In June, Dr. Sutton-Parker (Px3 CEO) joined an expert panel assembled to present one of four themes to organisations participating in the Circular & Fair ICT Pact (CFIT) framework for circular and fair procurement of ICT.
CFIT was created as an action under the UN One Planet Network SPP programme and is an international procurement-led partnership designed to accelerate circularity, fairness and sustainability in the ICT sector. CFIT stimulates the use of common, easy-to-use procurement criteria, provides guidance and facilitates knowledge sharing. CFIT leverages collective procurement power, in close dialogue with the ICT supply side, to affect change and innovation required to drive climate action.
Chaired by Ineke Vlot from the CFIT working group on guidance and criteria, the four framework themes include:
- Circularity / material scarcity
- Fair
- Climate and Energy
- Chemicals
Dr. Sutton-Parker spoke on behalf of the ‘climate and energy in ICT’ subject due to his research in the measurement of computer energy consumption that has enabled the inclusion of human interaction to be accounted for during the calculation of scope 2 GHG emissions. Dr. Sutton-Parker used the Px3 applications suite to show how use-phase electricity emissions are affected by device choice (energy efficiency), location of use (electricity grid intensity) and device lifespan (proportional contribution of use-phase emissions to total carbon footprint).
David Peck, Associate Professor with Delft University is an expert circular remanufacturing and critical materials. Explaining in depth the importance of lifespan of devices to reduce supply chain carbon footprints, Professor Peck also outline existing and proposed changes to laws governing ICT manufacturing / assembly and procurement.
Peter Pawlicki, Director Of Education and Outreach at Electronics Watch spoke in depth about ‘fair practices’ within the ICT supply chain. Designed to focus on helping public sector organisations work together, and collaborate with civil society monitors in production regions, to protect the rights of workers in their electronics supply chains, the presentation included current works and planned projects to improve the key focus area.
Barton Finn, Purchaser Engagement Manager for TCO Certified, the world-leading sustainability certification for IT products, focused upon the Chemicals theme. Barton explained how TCO’s comprehensive criteria is designed to drive social and environmental responsibility throughout the product life cycle. Within this is a strict set of criteria to avoid not only the use of hazardous chemicals but also ongoing monitoring and testing to ensure that banned chemicals are not simply replaced by chemicals ‘waiting to be banned’.
To round out the session, a questions and answers forum was conducted covering all four themes. For more information on how the CFIT framework drives the mantra of Buy less, Buy better, Use better, Use longer see the full documentation here: https://circularandfairictpact.com/news/cfit-framework-document/
Special thanks to Marieke Weerdesteijn, Programme manager Circular and Fair ICT Pact who organised the panel.