In data from Canalys, U.S. channel partners are trailing behind Europe on sustainability. According to research by Canalys and Schneider Electric, 75% of European partners already have at least one person focused on ESG (environment, social, governance). More than 75% of customer RFPs have sustainability criteria included.
A reason? Regulation – “The European Union has got various regulations in place, but each individual country in Europe has different regulations as well. For example, in France, there’s a regulation where at least 30% of public sector RFPs must contain refurb equipment. Those things are really driving partners’ customers to focus on sustainability in their technology procurement. That is making a huge difference between the European and the North American market,” said Rachel Brindley, senior director, channels, at Canalys.
Regulations do shape industries, and that’s my obvious point here. I think sustainability is important – and will note that the market will not necessarily come to that conclusion, as the US and European divergence speaks to.