Accelerating Leadership in a Consequential Decade Through Action and Accountability

We are in the most consequential decade of our time. The actions we take today will determine whether we, as a global community, can avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis and reckon with the inequities that prevent far too many from accessing opportunities. Businesses must lead the transformation with urgent actions aligned with the latest science, and be held accountable through reliable, transparent reporting.

Over the past three months, HP has rolled out some of the most comprehensive goals in our industry, announcing bold and aggressive climate action targets, leading with some of the most robust human rights commitments, and today—with the release of our 20th Sustainable Impact Report—we commit to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people this decade. Earlier this week, HP released its Sustainable Bond Framework and pricing of our inaugural sustainability notes, an offering that will enable us to strengthen and accelerate our environmental and social justice commitments.

This work is essential for the sustainability of our planet and society, and it is an increasingly important driver of customer purchasing decisions, helping win more than US$1 billion in sales in 2020—for the second consecutive year.

20 years of transparency and accountability

Our legacy of reporting helps us truly own and improve our impact, holds us accountable, and identifies where we are delivering the most impactful actions—and where we are falling short. Transparency is critical as a driver for meaningful climate and social action, both within and beyond HP, and is increasingly demanded by customers, investors, and other stakeholders. As more companies set environmental and social impact targets, it’s increasingly important that we align on common reporting standards. We support the move toward more consistent, comparable, and reliable information on corporate activities related to climate change, and support mandated, externally assured reporting of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Our 2020 Sustainable Impact Report aligns with a range of frameworks, including the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and the World Economic Forum’s Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics.

Assessing and accelerating climate action

For decades, HP has been committed to taking meaningful climate action. As Hewlett-Packard Company, we were the first global IT company to disclose our full carbon footprint and as HP Inc. we became one of the first 10% of companies with GHG emissions targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. Our work has helped make sustainable policies and practices the standard in the tech industry and we continue to push those standards higher.

Our 2030 climate action agenda sharpens our focus on carbon emissions, circularity, and forests, as we set our sights on achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2040, beginning with our Supplies business achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.

To achieve our bold 2030 vision, we are strengthening and accelerating progress towards our 2025 goals, aiming to reach carbon neutrality and zero waste in our global operations and powering our operations with 100% renewable electricity. In 2020, we recorded a 4% reduction in our overall carbon footprint over 2019, reaching a 33% reduction in our product use GHG intensity, 3% reduction in first-tier production supplier and product transportation GHG emissions intensity, and a 56% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 C02e emissions from operations, all compared to 2015.

We are working to reach 75% circularity for products and packaging by 2030, extending product life through maintenance, upgrades, repair, and innovative service-based business models. In 2020, by weight, 41% of materials used in HP products and packaging were reused products and parts, recycled content plastic, or recycled or certified fiber. We also achieved zero deforestation for 99% of HP brand paper and paper-based product packaging in 2020, with the remaining 1% assessed to ensure reported fiber usage meets HP’s Sustainable Paper and Wood Policy.

Accelerating digital equity for millions

As we look ahead to 2030, it is clear that the human rights issue of digital equity must remain at the top of the global agenda as we take bold action to combat climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic shed a light on the social injustices that exist in our society, including revealing the deeply entrenched inequalities in our education system, with students in well-funded schools taking advantage of new technology while many others fall behind.

Even prior to the pandemic, 258 million children were out of school and 74 million unemployed youth worldwide lack access to educational resources. Coming out of the pandemic, that number will be even higher.

We must be clear in our belief that technology and digital literacy are fundamental human rights. Digital equity is the path for everyone, everywhere to have equal access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity.

To deliver on our goal to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people by 2030, today we launched the HP Partnership and Technology for Humanity (PATH) initiative that will help pave the way toward digital equity for underserved communities around the world. A world where women and girls, communities of color, minorities, vulnerable populations, marginalized groups, and differently abled have access to the technology they need to ensure their voices are heard.

HP PATH will influence product innovation, partnerships, and acceleration of solutions that will drive impact. We will innovate through a new fund established with an accelerator partner, activating currently available products, solutions, and initiatives, such as HP LIFE Centers and HP Turn to Learn, as well as innovating through R&D and new product prototypes.

Our success with PATH will depend upon our ability to listen and learn from our communities to understand the root-cause issues as well as the resources and support needed to truly create change together. Closing the digital divide will take trillions of dollars and no one company can solve it alone. Yet digital equity is indispensable for basic human rights. HP is uniquely positioned to leverage and optimize our digital and analog products, partner solutions and services, and our global networks like HP LIFE and HP Amplify Impact to learn.

Foundational to our goal, is our continued work to drive progress toward our 2025 commitment to enable better learning outcomes for 100 million people. In 2020, we surpassed the halfway point toward achieving that goal.    

Galvanizing action for a vital decade

The consequential events of 2020 forced governments, businesses, and people around the world to act with urgency, to innovate, and to develop a shared resilience. We saw coordinated, often inspiring action across borders to deal with a common threat. As we recover and start to look beyond the pandemic, we have a clear, perhaps unique, opportunity to carry forward what we have learned, applying that same shared purpose and determination to address society’s greatest challenges.

We have the opportunity to shift course towards a net zero carbon, fully regenerative economy. A society that prizes and defends human rights. And a world where technology is inclusive and empowers people everywhere to thrive.

HP is all in. I encourage you to review our progress and see where we are focused for the future by viewing our 2020 Sustainable Impact Report and Executive Summary, and our 2020 Human Rights Update.

MEDIA CONTACT
Tom Suiter
Tom.Suiter@hp.com