SERI rolls out ESG reporting standard

SERI, a global provider of electronics sustainability, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards developer, and the non-profit organization behind the R2 Sustainable Electronics Reuse and Recycling Standard and Cer tification program, is moving forward to develop a globally recognized ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting standard and certification program for the electronics industry.

ESG reporting is a way for the financial industry to measure risks beyond what was traditionally evaluated, looking at the policies and practices of an organization to include a quantitative assessment of environmental, social and governance r isks to the business. At present, there is no globally accepted standard for how to report the ESG impacts of electronics. This work is designed to fill that gap.

“Today, organizations are working hard to measure all of their direct and indirect carbon impacts for ESG reporting, and when you think about all of the different variables within any business, it gets very complex very quickly,” said SERI’s executive director, Corey Dehmey. “We realize that the carbon impact stemming from electronics may only represent a relatively small piece of the puzzle, but since nearly every business around the world uses some combination of electronic devices in their daily operations, you can see that an ESG Reporting Standard is an important part of the larger picture.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Europe Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) recently finalized initiatives requiring mandatory carbon footprint disclosures and assurance on sustainability impacts to help investors and stakeholders focus on making better purchasing decisions. While there are existing initiatives that work to create general guidelines for repor ting across all sectors, there are currently no industry-specific guidelines for the electronics sector, nor is there established third-party oversight to that reporting.

“Building an Electronics ESG Reporting Standard that is universally applicable and globally adopted is the first half of the task,” continued Dehmey. “But reported data is only good as far as it can be trusted. So, the second half of the task is to build in verification to ensure that what is reported is accurate. Beyond that, electronics give a real opportunity to incorporate the social elements of ESG reporting. Think about the positive impacts that can occur when an electronic device is bound for reuse rather than recycling. Though a business’ old electronics may no longer suit their needs, those same devices could make a world of difference to someone who doesn’t have access to new electronics.”

The product of SERI’s ESG project will serve as just one small piece in a very complex ESG reporting system for clients and will seek to align all the elements of the electronics value chain to feed into an organization’s ESG report. But as approximately 80% of the carbon impact of electronics is created before a device is unboxed for the first time, this category offers businesses a unique opportunity for carbon reduction as well as increasing social good by helping bridge the digital divide through making better reuse

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and recycling choices within the purchasing, usage, and IT asset disposition (ITAD) functions of an organization.

The standards development process will be modeled similarly to SERI’s R2 Standard and in accordance with ANSI Essential Requirements, starting with a formal announcement, a call for stakeholders to join a multi-disciplined Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and then discussions of how best to build a standard that meets the needs of all parties including reporting facilities in the electronics value chain, public corporations, OEMs, the investment community, and regulators.

“As a champion of electronics sustainability, we want to work as a convener and bring all the various parts of our industry together and contribute to the larger push for a true global economy,” said Dehmey.

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