Orange Business and Cisco have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a joint action plan to help reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The plan represents a first for both companies, deepening their partnership, and facilitating the sharing of data that will inform progress towards their net zero goals. They agree to create an emissions baseline regarding the GHG emissions of Orange Business solutions that integrate Cisco products, allowing both organisations to measure GHG emissions across their shared portfolio.
Both companies have ambitious net zero goals and other near-term targets related to reducing emissions and evolving their businesses to a circular model. Orange has set a goal to reduce its GHG emissions by 45% across all scopes by 2030, committing to reaching net zero by 2040. Cisco has set a goal to reach net-zero GHG emissions across its value chain by 2040 and has also set a goal to reduce absolute Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, and use of sold Cisco products by 30% by 2030.
This MoU arose in recognition of the interdependencies in achieving both companies’ GHG emission reduction goals, and the understanding that a new kind of collaborative partnership is required to help accelerate progress. Both organisations hope that this MoU will represent the first of many collaborations towards joint net zero models.
“Enhancing sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint for ourselves, our partners, and customers has been a longstanding priority at Cisco. We understand that sustainability is a collaborative effort and success demands partnership. Together with Orange Business, we can deliver data-backed advances to help protect our planet for future generations,” Chuck Robbins, CEO Cisco.
“The Orange Group is committed to being Net Zero by 2040. In addition, our enterprise customers are increasingly factoring in decarbonization into their choice of vendors. Together with Cisco, Orange Business can drive and satisfy these ambitions to build and empower a more sustainable future for all,” explains Aliette Mousnier Lompre, CEO Orange Business.
The MoU includes a number of key focus areas that Cisco and Orange Business will work together on, including:
1. GHG Emissions Trajectory
Cisco and Orange Business aim to build a GHG emissions trajectory for the Cisco products used by Orange Business. Both partners will use shared data to help estimate the GHG emissions related to Orange Business solutions integrating Cisco technology with the objective to reduce GHG emissions.
2. Carbon Impact of Products and Services
Cisco aims to provide Orange Business with data on the estimated carbon footprint of Cisco products sold by Orange Business. This will allow Orange Business to integrate this data into their own emissions calculations in order to estimate the overall carbon footprint of Orange’s solutions portfolio integrating Cisco products. Orange Business will then be able to provide their customers with an estimate of the total emissions of their supplied products and solutions.
3. Emphasis on Circular Economy Programs and Principles
Cisco and Orange Business agree to focus on increasing the uptake of circular economy principles and practices by Orange Business and its customers. This will be done through two channels, first boosting the purchase of remanufactured units through the Cisco Refresh Program, then through the uptake of Cisco´s Takeback and Reuse Program facilitated by Orange Business.
4. Eco-designed Products and Solutions of the Future
Orange Business and Cisco will also endeavor to explore different ways to integrate eco-design principles into the design of products and services. For this purpose, Cisco will provide Orange Business with Lifecycle Analysis data for its products, when available. This will help Orange Business to reach its goal of a 100% rate of eco-designed solutions offered to its customers.
Cisco and Orange Business have previously worked together on several joint sustainability initiatives, including a smart office solution that better manages conference rooms, enhances user experience and proactively optimizes energy consumption. They also collaborated on an energy saving initiative at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille, France, developing a solution that converted always-on Wi-Fi networks to on-demand systems. Last, Orange Business is using the Flexible SD-WAN “One Box” based on Cisco technology, merging several routing features into one single unit, decreasing the environmental impact, and reducing the energy consumption by more than 70%.
