By Rusen Kumar

CHENNAI: Dell today reported on its continuing work in supporting communities and operating with the environment in mind, with details on new initiatives and progress on ongoing programs detailed in its Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12) Corporate Responsibility Report.

Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. Powering the Possible is Dell’s commitment to put technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. Dell acts to strengthen communities, preserve the environment, engage a diverse and inclusive workforce, and ensure supply chain responsibility.

Here are key highlights :

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Environment
Dell reduced its facilities carbon footprint by up to 16 percent from FY08-FY12 and drove toward zero waste by recycling or reusing approximately 98 percent of its non-hazardous manufacturing waste. Looking forward, as Dell’s operational footprint represents less than 10 percent of its total opportunity to drive more sustainable outcomes, the company will focus in the next year on setting longer-term goals for helping its supply chain and customer base become more efficient.

In 2012, Dell achieved the ambitious goals set out in its 3Cs (cube, content, curb) packaging strategy by: reducing the size of packaging more than 12 percent, increasing the amount of recycled and renewable content in packaging up to 40 percent, and ensuring that up to 75 percent of packaging is recyclable at curbside. This work eliminated more than 20 million pounds of packaging material since 2008 and helped spur use of innovative and biodegradable materials such as bamboo and mushrooms.

Dell recycled more than 192 million pounds of end-of-life computer equipment last year, an almost 30 percent increase over the previous year, keeping the company on pace to meet its goal of recycling 1 billion cumulative pounds by 2014.

All removable media storage devices, memory and hard drives became BFR/CFR/PVC-free in FY12, and Dell offered BFR/CFR/PVC-free standard configurations of all Latitude laptop and XPS 13 Ultrabook™ products earlier this fiscal year, with more in planning. Though Dell has not yet fully achieved its goal of ensuring that all newly introduced personal computing products are completely free of BFRs and PVC, it remains committed to this materials transition. Also, the company supports the inclusion of such materials in environmental procurement standards and legislation that restricts substances of concern in personal computing products.

Dell added fresh air validation to an entire line of data center equipment, establishing that it can run in customer data centers under warranty at up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (up to 45 degrees Celsius). This innovation allows many more Dell customers to avoid energy-intensive chillers and instead rely on fans or other solutions that take advantage of outside air.

Communities
Dell focuses its strategic giving efforts by working with organizations to find opportunities where technology can make a meaningful impact. The company seeks to address pressing social issues by donating a combination of Dell technologies, funding, expertise and volunteer support.

In FY12, Dell donated approximately $44 million to charitable causes, meeting its goal to give 1 percent of annual pre-tax profits.

Dell team members volunteered more than 418,000 hours in their communities. Dell’s online Make a Difference community, which serves as a hub for team member charitable activity and giving, boasts more than 45,000 active members.

Dell added three new countries — Panama, Canada and the United States — to its youth learning program, expanding its reach to 11 countries working with 56 non-profit organizations. The company also expanded the impact of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, a program that helps the world’s university students bring their ideas for solving social problems to life, by launching a new web community and growing the formal mentoring program.

Dell launched an ambitious multiyear, multimillion dollar commitment to support children’s cancer programs, including use of high-performance and cloud computing technology to advance targeted treatments for children with cancer. And it expanded disaster relief support in early FY13 with the American Red Cross, launching a first-of-its-kind Digital Operations Center devoted to humanitarian aid.

People
Dell brings people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, perspectives and talents together in working environments that value and encourage their contributions.

Dell increased employee resource group (ERG) chapters from 49 to 65 global chapters, and participation among ERGs increased by more than 80 percent. In addition, earlier this fiscal year Dell team members created two new ERGs: Planet, for employees dedicated to environmental sustainability, and Virtus, a military and veterans-focused group.

Dell expanded its Connected Workplace mobile work offering to 22 sites in 18 countries and has a roadmap for offering the opportunity to new sites in all regions in which it operates. More than 18,000 team members now participate, and Dell seeks to increase engagement from 20 percent to 30 percent among eligible team members.

Supply Chain
Dell’s supplier capability-building activities uphold suppliers’ internal ownership for social and environmentally responsible behavior; they are designed to enable Dell partners to make changes for long-lasting and sustainable impact. Dell hosted more than 100 suppliers at capability-building workshops in FY12.

Dell conducted 125 facility audits of its suppliers (including 25 Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) third-party validated audits) and released consolidated audit findings about areas of non-conformance necessitating corrective action.

As part of its commitment to the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Dell identified five initial suppliers with whom it will work over the next three years. IDH looks for innovative ways to address non-conformance issues and is focused initially on 500,000 workers in China.

Dell spent nearly $3 billion with diverse suppliers. The company also encouraged its tier-1 suppliers to work with women-, minority- and veteran-owned businesses, doubling its goal for tier-2 diverse supplier spend by realizing $296 million in spending.

“We know our technology can do a world of good — whether it’s helping a child receive life-saving cancer treatment, assisting a young businesswoman to launch a company to help rural Indians, or giving our customers increased computing power while reducing their demand for natural resources. Dell wants to give people the power to do more, in an environmentally and socially responsible way.”, says Trisa Thompson, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility

Dell Powering the Possible in India

Over the years, Dell has committed a funding of $6.5 million to India. In addition to this, Dell recently announced another grant of $2.4 million toward CSR efforts in the country, which makes the total commitment to India to nearly $9 million till date.

Dell Learning in India, which is funded by the Dell Powering the Possible program, works closely with more than 13 NGOs to help equip them with digital learning resources through Dell learning centers. The program covers cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mohali and Pune and benefits close to 390 schools in India.

By January 2012, close to 13,000 Dell employees in India contributed more than 52,500 hours of volunteer time. Dell’s goal was to double the participation or get at least 50 percent of the workforce to volunteer over the previous year, and the goal was accomplished, with 57 percent team members engaged in community service.

At the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, which empowers the spirit of entrepreneurship in the youth around the world, Indian students accounted for largest number of entries outside of the United States in 2011. The third prize winner of the 2011 Challenge was the team, SIFE CBS, from an Indian University, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, for its project, Sanitation Solutions. In 2012, two India-focused projects emerged as the first- and second-grand prize winners, while India emerged as one of top nations with highest number of entries for the challenge.

Earlier this year, Dell awarded a health grant to the Cancer Institute (WIA) in Chennai, to support the research on MRD (Minimal Residual Disease) for the treatment of Pediatric Leukemia patients in India. The grant is expected to directly benefit at least 500 children with Acute Leukemia and increase MRD research to significantly improve the treatment of Leukemia patients in India.

Contributing towards the cause of disaster relief, Dell announced a funding of Rs.23 lakhs towards rebuilding homes and providing rehabilitation to those affected by Thane Cyclone in South India. Dell partnered with Habitat for Humanity, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty housing to aid in the process. In addition, Dell employees volunteered their time toward the disaster relief work in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu which benefited nearly 5000 families in the affected region.

Dell is currently on track to recycle more than 1 billion cumulative pounds of e-waste worldwide by 2014. Adding to its sustainability initiatives in India, Dell recently launched a free laptop battery recycling program across India to increase the awareness of e-waste disposal among consumers.

Dell’s 2012 corporate responsibility report is the first articulation of its new Powering the Possible platform, a commitment to put technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet. Dell aligned the report with the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 guidelines, self-declaring it for application level A.

“Dell believes that technology has the potential to remove barriers to education and literacy and can unlock many of the benefits of globalization. We hope to strengthen our giving program in India, not only through funding but by value addition through the efforts of our Dell team members who enthusiastically volunteer their time, effort and technological know-how to the underserved.”, says Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director, Dell India