As COP26 kicks off, here's what six top vendor CEOs are saying about sustainability

Boris Johnson warned this morning that the world is at "one minute to midnight" on climate change as COP26 kicked off in earnest.

Ahead of the Glasgow summit - which is viewed as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control - a flurry of tech CEOs stepped forward to highlight how they are boosting efforts to help customers become more sustainable, green up their own operations, or to call for change.

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

Ahead of COP26, Apple announced last week that it has more than doubled the number of suppliers using 100 per cent clean energy over the last year.

The Mac and iPhone maker said this would accelerate progress towards its "ambitious" 2030 goal to be carbon neutral across its supply chain and products (it already claims to be carbon neutral across its global operations).

The world's second most valuable company also launched 10 new initiatives to support communities impacted by climate change, with CEO Tim Cook urging others to act.

Every company should be a part of the fight against climate change, and together with our suppliers and local communities, we're demonstrating all of the opportunity and equity green innovation can bring.

We're acting with urgency, and we're acting together. But time is not a renewable resource, and we must act quickly to invest in a greener and more equitable future.

Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

July's Microsoft Inspire conference saw the launch of Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, which is designed to "help companies measure, understand and take charge of their carbon emissions, set sustainability goals and take measurable action".

On an earnings call last week, (see transcript here) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the offering as "an entirely new business category".

Sustainability is an existential priority for our society and for every business today. And when we think about our approach to sustainability, it's more than just the carbon footprint of our own data centers.

With our Microsoft Cloud for sustainability, we are creating an entirely new business process category to help organisations monitor the carbon footprint across their operations. The world's largest baking company, Grupo Bimbo, for example, is using our tools to report, record, and reduce its emissions in every country where it operates.

Enrique Lores, CEO, HP

HP last week announced an $80m expansion of its forest conservation partnership with WWF to help restore, protect, and improve the management of nearly 1 million acres of forest around the world by 2030.

Having claimed to achieve 100 per cent zero deforestation associated with HP-branded paper in 2016, HP pledged in 2019 to make every page printed on an HP printer forest positive.

The new $80m investment will see it become WWF's largest US corporate partner, with HP CEO Enrique Lores taking to Twitter last week to urge all businesses to "work towards a net-zero carbon, fully regenerative" economy.

Ahead of #COP26, we're reminded of the urgent need for bold action on climate. Our new and expanded partnership with @WWF furthers @HP's commitment to forest conservation. We must all work toward a net zero carbon, fully regenerative economy.https://t.co/lVXYorAmhi

— Enrique Lores (@EnriqueJLores) October 27, 2021

Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce

In September, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declared the CRM vendor to be net zero across its "value chain" and announced the achievement of 100 per cent renewable energy for its operations.

In a pre-COP26 statement, Benioff last week highlighted the urgency of the climate crisis as he and his wife Lynne announced a donation of $200m for reforestation and environmental restoration efforts.

We're in a planetary emergency - a climate crisis that impacts everyone, especially for the most vulnerable among us. More than half of global GDP is exposed to risk from the nature loss effects of climate change. And it will only get worse unless we collectively take bold steps now to limit global warming.

We need to apply every strategy possible to protect and preserve our planet. We must accelerate the world's largest businesses to net zero as part of reducing global emissions by half by 2030; sequester 100 gigatons of carbon through restoring, conserving and growing one trillion trees; and energise an ecopreneur revolution to develop new technologies that will expedite the path to a decarbonised planet.

Every country, company, community and person has a responsibility to act now - the cost of failing to address this global threat will be catastrophic. Our generation will be judged by the actions we take on climate change today.

Christian Klein, CEO, SAP

In an earnings call in late October (see transcript here), SAP CEO Christian Klein, claimed that sustainability is "at the heart" of SAP's transformation and that the ERP giant is delivering "major new advances" to help its customers reach net zero.

This includes the recently launched SAP Product Footprint Management cloud application, which is designed to help customers reduce the footprint of their supply chains - with Klein promising more to come.

Later this year, we will launch SAP responsible design and production, helping companies build sustainable outcomes into product design. Shortly after, we will launch SAP Sustainability Control Tower, providing customers with transparency and insight around their progress to net zero," he said.

However, our ambitions go far beyond individual products. The UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, is happening next month, putting a spotlight on the enormity of our climate change challenges. With no single government, multilateral organisation or business can solve this problem alone, businesses do play a significant role. The ability to see inside and outside your organization across manufacturing, supply chains and critical business processes is crucial.

Michael Dell, CEO, Dell Technologies

The eponymous Dell CEO was one of 92 CEOs to lend their name to an open letter urging governments to take decisive action at COP26 this week.

The summit represents the "best chance" to agree the steps that are required to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and build nature-positive economies, wrote the alliance of CEOs - which also included HP's Enrique Lores, Microsoft's Brad Smith, Salesforce's Marc Benioff and Workday's Chano Fernandez.

We are ready to work side-by-side with governments to scale up public-private efforts this decade in the race to net-zero. Members of the Alliance will be in person in Glasgow and look forward to discussing with world leaders, government officials and representatives of the NGO community the many ways we can tackle this climate crisis together.