Prakash Arunkundrum, Head of Global Operations at Logitech | Sustainable Brands Interview

Thank you, Kevin. Thank you for having me on. It's a great pleasure.

Yeah, so actually what we do as a company is Logitech. You know us for Logitech G, we have other brands. We make mice, keyboards, headsets, cameras, that's what we do. But what we really hear is about why we care about this topic, what is in it for Logitech. And our mission is to help all people pursue their passions, to create, achieve, and enjoy more, and to do it in a way in which it's sustainable for the planet. And so that's our mission, that's what we believe as a company. There are two core values in the company: equality and the environment. And I head up environment for the corporation. And we're here because we want to hear what other brands are doing, we're also here to share what we have learned and what worked for us, and it's part of our core mission as a company as well.

So we have done a few things right. A few years ago, 2019 to be precise, we said we'll be following the Paris Accord, we'll try to reduce our emissions. Then this year we said, why wait until 2050? We need to solve this decade. So we essentially said we'll be climate positive starting 2030. That means we're going to take out more carbon than we create by 2031. We do this in three ways: reduce the footprint of our products, use more renewable electricity, and restore what we can't reduce through removal projects like forestry. For your camera, you can return it to Logitech.com or trade it in at a local retailer. We want to make the footprint as small as possible. In my role, I have to make more things but also make sure it's done with the least footprint, ideally zero, and eventually regenerative.

I'll start back in 2019. We've been making sustainability reports for 12+ years; it's in the ethos of the company. In 2019 we decided we need to be more transparent. In March 2020 we got ready to announce carbon labeling on all our products, which we did in June. So you'll see the life cycle carbon footprint on our products, like a calorie. Then the fires, cyclones, typhoons hit, and the pandemic. We benefited from the pandemic, but we said we need to act sooner because we don't have time. The IPCC report shows it's not enough time. We looked at it and said can we do it? We talked to the CEO and leadership. We might miss by a couple of years, but we're not going to miss by two decades. We can make our products carbon neutral today and reduce carbon by 2030. We had proof points: we already use recycled plastics in 50% of our mice, keyboards, and headsets. We figured out engineering for white plastics too. It was never an if question, it was how.

The first time I talked about sustainability externally was at our investor day, not at a conference. As operations guy, I can tell you that sustainability projects go through the same pipe as product projects. I get to decide where to fund, which is a cool place to be, but also a tension because you need to keep margins. We haven't had that challenge thrown at us yet. For example, packaging: smaller box costs less, less air reduces shipping cost, less colorful artwork saves, and we use soy-based inks. Each of these saves cost. The initial seed cost is there, but once you have it, supply-demand works itself out. We don't want to differentiate green vs regular; we want all products sustainable. Reducing energy use and waste is better for environment and cost. Like scrap metal in cars, recycling works. In electronics, we need to design for recycling, like sensor power consumption and value extraction.

That's a big question. We want to be known as a climate positive company, taking out more carbon than we create. We have moonshot projects but I'm rebranding them as Earthshot projects because we're staying here. The big idea is how to make this place better in eight or nine years, how to create Earthshot projects that help us get to a regenerative place where our business model and products are sustainable, and we've created an ecosystem beyond Logitech that informs stakeholders. Carbon labeling is like a new calorie. By 2030, people should know their carbon footprint.

As a society, it's hard because governments need to get together, and they're not doing it right now. But as a little mouse company, Logitech is a bit bigger than that. If we can do it, I think others can too. It's not that hard; you need someone to take a leap. We're learning from others. There is a way to make substantial progress in the next 10 years. I believe it's possible. 95% of intellectual capital has gone into creating new things; now we need to think about repurposing waste. We've already found answers: recycled plastics, we solved the color problem. The grid turning clean is the biggest answer; wind and solar technology exists. My aspiration, hope, and belief is that we'll figure it out. I've written a letter called 'Dear Future Climate' for my daughter to tell her what world she'll get in 2031. That world will be regenerative, but it requires each of us to sacrifice and invest.

Two definition points. One: what do they do for others more than themselves? Servant leadership, enabling others to flourish. Second: taking ideas and making them happen. That's not magic, it's magical people. A real leader has servant leadership and makes things happen.