CRN Tech Impact: 'The need for urgency is obvious' - Softcat CFO

Graham Charlton urges vendors to make products more sustainable to help Softcat reach its 2040 net zero target

Softcat's CFO has urged vendors to take swift action on sustainability to help Softcat and other channel partners reach net zero.

In an exclusive interview for yesterday's CRN Tech Impact Summit and Awards, Graham Charlton opened up on Softcat's plans to reach carbon net zero supply chain by 2040.

View the winners here. View the Tech Impact Summit and Awards on demand here.

Softcat was one of three leading resellers CRN visited during the summer to find out how each is tackling sustainability (the other two being Computacenter [video here] and Jigsaw24 [video here]).

Softcat's 2040 net-zero goal is ten years ahead of the government's and in line with most of its major vendor partners, said Charlton, who urged vendors to accelerate sustainability initiatives.

"We need manufacturers to think about using sustainable materials in their products," he said.

"We need to understand how customers can adopt those and green energy, and develop and adopt the processes of a genuinely circular economy as well.

"It's great to see some big players like HP developing things like the Dragonfly laptop, which is using predominantly recycled plastics. Intercepting some of that wastage and reusing it is clearly going to be important, but it's a huge task and the solutions will emerge as the next 20 years unfold before us."

Softcat's Marlow HQ has been doubling up as a Covid vaccination centre since January.

"When we were asked to give up the space it was a very easy answer for us," Charlton said.

"Sustainability is looking for opportunities like that to contribute and play a part in wider society, rather than just driving for growth and profits all the time."