Global technology provider, Westcon-Comstor, has issued a detailed delineation of its most recent annual carbon emissions. This action corresponds with the company's larger drive towards meeting ambitious sustainability objectives through a data-informed strategy.
In the year concluding on 28th February 2023, the company's Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which include emissions it directly or indirectly owns or controls, dropped by 2.2% to 3,276 tCO2e.
Contrastingly, indirect emissions that take place in the company's value and supply chain, known as Scope 3 emissions, witnessed an increase of 17.4% year-on-year to 785,953 tCO2e. This rise partly reflected the use of a spend-based emissions calculation method, correlating to the company's revenue increase of 18.3% within the same duration.
With the target of reducing Scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to 2022 levels, Westcon-Comstor plans to modify its data theory from a spend-based approach to the use of product-specific data for emissions calculations, to enhance data accuracy.
The firm’s newly released Responsible Business report for 2023 financial year highlights that more than half of its suppliers globally have established science-based emission reduction objectives, pursuing a target of 80% by 2025.
Head of ESG at Westcon-Comstor, Mark McLardie, emphasises the crucial role collaboration with vendors and partners play in the company's journey towards net-zero business by 2050. Recognising the necessity to decouple business growth from emissions growth, McLardie explains that it is essential for the company to work efficiently with its partners and vendors to significantly enhance the robustness of their supplier emissions data, particularly on their products.
David Grant, CEO at Westcon-Comstor, reinforces the company’s commitment to leading the IT ecosystem towards more sustainable practices through reducing carbon emissions. Underlining the importance of shared responsibility, he reflects on the grand scale of the challenge, but remains stalwart in tackling the ambitious goals set by the company.
Westcon-Comstor is a participant in the Business Ambition for 1.5C initiative introduced by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The SBTi has recently endorsed the company's 2050 net-zero aims.
A significant detail on the Responsible Business report indicates that during FY23, Westcon-Comstor operated collaboratively with vendors and partners on several custom 'reverse logistics' programmes, launched an emissions tracking data management platform, applied an ESG risk management framework for suppliers, and carried out desk-based assessments of its biggest vendors. The company's focus for FY24 will be to enhance data quality further and improve capabilities to capture and report data regarding general office waste throughout its operations.