Because we’re a Responsible Digital Entrepreneur, our clients, partners and colleagues expect concrete action from us on the environment and society. To mark European Sustainable Development Week 2023, which is running from now to 8 October, Econocom is getting involved with the third edition of its Cyber Cleanup Week challenge.

What is Cyber Cleanup Week?

Cyber Cleanup Week is a challenge aimed at organising a digital cleanup of data and thus reducing our collective environmental impact. In concrete terms, it’s about cleaning up our mailboxes to reach the goal of reducing our digital environmental footprint by 7%, i.e. deleting 10 million emails in two weeks! It’s ambitious but perfectly achievable! Last year we managed to delete 5 million emails!

What’s in it for us?

Firstly, a significant reduction in our digital environmental footprint! Secondly, a result that we can be proud to reveal to our clients, our partners or our future talents and that will reinforce our leadership.

Why mobilise?

Because our daily actions – which seem to be few – strongly contribute to this crucial issue today! Imagine: every email, every search or every video consumes energy and generates greenhouse gas emissions. On a global level, the impact of digital technology is between 2% and 4.3% of total CO2 emissions and between 5 and 10% of total electricity consumption depending on the source!

So, ready for our challenge? Over to you!

Econocom is convinced that digital transformation should benefit humanity in the broadest sense, that the group should contribute to society beyond its commitments to its employees, clients and investors. Econocom is fully involved in tackling climate change, which is in line with its CSR policy ‘to promote a circular, responsible digital approach for a positive impact.

As part of this, we have decided to set scientific aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that comply with the SBTi’s criteria and recommendations. For this plan, we will be measuring the inherent emissions of everything that we buy, sell and produce (hardware, software and services) in addition to emissions that we produce directly. This will help us identify and prioritise opportunities to reduce emissions in our value chain. In turn, it will help us, our clients and our suppliers be more sustainable.

This approach will boost our credibility in our ecosystem – especially in the eyes of our clients, who seek to work with responsible firms. Furthermore, it will put us among the leading firms in these issues.

We are at the start of our journey. We now need to work on action plans that we can implement to reach the ambitious targets needed to get SBTi validation.
We are counting on each of you to help us achieve this. We will be keeping you informed of the successive stages.

About the Science Based Targets initiative:

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a partnership between the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It seeks to speed up actions of firms and financial institutes worldwide to halve their emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

The science-based targets are aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that match the level of decarbonisation needed to fulfil the Paris Agreement goals: to keep global warming under 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it at 1.5°C.

To find out more about SBTi and the list of companies involved, click on this link: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action#dashboard

After the success of the first issue, we are pleased to share with you our Group’s new Impact Report for 2022/2023.

As Econocom celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year, our commitment as a Responsible Digital Entrepreneur is just as strong as ever. Complete with figures and testimonials, this report shows how we focus our actions on impact for a digital world that is useful to all.

As a pioneer in the circular economy, Econocom is moving forward in a pragmatic way with a realistic vision in line with our activities. This is why every year we propose more and more offers with a positive impact, useful to all.

And because you are our best ambassadors, we are counting on you all to share our report as widely as possible.

Kind regards,

Jean-Louis Bouchard and Véronique di Benedetto

You can find the report in the Resources section of this page (left margin) or on our website.

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As a prelude to the Common Good Summit, Jean-Louis Bouchard was interviewed by Challenges magazine. He explains how Econocom contributes to greater digital sobriety with its refurbished equipment solutions.

Discover this interview below or in the Resources section of this page.

What does the notion of ‘common good’ mean for Econocom?

It comes from a question I’ve always asked myself: what’s the point of businesses? Because I’ve got a conviction. Since society gives firms all they need to operate (infrastructure, training, social protection for employees, legal security and so on), we entrepreneurs have a duty to give society what it needs, starting with work, which I think is a ‘treasure’, like Jean de la Fontaine said in the fable The Farmer and His Sons.

You also want to be a ‘responsible digital entrepreneur’. How’s that expressed when you lease out computers?

Being pioneers of the circular economy is in our nature. When I began in the field, I sold seven second-hand computers in my first year. This year, we sold 430,000 second-hand assets (computers, smartphones, printers and so on). Today, we have a range of assets worth around five billion euros and this includes six million assets of all kinds (computers, screens, tablets and so on). Up to now, we’ve been using an ecosystem of trade in second-hand objects. But we’re now going to insource this value chain by handling refurbishing and sales ourselves through Sofi Groupe, a Montpellier-based firm that refurbishes smartphones and tablets.

Is the circular economy in your DNA?

Absolutely – you can’t imagine how much! I started out in life by putting on the market second-hand cars upgraded by rural garages. I sold over 10,000 of them! So, fifty years later, when I went to Montpellier, I was amazed by Sofi Group’s capacity to refurbish smartphones and tablets on an industrial scale. We refurbish 120,000 of them per year out of the 900,000 refurbished in France in a market of 2.6 million telephones that are refurbished and resold. And what’s possible for smartphones is of course possible for all digital devices, including computers. So we’re going to be sending half of what we sell each year in the second-hand market to Montpellier, which means it’ll be refurbished in France. This will also help us better respond to public calls for tender, which require 20% of equipment to be refurbished in line with France’s law on fighting waste and promoting the circular economy.

When you lease out equipment for data centres, isn’t the challenge to also reduce their energy consumption?

Or to use heat from big computers more efficiently. For example, Econocom’s building is heated entirely by a group of servers we have in the basement. And we’ve developed our EcoCarbon solution for clients. This measures their carbon footprint from digital technology and helps reduce it by 10–15% through solutions that make their energy consumption thriftier. Digital technology produces 4% of the planet’s total carbon emissions! Offering part of the solution to this is also a way to serve society.

On March 29th, Econocom UK and Trams l Econocom sponsored another Table of Hope from Shepherd’s Star, a local charity fighting against social exclusion.

We were delighted to join and witness the charity’s progress and achievement in such beautiful surrounds: not only the stunning venue of Bingham Riverhouse but also their supportive community!

In July 2021, the charity launched a “Table of Hope” initiative, which aims to organise monthly communal meals for socially excluded people.

The latest Table of Hope, sponsored by Econocom UK and Trams l Econocom, took place on February 17th at the ETNA Community Centre in Twickenham. Dedicated volunteers, including Econocom staff, came to cook and serve hot and nourishing meals to people in need, while celebrating love and friendship around the Valentine’s theme.

Next Shepherd’s Star’s communal meal, also sponsored by Econocom UK and Trams l Econocom, will take place on March 29th at the Bingham Riverhouse Hotel.

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to get fit and make a difference to people in need? Well, it is!

On January 19th 2022, Econocom UK and Trams l Econocom enjoyed an intense ‘rumble’ workout at 1Rebel UK to raise funds for Shepherd’s Star, a local charity which operates in Greater Richmond and Twickenham Borough.

Hundreds of pounds were collected to help the charity organise their next ‘Table of Hope’ in February, which aims to gather every month socially excluded people around a communal table. The heart behind the initiative is to build friendships, reduce social isolation and enhance wellbeing.

“Recycling” is a fundamental principle of a good environmental policy, and furniture that can still be used should still be used. Why throw it away when it can serve small organisations down the road?

When moving office from Richmond to Mayfair, Econocom UK was looking to recycle IT equipment and office furniture by donating to charities.

With the help of Be Richmond, a non-profit organisation supporting the Richmond community, good condition but redundant items were distributed to two local charities: Habitats & Heritage, an association based in south and west London which cares for the natural and historic environment, and Shepherd’s Star which operates in Greater Richmond and Twickenham Borough addressing poverty, hardship and social exclusion.

Redundant monitors and Econocom branded laptop bags were donated to Habitats & Heritage to help improve their team’s efficiency. The laptop bags went to new staff members, allowing them to easily transport laptops and work remotely. Those new members were hired through the UK Government “Kickstart Scheme”, which provides funding to employers willing to create new jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long term unemployment. The programme aims to support those young people by developing their employability skills.

Other furnishings including desks, cabinets, chairs, indoor plants, one monitor and additional laptop bags, were donated to Shepherd’s Star. The bags were used as welcome packs to people participating in the charity’s “Discover Horticulture” programme at Kew Gardens.

The rest of the furniture is currently stored at the Richmond Furniture Scheme, another local charity that helps provide furniture to those in need, and will be installed once Shepherd’s Star moves into their first premises.

As a responsible digital company, Econocom will continue to partner with UK organisations to decrease landfill and support the local community.