BonelliErede, Magnetic Media Network (MMN) and Xerox, in collaboration with Rete Clima, came together to plant 400 trees in Cormano, a suburb of Milan’s Parco Nord.
The reforestation was the final step in the process of updating BonelliErede’s printers, for which the firm relied on MMN.
Various factors influenced BonelliErede’s choice,including a careful lifecycle assessment that enabled MMN to quantify the carbon footprint of the printing processes across the firm’s Italian offices, and the value proposition of Xerox, winner of the 2021 Energy Star Partner of the Year award, which has long stood out for its innovative technology with low energy consumption and its strong focus on digitalisation.
The initiative also entailed concrete actions to raise social awareness about the environment. The three organisations, under the guidance of Rete Clima experts, came together to carry out local reforestation in order to offset carbon emissions, thereby concretely contributing to achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goals.
Around 25 BonelliErede volunteers, some accompanied by their children, planted hundreds of specimens typical of oak-hornbeam woodland (including oak, maple, linden, ash, apple, and wild pear trees) that originally covered the entire Po valley. In a few years’ time, these young native plants will grow into a fully-fledged urban forest that will benefit the whole area.
“We wanted to actively contribute to planting 400 trees in the outskirts of Milan to show how important it is, also through concrete actions, to reduce and offset the impact our business – including document printing – has on the environment”, commented Marcello Giustiniani, partner and head of CSR at BonelliErede. “It is fundamental for public institutions and also private ones like our firm to commit to positively impacting the local community – not only by giving our all to truly valuable economic initiatives, but also by making concrete, daily efforts to make our planet’s social and environmental sustainability a reality. This initiative is part of the journey we started years ago with our people to have our skills at the ready to the extent useful, be they professional or otherwise, together with those of our suppliers and trusted partners, to build a truly better world”.
PierDamiano Airoldi, CEO at Magnetic Media Network S.p.A. also commented as follows: “MMN has always believed that the best technology is designed to improve people’s lives. That’s what spurred us on to do something that goes even further and thus to take on a more large-scale challenge. We have invested in partnerships and expertise to bring innovative solutions to the market that are of great value to our customers. With our sustainable IT projects, we pioneered an appropriate response to what is now becoming a widespread need. We are the first system integrator in Italy to include carbon footprint offsets directly in our value proposition, thereby offsetting from the get-go the carbon footprint of the professional devices we supply to customers for the entire product life cycle. We now want to go further and encourage more radical decarbonisation solutions. In addition to offsetting emissions, we want to offer our customers innovative atmospheric carbon removal solutions through a direct corporate investment in negative emission technologies (NETs), in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the EU’s Fit for 55 strategy. The initiative we carried out with and for BonelliErede was a perfect combination of technological evolution and environmental ethics, and we are extremely proud of this valuable collaboration”.
Daniele Puccio, VP Country Manager at Xerox, commented as follows: “For over 80 years, sustainability has been one of our company’s core values. Xerox R&D has always stood out for being the first to launch innovative products and operating models on the market, such as introducing in the 1960s and 1970s the possibility to use recycled paper and print double-sided, and later introducing eco-design criteria, the remanufacturing of electronic components, a cartridge return programme, the EA low-melt toner, a sustainability calculator, “Earth Smart” printer drivers, long-lasting spare parts, EPEAT certification, and a PAT (Print Awareness Tool), which makes users more conscious of their behaviour. Our commitment as a global company is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and to reduce greenhouse gases on a scientific basis. In terms of technological, economic and planned development, our next choices will determine the extent of future climate change and its impact. We must strive to reduce our ecological impact whilst preserving the environment and improving people’s health and safety. Preserving the planet’s sustainability is everyone’s responsibility, and we are proud to have contributed to this sustainably-managed print services initiative.”
Paolo Viganò, founder of Rete Clima, concluded as follows: “Ecological transition must involve all economic sectors and all businesses: everyone can quantify their environmental impact and then manage it to make consumption more compatible with the environment and climate. This is precisely why we teamed up with BonelliErede, MMN and Xerox to support international development carbon offsetting initiatives together, with Italy always in mind. This is right at the heart of the initiative: certified, territorial and traceable climate protection action, to reduce environmental impact and increase sustainability”.
