UN partners with Xerox to make printing greener

A partnership between the United Nations and print company Xerox during the COP 26 summit in Glasgow offers some interesting ideas for businesses as we all adapt our operations to make the transition to net zero carbon emissions.

Xerox was chosen by the United Nations to support all the print and copying services across the entire COP 26 conference campus in Glasgow. The event, which took place in October and November 2021, was held to agree a global path to net zero carbon for the world.

As part of this, Xerox services had to align with the sustainability goals of the conference.

About Xerox & the United Nations partnership

Xerox has its own net zero carbon emissions goal. The company plans to achieve net zero itself by 2040. It published its roadmap to net zero by 2040 in its 2021 corporate social responsibility report.

The roadmap focuses on improving processes and energy efficiency, as well as designing environmentally responsible products and clean technologies.

These commitments to driving sustainable innovation have played a role in Xerox being recognised for its environmental approach. At the start of 2021, the company received a Terra Carta seal from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

The seal, as His Royal Highness described it,

“recognizes those organizations which have made a serious commitment to a future that is much more sustainable, and puts Nature, People and the Planet at the heart of the economy”.

Given these achievements, the alignment of the company with the United Nations’ sustainability goals makes the company a natural choice for print partner at the summit.

What can office managers learn from the partnership?

At COP 26, Xerox worked to maximise the sustainability of the print solutions it delivered. This included a range of decisions which could be adopted by office managers to improve the sustainability of their own operations.

This included:

• Reduce: Devices were configured to reduce power consumption.
• Reduce: Energy saving settings included reduced toner consumption and defaulting to the draft quality print setting.
• Reduce: To save energy and paper, the settings also defaulted to double-sided printing.
• Recycle: All paper was FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified and had 100% post-consumer recycled content.
• Reduce: The on-site engineering team came from Glasgow and the surrounding area, reducing travel costs and carbon footprints.
• Reuse: Following the conference, the used devices were donated to local charities and schools through Glasgow City council.

In this way, Xerox was able to support conference delegations from all countries around the world in the best way possible.

Inspired to know more about creating a greener office?

• Join us in planning ahead for a greener and more sustainable 2022.
• Discover some simple swaps for your office supplies for a more sustainable approach to sourcing stationary.
• We bust some of the sustainability myths around the use of paper in the office.