HPE Living Progress receives multiple international awards for leading-edge global strategy

HPE’s winning culture has evolved in countless ways during the last year or two, enhancing our morale and building a well-earned reputation as a company committed to advancing the way people live and work. One area of which I am especially proud is the way in which we have come to use sustainability as a driver of innovation and competitive advantage — creating disruptive solutions that enable our customers to transform industries and markets, while also enabling HPE to grow and prosper. That’s why I was excited to learn that over the last quarter of 2019, HPE was recognized for three very prestigious global awards, which validate these efforts. These awards demonstrate HPE’s leadership on critical sustainable business issues, including our commitment to transparency, our contribution to accelerating a circular economy, and our best-in-class environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

Award-winning Performance

We recognize that our performance on ESG issues sends strong and impactful signals to our customers, employees, and investors — and that regular and transparent reporting on such efforts amplifies those signals even further. I’m honored to share that HPE has won the Bronze Award in the category of Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the 2018 Living Progress Report by the Mercomm International Annual Report Competition (ARC). The ARC award is the only annual report competition independent of a magazine or trade association, resulting in an impartial analysis of entries. It recognizes our commitment to transparency and our dedication to leading with our values and purpose in everything we do.

Our ESG strategy extends far beyond our own walls. It includes how we design and build products, how we manage and optimize the IT infrastructure of our customers, and how those customers use HPE technology to drive business outcomes and improve lives. By creating some of the most efficient solutions on the market, extending the lifecycle of products, and innovating new ways of consuming IT, we enable our customers to reap the benefits of growing connectivity while reducing their environmental footprint.

Many of these sustainable IT efforts are encompassed in HPE’s circular economy program —Silver Award winner of the 2019 Best in Biz 7th Annual International Awards in the Environmental Program of the Year category. This is the only independent global business awards program, and is judged by representatives from top-tier publications and media outlets from 11 countries around the world. It was an extremely competitive field this year, with over 300 public and private companies in 30 countries. Our team has worked tirelessly over the past year to embed our circular economy approach into the way we design, build, and manage IT to enable our customers to do more with less — and ensure that current and future demands for technology can be met sustainably.

Lastly, but certainly not least, HPE has been recognized as the industry leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), a best-in-class benchmark for investors who integrate sustainability considerations into their portfolios and recognize that sustainable business practices are critical to generating long-term shareholder value. Every year the DJSI methodology is updated to raise the bar for inclusion, and HPE has continually risen to the occasion – ranking on the World Index every year since the company was established in late 2015, including twice as the industry-leader. I’m delighted to see our work and commitment to continuous improvement acknowledged through this prestigious award.

Driving Results

Good ESG performance has driven improved financial performance, resulting in a substantial increase in investor consideration over the past few years. Our response to these critical issues — from managing climate risks, to building a trusted and secure supply chain, to creating a culture of innovation — differentiates HPE as a responsible business poised for long-term growth.

In addition, we see clear evidence that HPE’s sustainability initiatives are influencing customer purchasing. In just the first three quarters of FY19, sustainability-related customer engagements led to over $400M in net revenue for HPE.  Among the sustainability efforts driving these results is HPE’s circular economy program, which is a great example of how HPE’s sustainability focus yields business and environmental outcomes for our customers. Our circular economy program takes a cross-organizational, holistic approach to managing the environmental impacts of the IT lifecycle. Central to this is HPE’s leadership in designing, building, and managing IT solutions to improve energy and material efficiencies for our customers. We are training our sales teams to open new doors and reignite customer relationships by demonstrating how HPE’s sustainability leadership can help them meet their own business, financial, and environmental objectives.

Progress from our regions

Although HPE’s Living Progress plan is global, we couldn’t do it without the support of our regional teams, who drive initiatives that contribute to HPE’s ESG efforts. Here are just a few ways regional teams are contributing:

• Employees at HPE Technology Renewal Centers in Erskine, Scotland and Andover, MA, USA processed 58 million pounds of IT assets in 2018 to extend their useful life.
  
  
• A packaging initiative in Singapore reduced plastic use in packaging by 235 metric tons last year, saving over US$200,000 and winning HPE the Singapore Packaging Agreement Award for the fifth consecutive year.
  
  
• In India, HPE eHealth Centers, which aim to provide healthcare access to underserved and impoverished communities, have facilitated more than 800,000 patient visits to date, and counting.

It’s an honor to be awarded for best-in-class transparency, environmental programming, and ESG performance. Receiving these three globally recognized accolades acknowledges HPE’s hard work and commitment to ESG, and indicates that we are on the right track. We will continue to invest in these critical areas, creating value for our customers, partners, employees and investors – and furthering our purpose to advance the way people live and work.