The print channel is seeing increased pressure from customers to demonstrate their sustainability commitments, according to a new report from Quocirca.
Quocirca customers increasingly look at corporate sustainability goals as part of their supplier selection process, and failure to provide any enthusiasm could result in lost contracts.
Most of those making buying decisions want to see a commitment from suppliers to reduce carbon emissions. Quocirca’s Sustainability market trends study makes it clear many users are tracking their print suppliers’ efforts.
Quocirca CEO Louella Fernandes said: “A combination of stakeholder expectations and the implementation of legislation such as the corporate sustainability reporting directive [CSRD] are prompting organisations to speed up their sustainability initiatives.”
“This is driving a broader cohort of decision-makers to put more emphasis on the sustainability performance of the solutions – and suppliers – they select,” she said
There could be some improvement from the industry in terms of information, making it easier for customers to gauge their sustainability progress.
“There is a clear need for vendors to offer more clarity around the sustainability credentials of their products; demand for relevant data and analysis will only increase in the future, and vendors that can’t offer it will lose their competitive position,” said Fernandes.
Ironically, one of the focuses has been reducing paper and making printers more environmentally friendly in the manufacturing process and the offers from vendors on recycling toners.
“The pursuit of a less-paper workplace is nothing new, and limiting consumption through pull printing and process digitisation is a logical focus area,” said Fernandes.
“However, companies should explore the entire range of options for reducing the impact of the print infrastructure from cradle to grave.
“With many businesses embarking on significant investment in workplace technology to meet hybrid, distributed working requirements, now is a great time to modernise the print infrastructure to meet sustainability goals, as well as improving efficiency, security and reducing costs,” she added.
