Acer to Hold 5th Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Forum

Acer - Press Releases - March 13, 2013 

Acer to Hold 5th Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Forum 

Continues to explore and lead the global trend of sustainable management

TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Acer Inc. will hold its annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Forum on March 22 in Taipei. The two important keynote speakers for this seminar are Peter Bakker, president of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and Mervyn E. King, chairman of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC): both will join Chairman J.T Wang for the high level panel discussion. In addition, Acer has invited global non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and stakeholders to explore sustainability topics with Acer’s suppliers. Throughout the course of the year, Acer’s effort in CSR has gradually been recognized, and the company is now leading in Asia as well as in the global ICT industry.

The stakeholders who are invited to the Acer CSR Forum this year include Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), Green Electronics Council (GEC), Greenpeace, and Robeco SAM. At the same time, Acer’s suppliers will also share their experiences with these participants.

Acer's corporate president, Jim Wong, states, “In the global ICT industry, Acer takes the lead and continues to invite stakeholders and suppliers to probe into CSR topics. Acer has held CSR Forum since 2008, and this year will be the 5th annual meeting, providing a dialogue platform for the stakeholders and the Taiwan ICT industry.”

The corporate sustainability covers wide range of areas. Currently, Acer is focused on issues including carbon emissions reduction, green product innovation and development, supply chain management and CSR transparency. Acer also leads its partners to fulfill the responsibilities together and engage in regular and constructive meetings with all stakeholders.

“In the carbon reduction field,” says Wong, “Acer is practicing two approaches for energy conservation and carbon reduction. First, Acer has set a greenhouse gas reduction target for its global operation, a 30% reduction in 2015, and 60% reduction by 2020. Second, Acer continues to develop innovative green products, working with consumers to reduce carbon emissions. In 2009, we launched the Aspire Timeline series notebook that had a 40% power saving compared to traditional models. The more recent Aspire S3 Ultrabook features a unique power saving technology called Acer Instant On, which significantly reduces the energy consumed during the boot-up process. In addition, 2012 Aspire S7 Ultrabook used 94% less aluminum alloy than other unibody designs, therefore saving more energy. In the future, we will import ‘recycled materials’, such as recycled plastic, into the next generation of products in order to lower our carbon footprints.”

As a global brand company, Acer believes that all its offices should fulfill their social responsibilities. Acer has therefore formed the Global Corporate Social Responsibility Committee comprising high-level global executives to handle global CSR governance.  Acer is also the first company in Taiwan to conduct a greenhouse gas inventory and publish a CSR report that covers its 36 countries and 166 operational offices. Acer continues to fully disclose its CSR performance. In 2012, Acer completed the third-party verification for Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

In recent years, Acer's efforts to fulfill its CSR have been gradually recognized. In the Greenpeace’s 2012 Global Guide to Greener Electronics Companies ranking, Acer is ranked no.4. Also, in the CDP appraisal, Acer has received the highest score out of all the Taiwan ICT brands. Furthermore, Acer is rated no.1 in Asia in the Conflict Minerals ranking by the ‘Enough Project’.

Under the awareness of sustainability, promoting energy conservation, carbon reduction, and green growth are the major trends. With our manufacturers’ support, there are many innovative technologies and business opportunities for green economic development. In addition, carrying out CSR can strengthen the long-term competitiveness for corporates and the CSR performances has become an indicator to measure the value for investments.

This year, the EICC will hold their annual meeting during the same period in Taiwan for the first time. Hence, participating members such as HTC, Cisco, Flextronics, HP, IBM, and Amkor Technology will also join Acer’s CSR Forum and exchange each other's experiences on CSR.