Environment
BlackBerry is committed to operating in a sustainable way that respects the environment, BlackBerry’s employees, BlackBerry’s business partners and the communities in which the company operates around the world. Our commitment to minimizing our environmental impact is visible through a variety of programs in product sustainability, supply chain and corporate carbon footprint.
Corporate Carbon Footprint
BlackBerry participates in CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) an international, not-for-profit organization that provides a system for companies to measure, disclose, manage and share emissions and climate change information. Since CY2009, BlackBerry has annually disclosed and shared information about its Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Measuring and Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
BlackBerry’s reporting is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). It includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions as defined by the protocol. BlackBerry’s CDP reports include all available data for BlackBerry operations worldwide.
The total global direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the reporting organization. For BlackBerry, this includes emissions associated with stationary fuel use, mobile fuel use, and refrigerant leaks (fugitive emissions).
Indirect GHG emissions that the organization has caused through its consumption of energy in the form of electricity, heat, cooling or steam. For BlackBerry, this includes emissions associated with the purchase of electricity.
Indirect emissions that arise as a consequence of an organization's activities from sources that are owned or controlled by others. For BlackBerry, this includes emissions associated with employee air travel, employee business vehicle rentals, employee expensed vehicle mileage, and employee business rail travel.
Green House Gas Emission Reduction Initiatives
In order to limit the absolute growth and decrease the intensity of GHG emissions, BlackBerry is actively engaged in various initiatives to reduce GHG emissions.
To improve the energy efficiency of building services, BlackBerry monitors low-use and unoccupied areas and arranges automatic and manual scheduling to reduce lighting. This is in addition to reducing heating, ventilation and air conditioning runtimes as well as setbacks of temperatures.
BlackBerry continues to identify opportunities to eliminate and reduce waste. In addition to expanding successful waste diversion programs to other BlackBerry locations, BlackBerry works directly with vendors to assess waste streams and find opportunities for diversion.
In recent years, BlackBerry has targeted scope 3 emissions as a large opportunity for emissions reductions. Employees are encouraged to explore alternative modes of transportation when travelling. Emissions from employee expensed mileage have been greatly reduced as employees have opted for more sustainable travel methods, such as carpools and public transportation.
Product Sustainability
BlackBerry carefully contemplates how its products are designed, distributed and disposed of in order to reduce their environmental impact. Our commitment to reducing our environmental impact is visible throughout the lifecycle of our products – from initial concept to final delivery.
BlackBerry Life Cycle Phases
The environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing phase are comprised of gathering raw materials, transforming these materials into electronic parts and assembling these materials into final products. Due to the sophisticated processes that are necessary to manufacture many of the electronic components such as silicon chips, memory and circuit boards, it is commonplace to have the greatest impact at this phase.
BlackBerry recognizes the importance of carefully tracking and evaluating materials it puts into its products. The company considers the durability and performance of materials as well as their toxicity and impact on the environment.
Since 2006, BlackBerry has actively utilized an internally developed list of restricted substances for all parts, components, assemblies and materials used in BlackBerry products. The restricted substances list was first published in CY2010 and has since evolved to become the BlackBerry Policy for Control of Substances in Products.
The transport phase encompasses environmental impacts associated with transporting a product from the factory to the customer. BlackBerry ships its BlackBerry® Radar fleet monitoring solution in compact, lightweight bulk packaging, which allows more units to be shipped at a time. This reduces the emissions generated during transport. BlackBerry Radar packaging is predominately fiber-based to facilitate recycling by the customer. BlackBerry continues to incorporate the use of recycled fiber content in its packaging and avoids the use of petroleum based inks and adhesives. Additionally, printed paper documentation that ships with our products has been reduced in quantity and user guides are available electronically. On an ongoing basis, BlackBerry looks for ways to reduce packaging size where feasible.
By increasing the energy efficiency of it products, BlackBerry helps its customers reduce their energy use.
Energy efficiency has always been a core focus of the BlackBerry design process, resulting in highly optimized software and an energy efficient system that maximizes the longevity of the battery utilized in the BlackBerry Radar asset tracking system.
The end-of-life phase can present opportunities if a device is reused, refurbished or recycled. BlackBerry provides its recyclers with instructions on how best to dismantle and recycle devices in order to maximize the recovery of materials and avoid any exposure to hazardous substances. BlackBerry encourages its customers to responsibly recycle their BlackBerry products at the end of their useful life.
Corporate Responsibility Report
Review the 2015/2016 BlackBerry Corporate Responsibility Report.