Businesses emerging from the cloistered period of COVID-19 quarantine are focused on economic recovery and supporting customers and employees in a world that looks very different from before. HP is doing the same, but is still keeping an eye trained on other important goals that have only become more critical in recent months: Reducing its impact on the planet and becoming more diverse and inclusive in its highest ranks.
With the release of HP’s 2019 Sustainable Impact Report, HP has renewed and amplified its commitment to diversity and the environment with ambitious new goals and signed on to the UN’s Recover Better Statement.
HP announced its intention, over the next five years, to double the number of Black and African American executives inside the company and eliminate 75% of single-use plastic packaging.
The global pandemic, which has seen a disturbing uptick in many places in recent weeks, as well as the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, has brought these goals into even sharper relief.
“The HP culture has long been built on the belief that how we do things is just as important as what we do,” says Enrique Lores, HP president and CEO. “Recent events have laid bare the systemic racism and deep inequalities that remain a stain on society, and it’s imperative for all companies to act with urgency on all fronts.”
READ: 2019 Sustainable Impact Report
Throughout its history, HP has focused its sustainability efforts toward accelerating the shift to a more circular and low-carbon economy. That means using materials efficiently and treating them as the limited resources that they are, while shifting to recyclable and renewable ones wherever possible; keeping materials and products in use throughout their lifespan and beyond, improving energy efficiency and decreasing its carbon and water footprint; and partnering to regenerate natural systems for the health of the planet.
