Sustainability in Tech Summit 2025: E-waste, education and the importance of data
The first half of CRN’s SiT summit struck a balanced note between hope and urgency for the climate crisis. Here are the highlights
At CRN’s second Sustainability in Tech Summit in London, alarms were raised, hope was stoked and industry lights in IT came together to discuss the practical impact that the sector could have in combating the climate crisis and promoting social justice.
After contributing editor Sara Yirrell opened the summit with a call to action, the morning sessions tackled key topics including the active role channel partners should take, the impact of the PC refresh wave and the necessity for corporate education in greening the industry.
Read on for our recap of the morning sessions.
Sustainability starts with you
PIctured: Nathaniel Comer
Nathaniel Comer, founder and CEO of Sun Screen IT, opened the summit with a powerful and personal call to action on the e-waste crisis.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, he began, channeling Margaret Mead.
"The mob makes noise, but it’s individuals who spark revolutions."
Comer, who founded Sun Screen IT after a life-changing conversation with a Ghanaian teacher, painted a vivid picture of the global e-waste catastrophe.
He recalled how the teacher’s school, flooded with broken computers, was forced to teach students IT with drawings of keyboards on a blackboard. "They burn the old computers for scrap metal," Comer said, "poisoning their land, air, and future."
Recently returning from the notorious Agbogbloshie e-waste dump in Ghana, Comer shared harrowing statistics.
"A single egg from a chicken grazing there has 200 times the safe dose of chlorinated dioxins," he revealed.
He warned that the industry's consumption habits are driving these toxic outcomes.
"It takes 190,000 liters of water, 400kg of carbon, and 1.8 tons of earth to manufacture a single laptop." he said.
Comer didn't stop at the problem; he offered a solution: IT asset disposition (ITAD).
Through Sun Screen IT, corporations contribute a small margin from IT disposal to fund sustainable IT projects for underserved communities. “For every £6 we raise, we can provide a child with IT access for a year,” Comer stated, highlighting the dual impact on sustainability and social equity.
“We can’t stop innovating, but we must rethink consumption, he concluded.
“The IT industry has a monopoly on e-waste, and the power to change it. What is your ability to act, and what will be your response?”
How sustainability data will help the channel ride the PC refresh wave
From l to r: Dominique Declerck, Howard Davies, Thomas Mardahl, Steve Finnegan
2025 is being touted as the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh, when Microsoft encourages users to upgrade from Windows 10, alongside the rise in AI PCs.
But is this what the experts are seeing?
Kicking off the second session of the day, Arete Zero Carbon managing director Steve Finnegan asked Howard Davies, co-founder and CEO of analyst house CONTEXT for his insights into the refresh.
“What we're seeing at the moment is that the corporate refresh is starting to happen, but the SMB refresh is not,” Davies told the audience.
“If you look at what the options are for companies, $61 will get you an extension on your Windows 10 for the first year, the second year, it'll be double at $122 or cheaper than buying a new PC.”
He added the education sector can get this extension for $1 in the first year or $2 in the second.
“So as usual, the SMB - and a lot of that is going through distribution - is waiting. There's economic uncertainty that’s holding things back to a certain extent as well.
“It'll take a while and 2025 won't be the year when those very large numbers start to occur. 2026 is another matter.
“That take up of serious AI is not happening associated with refresh.
“Again, that's this year. Next year, as prices come down and there's more volume, and maybe also more user case studies of the benefit of AI and having that processing power, maybe that will come through next year, to some extent.”
With the increasing desire from vendors to thrust these new devices into the hands of end users, it’s only inevitable these consumers, as well as distributors and resellers question the environmental impact of the products they are selling.
“There’s a huge surge in demand for environmental and social impact information on products in the whole ISP channel, resellers and distributors,” said Dominique Deklerck of the GTDC.
This requested information primarily includes energy consumption information on ICT products for the carbon footprint, e-waste information and material composition information.
Deklerck attributed this surge in demand for more information to several factors.
“First of all, regulation. There's a lot of regulation in many of our countries, especially in Europe. Some may claim there is over regulation. You have CSRD, CSDDD and others around waste generation, packaging information.
“There’s also increased awareness and interest by businesses and consumers who are looking for environmentally friendly products.
“Although we see the demand is mostly driven these days because of regulation.
“It’s not easy for the whole channel to cope with that surge of information, because it's so vast. It comes in all kinds of formats, it’s not structured, and it's a challenge for the whole IT value chain to respond.”
In order to answer these green questions, manufacturers, distributors and resellers alike need one thing, carbon footprint data.
“This will need accurate data. That's part of what we are seeing today, a huge change towards accurate data, data insights, just like we have seen from the financial world,” said Thomas Mardahl, founder of Rejoose.
“I think we are close to what you could call a paradigm change. If you want to be a successful sales person in 2025, you need to understand that there's no such thing as a sustainability or ESG team over in the corner, it is becoming a core part of business strategy.”
Deklerck added that accurate measurement of the life cycle impact of PCs cannot be overstated.
“First of all, if you as a manufacturer are doing a life cycle assessment, then you can as well do it with the objective of having accurate data.
“There's otherwise no point in doing a life cycle assessment on a product.”
He said one of the most obvious reasons for a manufacturer to have accurate data is for its environmental credibility.
“Accurate measurements actually help you identify the areas in your product that you can actually improve.
“The other reason that you have is regulatory compliance. Accurate measurements and data allow you to be compliant with all those regulations that are very stringent.
“Not being compliant or providing data that is not accurate can lead to legal and financial consequences.
“Finally, another reason is consumer trust.”
Mardahl wrapped the panel by hammering home why getting accurate, actionable carbon data for IT products is so vital.
“We see a huge effort from the entire industry in getting more and more accurate data, achieving a more and more transparent approach to how the LCA data is being derived and generated.
“This is really, really important to understand that this is a license to operate for the future. You cannot not have carbon emission data on your products. It will be mandatory going forward.”
----
A mission rooted in pedagogy
From l to r: Simone Rossi, Alana Heath
To achieve its sustainability goals, the channel sometimes needs external help.
Enter the NGO sector and organisations like How to Change the World.
To discuss this close collaboration, Simone Rossi, EMEA sustainability success manager at Lenovo international markets, sat down with Alana Heath, co-founder and COO of How to Change the World, to talk about the NGO’s work in sustainability and its collaboration with Lenovo.
The London-based non-profit was founded in 2019 aims to arm students and early career professionals with the skillset to build a more sustainable future.
Before founding this organisation, Heath said she spent “a dozen years” working with different impact investing funds, “high-tech sectors that design products and services for communities and individuals in rural areas, low-income areas all around the world.”
Rossi then asked the co-founder and COO how the NGO aims to the gap between sustainability and education.
“We specialise in experiential learning, which is how to learn by doing, but in a highly structured environment, through a pedagogy and technology methodology that allows learners to apply the knowledge and apply the content that they are using, rather than learning on the job.”
Heath added that her co-founder, Jason Blackstock, developed “a unique pedagogy” that “enables the delivery of experiential learning at scale for hundreds of learners.”
How to Change the World then took this learning “a step further” and developed it for thousands of learners.
“Sustainability challenges are complex, interdisciplinary, they rarely have a textbook solution that you can look up the answer to.
“To learn how to tackle these messy, real-world challenges across industries, learners need to have practical, hands-on experience.”
This hands-on experience, Heath said, is primordial for learners as “content is not enough” to turn knowledge to “concrete actions that benefit the corporate setting.”
To solve this issue, the organisation works “with hundreds of higher education institutions like Queens University, Imperial College London, McMaster University, Singapore Management University, University of Toronto, all widely dispersed around the world.”
Impact, flexibility and empowerment
According to Heath, large corporations like Lenovo “have a key role” to play in creating a sustainable future.
“[They] have the power to alter entire markets, to create new supply chains, to influence sectors at large, because they have a global influence.”
But smaller companies have an advantage, they “can move nimbly.”
“All those collaborations enable us to move faster together,” said Heath.
“For a sustainable strategy to work, team members across the corporation must know how they're contributing and what role they play to make that future a reality.
“That comes down to every individual within a corporation feeling empowered and equipped, as they need to understand how their role is connected to the sustainability targets and goals of their firm.
“Our partnerships are well aligned to develop the mindsets and skills across the ecosystem and bridge higher education with the future of sustainability and the sustainable transition for Lenovo and its partners.”