Last week, a piece was posted by Forbes entitled “Is The New HP Elite Dragonfly The World’s Most Sustainable Laptop?”. It is an excellent read and can be found here.
It is fantastic news that world leading companies are looking at ways to be more sustainable, and the answer to the question Forbes pose here is arguably “does it matter?”. Sustainability is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level” and according to the UN’s sustainable development goals economic, social and environmental measures must align. In this case, HP’s new machine certainly fits the bill but is it the most sustainable? Possibly not.
We ourselves produce laptops that are completely carbon neutral, as well as preventing E-waste and producing absolutely none. But is the title of “most sustainable laptop” something to be fought over? We applaud HP for taking the issue of E-Waste and sustainability seriously, and the new Elite Dragonfly does indeed look like an amazing piece of kit, ethically made.
The Forbes article rightly acknowledges that individual companies can only really make limited progress towards an environmentally sound model when operating in an economy that has been so linear and so wasteful that profits and principles are often directly conflicting ideologies. Is this the most sustainable laptop in the world? It could be argued that it’s not, based on a lack of carbon neutral certification or the fact that it is still largely made from brand new materials. But from a perspective of the sustainability movement and the circular economy, the important thing is that more companies are approaching these issues with the intention of bringing about actual, meaningful change.
Our mission is to change the way the world buys IT and create positive environmental, social and ethical impacts for a better world with a brighter future. It can only be a good thing that more organisations are a part of that.
