IndiaCSR News Network
BANGALORE: Dell has announced key corporate responsibility achievements with the release of its Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) Corporate Responsibility Report. The report provides the first progress update on the goals outlined last fall in the company’s 2020 Legacy of Good plan, a strategic roadmap for bringing sustainability and business objectives together, creating social and environmental benefits while enabling better customer outcomes.
The plan outlines an ambitious, long-term strategy for Dell’s solutions, processes and people, and strives to measure the ripple effect of how its technology is helping customers and others to benefit the world. It contains 21 goals Dell is committed to reaching by 2020. Key goals include making Dell’s entire product portfolio 80 percent more energy efficient, its packaging 100 percent waste-free, and applying its technology and expertise to directly help three million youth in underserved communities.
Global Highlights
Dell reduced the energy intensity of its product portfolio by 23.2 percent over the last two years – and that of its server portfolio by approximately 50 percent. Customers who purchased products in FY14 can expect to spend $449 million less on electricity to power their products over their lifetime compared to those purchased in 2012. The company’s 2020 goal is to reduce the energy intensity of its portfolio by 80 percent.
Dell’s Connected Workplace program helped the company avoid 6,700 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions last year, equivalent to eliminating nearly 16 million miles driven. The flexible work programs make it easier for team members to do their best work while saving the company an additional $12 million this year. Approximately 20,000 team members or about 20 percent of Dell’s workforce participate officially in the Connected Workplace program, bringing Dell almost half way to its goal of 50 percent global participation by 2020. An estimated additional 20 percent take advantage of the program tools and participate in an unofficial or occasional manner. The company’s flexible solutions earned Dell the No. 3 spot on Forbes’ Top 100 Companies Offering Flexible Jobs In 2014.
Dell reduced GHG emissions from facilities and logistics by 8 percent – you would need to plant 1.9 million trees to absorb that much carbon, which is approximately 73 times the number of trees in NYC’s Central Park. Dell attributes the change to more efficient fulfillment processes (including more ocean-going freight and better packaging) and increased purchases of renewable electricity, constituting 35 percent of Dell’s overall electricity purchases and up from 23 percent last year. By 2020, Dell plans to reduce emissions from facilities and logistics by 50 percent.
Dell is a leader in terms of supplier diversity, and in FY14 the company spent $4.1 billion with diverse suppliers, up from $3.44 billion in FY13. The company continues to be recognized as part of the Billion Dollar Roundtable for its spending with minority and woman-owned suppliers.
Dell is helping today’s youth by putting its technology, expertise and giving dollars to work where it can do the most good. Last year, the company helped 590,000 children through its youth learning and children’s cancer care programs alone. Helping communities without reliable electricity access, in 2013, Dell and its partners installed its first two solar-powered Dell Learning Labs, outfitted with energy-efficient Dell Wyse workstations, to bring technology-based learning to youth in underserved areas of Africa. Together, the Dell Learning Labs directly serve 434 students and more than 50 teachers, as well as thousands of other students and residents who also have access to the technology.
India highlights – Dell Powering the Possible
Dell has in place a consumer recycling collection program which allows customers to bring their used electronics to 16 service centres in India, known as Dell Carry-In Service Centres.
During FY14, the total fresh water consumption at Dell-operated facilities decreased by 9%. Fresh water consumption decreased by more than 5 percent at facilities located in water-stressed regions. Dell continues to identify water-saving measures, such as Dell’s new building in Coimbatore, India, with its water recycling/reuse infrastructure. Dell has also identified the World Resource Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas as the standard against which it will measure this goal moving forward.
A new solar photovoltaic system was installed at the Dell campus in Bangalore, India, in June, 2013. The 186 solar panels installed across 3,340 square feet are tied directly into the campus grid, which helps Dell reduce energy loss and avoid extra heat generation. With a peak design capacity of approximately 43 kilowatts, the system has helped Dell save 65535 KWH and reduce 59794 Kg of Co2e. This solar PV system brings Dell’s combined generation capacity to 143 kilowatts. Additionally, Dell products qualify for India BEE Star energy program.
Contributing towards the cause of disaster relief, Dell made a corporate donation worth USD 250,000 towards providing shelter, water, sanitation hygiene support, emergency food supply to those affected by the flash floods in the Uttarakhand region. Dell partnered with Oxfam India, a fully independent NGO in India dedicated to addressing poverty and injustice, helping them reach out to 12,000 affected people in 2000 households across 25 villages.
Dell Learning in India, which is funded by the Dell Powering the Possible program, works closely with more than 15 NGOs to help equip them with digital learning resources through Dell learning centres. The program covers cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mohali and Pune.
Dell has just recently concluded its implementation of Project Aasman – part of Dell’s Youth Learning initiatives and an effort to create a cloud-based collaborative classroom – covering 8 Government schools in 5 locations across India. Since the deployment of Dell’s solutions at the PCKG Government Higher Secondary school in Chennai, there has been an overall increase in student results from 82% to 92%, with one student becoming a district topper. Also, 18 of the school students have qualified for NTSE (National Talent Search Examination), for the first time in the history of the school.
At the Dell Social Innovation Challenge 2013, which empowers the spirit of entrepreneurship in the youth around the world, a team of students from India received the $60,000 grand prize for its project Solar Conduction Dryer which is targeted at addressing the 20 to 30 percent food spoilage rate for poor rural farmers. The winning team comprising two Indian students: Shital Somani and Vaibhav Tidke from Mumbai.
