Orange Business and Cisco: Memorandum of Understanding for net zero and emissions reduction
Orange Business and Cisco have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a joint action plan to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The plan is a first for both companies. It deepens their partnership and facilitates the exchange of data that will inform progress towards their net zero targets. Both companies agree to create a common framework for greenhouse gas emissions from Orange business solutions that integrate Cisco products. This will enable both to measure greenhouse gas emissions across their joint portfolio.
Both companies have ambitious net-zero targets and other short-term goals related to reducing emissions and transitioning their businesses to a circular model. Orange aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 % in all areas by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2040. Cisco aims to reduce its emissions across the entire value chain to zero by 2040. In addition, Cisco plans to reduce its absolute Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, and the use of Cisco products sold by 30 % by 2030.
The background to the memorandum of understanding is the recognition of mutual dependencies in the goal of reducing emissions. In addition, both companies realized that a new way of working together is needed to accelerate progress. The organizations hope that this MoU will be the first of many collaborations on the road to joint net zero models.
"We embed sustainability into everything we do at Cisco - from product development to operations to our partnerships," says Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO at Cisco. "We have an ambitious timeline to achieve net zero, and our partnership with Orange Business is an important step in that direction. By sharing data and best practices, we will hold ourselves accountable to our shared goals and mission, and hopefully inspire others to follow our lead."
"The Orange Group is committed to achieving net zero by 2040. At Orange Business, we support both our corporate customers and our partners in their ambition to create a more responsible economy and society," explains Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, CEO at Orange Business. "We encourage all stakeholders to make environmental issues a top priority in their daily processes and activities. Together with Cisco, we can drive and fulfill these ambitions to build and enable a more sustainable future for all."
The MoU covers a number of key areas in which Cisco and Orange Business will work together. These include:
- Greenhouse gas emission trajectory
Cisco and Orange Business will establish a greenhouse gas emissions pathway for the Cisco products used by Orange Business. Both partners will use shared data to estimate the emissions associated with Orange Business solutions with integrated Cisco technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Carbon impact of products and services
Cisco intends 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 its own emissions calculations to determine the total footprint of Orange's solutions portfolio. In this way, Orange Business can provide its customers with an estimate of the total emissions of the products and solutions they supply.
- Emphasis on circular economy programs and principles
Cisco and Orange Business agree to focus on promoting the adoption of circular economy principles and practices by Orange Business and its customers. This will be done through two channels: One is to encourage the purchase of refurbished equipment through the Cisco Refresh program. The second is to promote the use of the Cisco take-back and reuse program supported by Orange Business.
- Ecologically designed products and solutions of the future
Orange Business and Cisco will endeavor to explore different ways of integrating eco-design principles. The focus will be on the design of products and services. To this end, Cisco will provide Orange Business with lifecycle analysis data for its products as it becomes available. This will help Orange Business to achieve its goal of offering 100 % eco-designed solutions to its customers.
Previous partnership between Cisco and Orange Business
Cisco and Orange Business have already collaborated on several joint sustainability initiatives: These include a smart office solution that better manages conference rooms, improves the user experience and proactively optimizes energy consumption. They have also worked together on an energy saving initiative at the Orange Velodrome football stadium in Marseille, France, and developed a solution to transform always-on Wi-Fi networks into on-demand systems. Finally, Orange Business deployed the flexible SD-WAN "One Box", which is based on Cisco technology and combines multiple routing functions in a single unit. It enables users to reduce their environmental impact and cut energy consumption by more than 70 %.
Source: www.orange-business.com www.cisco.com
