Be a leader for change!
We are a group of engaged IT buyers who want to create positive change in the IT industry. We believe the way to do it is to unite behind a set of sustainability principles that already guide our own organizations, and apply them to the IT that we buy. Quite simply, take leadership, use our buying power, and let sustainability guide our decisions.
It’s more than walking the talk. It’s about creating a movement. Join us!
Vattenfall’s Head of Sustainability Annika Ramsköld on the responsibility of IT buyers to help solve the climate and sustainability challenges of the global IT industry and how it can be done by joining forces within the initiative ASF Leadership for Change.
Recent activity
Report from the last meeting (June 11, 2024)
An ambition for 2024 has been to engage more in dialogue with the industry. To this meeting global representatives from HPE and Intel were invited to share more about how they work, the state of sustainability in the industry in general, and what they believe buyers can and should do. It was two very interesting sessions that included both data center levers for the sustainable transformation and how legislation and industry schemes complement each other.
Vattenfall showcased their work with sustainability champions within Vattenfall IT, as part of their overall IT strategy as well as Vattenfall’s vision of fossil freedom. Effects can be seen already after a few months.
A new set of best practices – Creating and implementing a strategy for sustainable IT – have been launched (see below) and the group decided on the topic for the next set. Production will begin after the Summer.
The members involved in the Gameplan 2030 project have had their start-up meeting. More information about the project will be shared shortly.
The next meeting will take place on September 3.
Previous meetings
Report from April 24, 2024
During the April Forum meeting Christian Tangene from DFØ (the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management) presented the updated §7-9 procurement directive stating that climate and environmental considerations should be weighted with a minimum of 30 percent in public procurement. Since weighting of sustainability is at the core of the Leadership for Change commitment, members were interested in knowing what effect the rule has had so far and to learn more about potential challenges. The main message was that the rule certainly has increased focus on climate and environmental aspects, but successful application of the rule requires time and resources.
The result of the annual review where members assess how well their organizations adhere to the principles of the Statement of Commitment was presented. It was very gratifying to see that progress has been made in all areas assessed. 63 percent of the members weigh sustainability in the IT procurements and the share of members who do it for all procurement categories have increased. The average weighting is 23 percent, a slight decline from 2023 which can be related to this fact. Weighting in some categories can be more challenging.
The most progress was made within prolonging the lifespan of IT products, for example in educating employees, extending contract length and minimizing the amount of products and peripherals. This is potentially a result of the best practices in this category that was published in 2023.
The next set of best practices (Creating and implementing a strategy for sustainable IT) was approved and will be published shortly.
We also had the pleasure of welcoming a new member: Handelsbanken.
Report from Feb 1, 2024
The first Forum meeting of 2024 focused on developing a plan for the coming year and identifying topics the members want to increase their knowledge of as well as impact. The plan also states an ambition to increase the dialogue with the industry and continue to develop peer exchange.
Axess Group presented how they have been able to reduce carbon emissions from IT, and Svenska Kyrkan provided insights to succeed with sustainable procurement in an organization with 600 independent legal entities.
The next meeting will be held in April.
Featured members
- Södra: "Stora klimat- och kostnadsbesparingar när Södra förlänger livet på it-produkter" (in Swedish)
- Södertörns Högskola:"Så får varje dator ett nytt liv" (in Swedish)
- Vattenfall: "Ingen affär utan hållbarhet för Vattenfall" (in Swedish)
- Systembolaget "Stora hållbarhetsvinster för Systembolaget (in Swedish)
- H&M "Tuffa IT-krav gör H&M mer hållbart" (in Swedish)
Så kan samverkan mellan inköpare driva omställning
Statement of commitment
Through the Atea Sustainability Focus (ASF), the Nordic IT buyers send powerful messages to the global IT industry on how they believe the industry should advance its work on sustainability.
The initiative develops recommendations to the industry. Through Leadership for Change, we take this one step further to, in dialogue with the industry, turn those recommendations into concrete actions – committing even harder to bring about change.
Therefore we have joined forces and formed a partnership around making sustainability a guiding principle of how we source IT.
By uniting and agreeing on sustainability principles for procurement, we create a market opportunity for the IT industry to accelerate its sustainability transformation.
We will continuously put a higher emphasis on sustainability in decision making. We will align behind existing industry standards. We will set criteria that contribute to achieving the SDGs, the 1,5-degree target and a circular economy, including respect for human rights and designing for minimal material use and prolonged lifespan.
Within the partnership we share best practices on sustainability in procurement and actively seek dialogue with the industry to maintain focus on the most material issues.
Do you want to join us in bringing about real change?
Leaders
We are the Leaders who have committed to create positive change in the IT industry by using our combined purchasing power.
Leaders
- Adda Inköpscentral
- Alleima
- Arbetsförmedlingen
- Assa Abloy
- Axess Group
- Chalmers Tekniska Högskola
- DFØ
- Electrolux
- Ericsson
- Granitor-gruppen
- Göteborgs universitet
- H&M
- Handelsbanken
- Ikea
- Malmö Stad
- Northvolt
- Scania
- SEB
- Securitas
- Sykehuspartner
- Systembolaget
- StormGeo
- Svenska Kyrkan
- Svenska Spel
- Södertörns Högskola
- Södra Skogsägarna
- Tetra Pak
- Uppsala Municipality
- Vattenfall
How does it work?
ASF Leadership for Change aims to influence the global IT manufacturing industry to more sustainable practices regarding climate, circular economy and human rights. The collaboration among the members involves sustainability criteria only, and members are only expected to share how they address sustainability in procurement of IT and the effect.
Your commitment
By signing up, you commit to start implementing the principles outlined in the Statement of commitment in your procurement of IT.
You also commit to share your procurement practices regarding sustainability with the members and participate in network meetings. Moreover you are expected to complete an annual self-assessment on how well these principles are implemented in your organization.
By signing up you also agree to being public about your engagement and to having your organization’s name published on this web site.
Annika Ramsköld, Vice President Coroporate Sustainability at Vattenfall och Erik Nilsson, Sustainable IT Manager at H&M during the launch of ASF Leadership of Change in November 2020.
Network activities
Meetings
The main event is the annual Learning Academy. It's a full-day hybrid meeting focused on peer-to-peer learning and to identify best practices.
In addition there are three to four online forum meetings. To a large extent, members decide the content of these, but they are also used to work on best practices (see below) and to listen to guest speakers.
Member organizations decide can invite several and different participants to the meetings depending on need and topic.
Best practices
By being transparent and sharing best practices with each other we can avoid making the same mistakes and adopt criteria and practices that actually work. In other words, if one of us invents the wheel, the rest can just start rolling. And better, we can help and inspire others that are at the beginning of their sustainability journey.
We therefore create best practice guides on different topics that builds upon what members have actually implemented.
Self assessment
To keep focus on the core ambition of the Leadership for Change and to track how the network is able to create impact, members are expected to complete an annual self assessment of how well the organization has implemented the principles in the Statement of Commitment.
Atea’s role
Atea founded Atea Sustainability Focus which is the underlying initiative that brought together the buyers who now have formed the ASF Leadership for Change. Atea’s role is to coordinate and facilitate member activities. Atea has no influence over the content, and the principles in the Statement of Commitment are aimed at the global manufacturing IT industry.
Personal and organizational data connected to ASF Leadership of Change will not be used by Atea in any way.
Q&A
What is ASF Leadership for Change?
ASF Leadership for Change was launched by a group of engaged IT buyers who are also part of the Atea Sustainability Advisory Board (see below). Through our engagement in the Board, we have been developing recommendations to the global IT industry on how to address certain sustainability aspects defined as important by the Nordic IT buyers. To accelerate the sustainable development of the IT industry, we realized that we have to create a market for sustainable actions and decided to do so by transforming our recommendations into concrete procurement criteria, and by putting a greater weight on sustainability performance in decision making.
We understood that in order to succeed we need to share best practices and learn from each other. Therefore a learning academy is at the center of the initiative. We will also have annual dialogues with the global IT industry to communicate our goals, discuss how we best can create impact and to continuously raise our ambitions.
We invite other organizations to join this initiative in order to become a powerful force of change and to raise the overall effectiveness of sustainability criteria.
What do we commit to?
You commit to start implementing the principles outlined in the Statement of Commitment and to be public about your membership. You also commit to share your procurement practices regarding sustainability with other members, and to participate network activities (see below). Read more here.
How do you monitor compliance?
Compliance is monitored through self assessment which is carried out annually. The purpose of the self assessment is to help members in their journey towards implementing the principles in the Statement of Commitment. The content of the self assessment is not shared with anyone outside the individual member organization and respondents can be anonymous. We trust that your commitment to advancing sustainability in the IT industry is real and that members will do their best to implement principles.
It is how you act when procuring IT that will make the difference, not your logo on this web site.
Does it cost anything?
No, nothing more than your engagement.
Who is behind the initiative?
ASF Leadership for Change was initiated by members of the ASF Advisory Board, consisting of large IT buyers from both public and private sector. A complete list of the founding organizations and signatories can be found here.
What is Atea’s role?
Atea founded Atea Sustainability Focus which is the underlying initiative that brought together the buyers who now have formed the ASF Leadership for Change. Atea’s role is to coordinate and facilitate member activities. Atea has no influence over the content, and the principles in the Statement of Commitment are aimed at the global manufacturing IT industry.
What activities are part of Leadership for Change
An integral part of the ASF Leadership for Change is the sharing of procurement practices in order to inspire other buyers and to identify best practices. The main activity is therefore a full day called the Learning Academy. Apart from that there are three to four shorter Forum meetings where the agenda is largely set by the members. The network also produces best practices in different areas based on what the members are doing in that area. Read more about the activities here.
What is Atea Sustainability Focus?
Atea Sustainability Focus brings together Nordic IT buyers, so that we can use our combined voice to increase the focus on sustainability in the global IT industry’s supply chain. The initiative is centered around a survey where buyers communicate the progression they want to see from the industry. Their preferences, along with recommendations to the industry on how to address them are turned into a report that is handed over to the industry’s most influential body on sustainability, the Responsible Business Alliance. The recommendations are developed by an Advisory Board made up of engaged IT buyers, the same group that now has initiated the ASF Leadership for Change.
Yes, we want to lead the change to a more sustainable IT industry!
Want to know more?
