Letter from Gary Shapiro
President & CEO
While our environmental and social challenges are complex and constantly changing, I’m proud to present this report to you on behalf of an industry that’s proving its leadership and commitment to finding innovative solutions.
The technology sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world – helping accelerate much-needed change and providing meaningful disruption. In just the last two years, we’ve addressed many complex challenges that have felt pervasive and difficult to decode for years.
While challenges including pollution, rising sea levels and the increasing impacts of climate change are macro in scope and require big, long-term answers, others are more local and require smaller-scale, cost-effective solutions such as recycling, using big data and minimizing food and water waste. On both fronts, tech companies made tremendous strides in 2018 and 2019 – from further reducing their environmental footprints with new goals, science-based targets and products designed with sustainability in mind to investing in research, partnerships and startups
to propel sustainability forward. At CTA, we have a leading role in advancing energy efficiency, ecycling and the circular economy, as well as better understanding consumer behavior on topics such as public transportation and smart home devices. Through our landmark Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvements in the Energy Efficiency of Set-Top Boxes, we reduced the national set-top box energy consumption by 39% since 2012, saving more than $5 billion in electricity costs and 29 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
We also use CES – the world’s largest, most influential technology event – as a platform to showcase the latest breakthrough solutions for human and environmental issues. The CES Eureka Park Climate Change Innovators program, for example, recognizes startups with cutting-edge ideas and innovations that can help lower GHG emissions.
Since our last report, we’ve seen the launch of smart home devices that help consumers conserve energy in their homes. Renewable energy options around the world have grown, as technology
companies signed multiyear agreements to shift their energy use from fossil fuels to wind farms and solar arrays. And CEOs are calling on each other to propel action on climate change, partner with cities on incorporating big data to address growing urbanization, fund research on issues such as the circular economy, and spur innovation through competitions and grants.
We know our role as innovators, designers, inventors, engineers, chemists and data analysts is critical in ensuring our planet’s ability to thrive and support a growing population. And it’s one we take seriously. I hope you’ll be inspired by the progress you read about in this report and get excited by the many digital and technological frontiers we are conquering every single year – all with the power of data, science and innovation.
Gary Shapiro
President and CEO
