It’s Earth Day! Let’s talk Circularity, Growth and Profitability!

April 23, 2024

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As one of the largest technology companies in the world, it is critical for Cisco to operate in a way that helps to protect our planet. Our holistic approach to environmental sustainability includes how we operate our business, how we engage with suppliers, and how we help customers and communities reduce their environmental impact and adapt to a changing world.

Cisco’s Plan for Possible

And, Cisco has a plan to get us there. “The Plan for Possible” is Cisco’s next-generation environmental sustainability strategy and action plan. Our plan includes a core tenet: evolving our business from linear to circular. And that involves a circular economy– an economic model based on recycling, reusing, and reducing the resources used. To evolve our business from linear to circular, we must transition our business from single-use products to ongoing services. We will continue to adopt business models to extend the value of our products and reduce environmental impact.

We’re already doing this through our goal to incorporate Circular Design Principles into 100 percent of our new products and packaging by fiscal 2025. Through our product return program, Takeback and Reuse, our customers can send any product back free of charge, and we will put it to its next best use – whether to remanufacture and reuse or recycle it. In fact, we reuse or recycle nearly 100% of every product returned to us. Cisco Refresh has been around for more than 20 years. It offers Cisco-certified remanufactured equipment, available for most of the portfolio, providing a second life to products and reducing waste.

Today, everywhere around the world, Cisco celebrates Earth Day to raise awareness about environmental issues and taking action to protect our planet. And here’s the good news Cisco partners, you can participate, act with Cisco, and be rewarded for doing so!

Many of our customers have set sustainability goals, but few have fully operationalized their plans. They are looking for help. That spells an enormous opportunity for you, our partners. And Cisco can arm you with the tools and the training to start having those conversations with your customers. Your first step will be to get your Cisco Environmental Sustainability Specialization. This Specialization will equip you with the information you need to educate your customers on the benefits of migrating to cloud-enabled solutions while updating to current generation technologies. You will also be able to share with customers the impact they can have on the environment by participating in circular economy programs.

Cisco’s Takeback Incentive

Once accredited with the Environmental Sustainability Specialization, Cisco partners are eligible to participate in Cisco’s Takeback Incentive, currently available in participating countries. The incentive offers incremental discounts of up to nine percent on new products^[2] registered as part of Takeback Incentive deals on refresh or migration opportunities. Replacing older hardware with new, energy-efficient Cisco equipment, can help customers reduce their carbon footprint. Cisco partners can then take advantage of Cisco’s free takeback services so the used hardware can be responsibly recycled or repurposed, instead of ending up in landfills.

I am thrilled to share that — to date — of the over 800 Environmental Sustainability Specialized partners today, there have been thousands of approved deals and takeback opportunities booked. We are expecting a whopping 340% more gear back this fiscal year! I am proud of our Cisco partners. All your individual actions combined are certainly making a BIG impact. Thank you!

Model potential energy and cost savings your customers can realize

Cisco Environmental Sustainability Specialized partners can now also provide powerful insights to guide customer conversations on the impact they can have on the environment. The Cisco Sustainability Estimator models the anticipated amount of energy savings and emissions reduction that your customers can realize by modernizing their hardware.^[3]

Don’t let this opportunity go to waste – No pun intended 🙂

If you have not yet earned your Cisco Environmental Sustainability Specialization, what are you waiting for? Celebrate Earth Day with Cisco. Let’s work together to drive towards a circular economy that makes better use of our limited natural resources.