Inkjet & Digital Printing

HP Releases Annual Sustainable Impact Report

Wednesday 01. July 2020 - HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) today released its 2019 Sustainable Impact Report, highlighting the progress the company is making to drive greater diversity and inclusion, reduce its environmental footprint, and strengthen communities around the world. As part of these commitments, HP announced a new goal to double the number of Black and African American executives inside the company by 2025.

HP also announced a new goal to eliminate 75 percent of single-use plastic packaging by 2025, supporting the company’s efforts to drive a low-carbon, circular economy.
Efforts to make a sustainable impact on people, the planet and communities are integrated into HP’s business strategy and operations, and have become an increasingly important driver of customer purchasing decisions. HP’s Sustainable Impact efforts helped drive more than $1.6 billion in sales wins in 2019, up an estimated 69 percent, reflecting the growing business imperative for companies to lead with purpose.
“The HP culture has long been built on the belief that how we do things is just as important as what we do. Recent events have laid bare the systemic racism and deep inequalities that remain a stain on society, and it’s imperative for all companies to act with urgency on all fronts,” said Enrique Lores, HP President and CEO.
“It’s especially important for companies to hold themselves accountable and publicly report their progress,” Lores continued. “This year’s data shows that HP is making significant strides forward in many areas, while also revealing where we must do better. For example, the number of African American employees is below where it needs to be, and we are taking actions to improve. While we have a lot of hard work ahead, our values-driven culture that unites our teams and our partners gives me confidence in our ability to accelerate our progress and foster a more sustainable, equitable, and just society.”
Embracing Diversity and Inclusion to Drive Action
HP is driving a culture of diversity and inclusion at all levels of the company and remains committed to fighting racial inequality in all forms. HP’s Board of Directors continues to be the most diverse of any U.S. technology company, comprised of 42 percent women and 58 percent minorities. In 2019, 63 percent of U.S. hires were from underrepresented groups, including women, U.S. ethnicities, veterans, and persons with disabilities (compared to 57 percent in 2018). HP exceeded its target for hiring veterans by 43 percent, and 40 percent of new hires in the U.S. were minorities, up from 32 percent in 2018.
Globally, 40 percent of HP hires in 2019 were women, and the company’s Global Supplier Diversity program spent $374 million with small and diverse suppliers including minority- and women-owned businesses, contributing $698 million in overall economic impact.
HP is entering its fourth year of the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Challenge, a business school competition, in partnership with the National HBCU Business Deans Roundtable. Forty-four schools have participated in the Challenge so far, providing students the opportunity to develop solutions to real HP business problems while gaining hands-on industry experience.
Earlier this year, HP re-committed to the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The HP Foundation pledged $500,000 to social justice organizations to confront and combat systemic racism and inequality in society.
HP is also leveraging its platforms to shine a spotlight on these issues globally. It is partnering with Girl Rising, a global nonprofit dedicated to eradicating poverty by providing education to women and girls, to launch My Story: The 2020 Storytelling Challenge.The challenge will bring to life examples of young leaders fighting for human rights, racial justice, gender equity and the advancement of education for girls.
Creating A World Without Waste
Three hundred million tonnes of plastic are produced each year worldwide, half of which are for single use and 91 percent are not recycled at all. Packaging is also experiencing an increase in demand as a result of COVID-19. Packaging comprises a significant portion of total waste produced and can affect the health of our planet and people, which is why HP today announced a new goal to eliminate 75 percent of single-use plastic packaging by 2025. The goal focuses on hardware unit packaging and is predicated on a move to molded fiber packaging cushions.
HP’s environmental packaging strategy aims to eliminate unnecessary plastics and materials of concerns wherever possible. In 2019, HP decided to eliminate power cord plastic ties and plastic document bags in hardware packaging. HP also has shifted to more recyclable, paper-based alternatives. To accelerate this shift, the company is transitioning from plastic foam packaging cushions to those made with 100 percent recycled, molded pulp for HP’s notebooks, desktops and displays. The transition to molded fiber Personal Systems packaging cushions eliminated 933 tonnes of hard-to-recycle expanded plastic foam last year.
In Printing, HP reduced plastic foam by 40 percent and eliminated over 95 tonnes of the material in 2019 just by redesigning the packaging of a printer model. Launched in 2019, the HP Tango Terra is HP’s first printer with zero plastic packaging, using a combination of molded fiber cushions and glassine paper to replace the typical plastic foam and bag. In 3D printing, HP recently announced the availability of a new material called polypropylene (PP) that helps reduce waste by enabling up to 100 percent reusability of surplus powder.
HP is also accelerating its use of recycled content plastics across its print and personal systems product portfolio. During 2019, HP used over 25,000 tonnes of post-consumer recycled content plastic in HP print and PS products, or equivalent to 9 percent plastics used. The company is working to increase this to 30 percent by 2025. HP has also sourced 1.7 million pounds – more than 60 million bottles – of ocean-bound plastic, and launched the world’s first notebook, display, mobile workstation and enterprise Chromebook made using ocean-bound plastics. With 111 Gold and 268 Silver EPEAT-registered products – more than any other company in the IT industry, HP has the world’s most sustainable PC portfolio.4
Protecting and Restoring Forests
HP aims to regenerate natural systems that sustain life with a focus on protecting and restoring global forests. After eliminating deforestation in the supply chain for HP brand paper in 2016, the company is on track to do the same for its paper-based product packaging by the end of 2020.
In 2019, HP announced its partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Together, HP and WWF aim to restore, protect and responsibly manage 200,000 acres of forest, an area equal to the size of New York City. Over five years, HP is contributing $11 million for WWF to restore part of Brazil’s critically threatened Atlantic Forest. In China, the project is focused on increasing the area of sustainably managed forest plantations to improve their resiliency and biodiversity. In both countries with the help of WWF, HP is advancing forest science to quantify the nature benefits of forest restoration activities.
HP has also launched the HP Sustainable Forest Collaborative and those efforts have inspired the Arbor Day Foundation, Chenming Paper, Domtar and New Leaf Paper to join the collaborative and accelerate efforts on forest restoration. The cross-industry collaboration will demonstrate scientific and viable approaches to keeping forests ecosystems healthy. Together, HP and the collaborative members seek others to join the movement of growing forests and biodiversity for future generations.
Building Resilient Communities Everywhere
Quality education is a human right and technology can be a great equalizer. Since 2015, HP has reached more than 28 million students and adult learners, driving progress toward enabling better learning outcomes for 100 million people by 2025. HP LIFE, a program of the HP Foundation, provides core business and IT skills for entrepreneurs, adult learners and students free of charge through online, offline and in-person training. HP LIFE has reached more than 800,000 users since 2012, and is on track to reach its goal to enroll one million users by 2025, compared to 2016.
Inclusive access to technologies, tools and materials that can advance education for people everywhere is a key strategy for HP’s Sustainable Impact. In 2019, 6.3 million personal computers were shipped to schools worldwide. During COVID-19, many schools were closed and the shift to mobile and online learning has been a challenge for many students who lack access to devices or a reliable Internet connection to learn from home. In response, HP recently launched HP Turn to Learn, a program that is delivering educational content primarily focused on STEM and environmental topics to Title I school districts across the U.S. in partnership with TIME for Kids, NASA and Britannica. As part of the wide range of actions HP is taking to combat COVID-19 including more than 2.3 million 3D printed parts such as face shields, masks, nasal swabs and more for hospitals, HP and HP Foundation are committed to donating an estimated $8 million in products and grants to support blended learning and local communities.
HP is committed to building a more equitable, more resilient and more sustainable future for all. The company, along with more than 155 businesses signed the ‘Recover Better’ statement, urging governments worldwide to align their COVID-19 economic aid and recovery efforts with the latest climate science, because planetary health affects human health. This type of public advocacy and collective action is an important part of HP’s Sustainable Impact strategy and supports the systemic changes and policy action needed to help HP achieve its goals and commitments as we continue to protect our people, communities and the planet.