President and CEO, said: “Combating the climate crisis is an unprecedented challenge demanding action across the private and public sectors. We all have a shared stake in safeguarding our planet, and making a sustainable impact on the communities we serve must be a priority for all companies.”

HP said it would focus on accelerating five strategic drivers to decouple growth from carbon emissions and resource consumption, drive innovation, and transform design and business models:

Print and Compute-as-a-Service: Print supplies renewal, hardware-as-a-service, certified pre-owned, hardware
Sustainable materials: Increase use of renewable and recycled materials
Supply chain decarbonization: Drive and support supplier carbon reduction, use of renewable electricity, and adoption of surface transportation and alternative fuels and electric vehicles for product shipments
Energy efficiency: Design in existing and new energy-efficient product technologies
Forest investments: Address the fibre used in printing and packaging by investing in forest restoration and protection, and continue to source certified or recycled materials

By 2025 HP expects to be carbon neutral, and 75% of HP’s total annual product and packaging content, by weight, will come from recycled, renewable and/or reused materials, products and parts by 2030. At the same time, HP will commit to 75% of its total annual product and packaging content (by weight) to come from recycled and renewable materials and reused products and parts. These actions are intended to position HP to reach net zero emissions across its value chain by 2040.

Javier Martinez, president of the European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers Association, said: “While we welcome the announcement of HP’s ambitious climate action goals, we would like to see the company doing more to support reuse across the industry and the EU’s Voluntary Agreement, which aims to improve the environmental performance of imaging equipment products across the EU.

Although the performance of the Voluntary Agreement is very limited, it may have an important role to play in reducing the environmental footprint of the printing industry but, without eco-design regulation and clear reuse targets for OEMs such as HP, the impact will be limited.

“HP’s announcement certainly makes for positive reading but, as Europe is currently working on a framework to substantiate environmental claims, that will be the true test of which OEMs deliver on their climate commitments.”

Static Control commented on the HP announcement, “Static control applauds HP’s new climate action goals and hopes that HP will bring that same level of ambition to the EUVA”[European Union Voluntary Agreement].

For the office imaging sector, HP plans to transform its print business from a transactional to a services model and actively reduce its products’ carbon footprint.

HP is launching HP Instant Ink with Planet Partners pilot, leveraging recycling and new renewal capabilities to extend the life of Original HP Supplies. This pilot is intended to help customers decrease virgin plastic used. This project is launching in Germany in May 2021. HP Instant Ink with Planet Partners will allow HP Instant Ink subscribers to opt-in to receive renewed cartridges.

In 2020, HP achieved zero deforestation for 99% of HP brand paper and paper-based product packaging. The remaining 1% assessed to ensure reported fibre usage meets HP’s Sustainable Paper and Wood Policy. HP says that their HP brand paper has been deforestation-free since 2016.

This story was updated at 09.20 – 22.04.2021 with the addition of comments from ETIRA and Static Control.