IT Hardware · transition pathways
← all sectorsThe recognised primary transition pathway for it hardware, plus the upstream sectors it hardware firms depend on for their own decarbonisation. A consulting firm cutting business travel still needs aviation to decarbonise; a REIT cutting tenant energy still needs the grid to clean up. These are the rate limiters.
SBTi ICT sector pathway
SBTi has an ICT-specific 1.5°C-aligned pathway covering hardware, networking, software and data centres. CDP supply-chain engagement is the de facto Scope 3 disclosure mechanism for tier-1+ vendor reporting.
Reference ↗Hover the chart to read off Best / Realistic / Worst values at any year. Click to pin the readout.
Best 15% · Worst 80%
Upstream sectors it hardware firms rely on. The faster these decarbonise, the faster the firm can hit its own targets — even when it does everything in its control.
Semiconductor manufacturing
Scope 3 · cat 1Chips dominate hardware Scope 3 cat 1. Fab energy intensity, perfluorocarbon emissions, and water-intensive processes set the floor for IT hardware supply-chain carbon.
Source: SEMI sustainability roadmap, SBTi ICT (covers fabs)
Sector-generic framing shown above — company-specific exposure narrative pending.
Power & electricity
Scope 3 · cat 11 + Scope 2Use-phase emissions of every device sold scale with the customer's grid mix. Faster grid decarbonisation directly cuts the firm's largest emissions bucket.
Source: IEA WEO 2023 — NZE / APS / STEPS
Sector-generic framing shown above — company-specific exposure narrative pending.
Mining & critical minerals
Scope 3 · cat 1Rare earths, lithium, cobalt, copper for batteries and electronics. Mining decarbonisation pace caps upstream supply-chain emissions.
Source: ICMM Climate Change Position, SBTi Mining (in development)
Sector-generic framing shown above — company-specific exposure narrative pending.
Aviation
Scope 3 · cat 6Global enterprise sales, service engineers, channel partner conferences. Hardware OEMs run heavy long-haul travel programmes that don't shrink without aviation supply-side change.
Source: IATA Fly Net Zero, ICAO LTAG, BAU (~3% pa growth)
Sector-generic framing shown above — company-specific exposure narrative pending.
E-waste & circular electronics
Scope 3 · cat 12Average 3–5 year device lifetime drives constant material throughput. Take-back, refurbish and material-recovery rates determine whether next cycle reuses or re-mines.
Sector-generic framing shown above — company-specific exposure narrative pending.
Once we have HQ + operations location data per firm in this cohort, we'll overlay Ember grid-carbon-intensity data per country so you can see the geographical decarbonisation tailwind (or headwind) each firm is operating against.
Source: ember-energy.org · Global Electricity Review + per-country grid carbon intensity (gCO2/kWh).