Cisco is embedding sustainability into the way we operate. We believe that through collaboration, we can help build not just a sustainable future, but a regenerative one. This means moving to a mindset in which we build the capacity of our social and environmental systems to heal and thrive.
Our holistic approach to environmental sustainability includes how we operate our business, how we help our customers and suppliers make progress toward their sustainability goals, and how we do our part to help the world adapt to a changing climate.
Cisco’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy
In fiscal 2023, we developed the next generation of our environmental sustainability strategy: the Plan for Possible. The Plan for Possible lays out our three key priorities for helping to create a regenerative future:
Priority 1: Transition to clean energy
To power the world with renewables, the grid requires updated digital infrastructure to connect diverse, decentralized sources of clean energy. But even as the world electrifies, it must simultaneously reduce the amount of energy used by a connected economy.
One important piece of Cisco’s clean energy strategy is our goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our value chain by 2040 by prioritizing reductions across all scopes of emissions. We are proud that Cisco’s 2040 net-zero goal was approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2022 under its Net-Zero Standard. Cisco was one of the first technology hardware and equipment companies to have its net-zero goal validated under the SBTi Net-Zero Standard.
Net zero strategy
For Cisco, our biggest source of emissions comes from the electricity used to power the products we sell (Scope 3 Category 11). To make progress toward our net zero goal, Cisco must prioritize energy efficiency innovation; connecting clean energy; and collaborating with our customers, partners, and suppliers to accelerate the transition to renewable sources of energy. Some of the cross-functional initiatives we undertook in fiscal 2023 to reduce all scopes of emissions include:
- Investing in renewable energy within our own operations, supporting suppliers in their clean energy transitions, and engaging with governments to advocate for policy changes that lead to the advancement of the decarbonization of the global grid
- Continuing to invest in increasing the efficiency of our products to consume less energy, which can help to reduce customers’ emissions
- Increasing the energy efficiency of our buildings, with a focus on electrification, to reduce emissions from our operations
- Prioritizing circularity and waste reduction as a part of business model decisions
For more details about our net-zero strategy, please read The Plan for Possible.
Priority 2: Evolve to a circular and regenerative economy
Now is the time to accelerate the transition from a linear economy that extracts resources and eventually wastes them, to a circular one that finds new uses for products and their inputs. We aim to transform our business to extend the useful life of our products and provide ongoing services.
We are embedding circularity into how we design our products and packaging. This means designing to enable reuse, minimize environmental impacts, drive innovation, and realize value for our stakeholders. We are deploying new offerings that help Cisco and our customers capture more value throughout a product’s life, such as payment solutions and as-a-service models designed with circularity in mind. And we are striving to minimize waste and extend the lifecycle of our products by recapturing hardware and redeploying those assets through remanufacture, reuse, and recycling. Circularity is a business model that is both good for business and good for the planet.
Priority 3: Invest in resilient ecosystems
Value chains benefit from resilient ecosystems, both financially and ecologically, and it is in our shared interest to help humans and nature navigate a changing climate by investing in technologies and workforces that support a regenerative economy, as well as investing in nature itself. This includes enabling communities to adapt to climate realities, cultivating skills and talent for the regenerative economy, and deploying technology to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity.
In 2021, the Cisco Foundation—a charitable organization established in 1997 with a gift from Cisco—committed to investing US$100 million over the next 10 years in climate solutions that draw down the carbon already in the atmosphere and/or regenerate depleted ecosystems. The Cisco Foundation funding takes two main forms: impact investments in for-profit ventures, and grant funding for nonprofits and NGOs. This innovative blended finance approach allows the Cisco Foundation to seek out and scale the best solutions, no matter their profit model or financing avenues available to support such early-stage ventures. One funding recipient is Nia Tero and their initiative to train Indigenous community members as technicians who build, operate, and maintain solar electric shuttle boats in rainforest communities. These boats can reduce deforestation by removing the need to create roads, while creating economic opportunity for community members.
As another example, we seek to reduce water use as much as we can in our operations and supply chain. Cisco recognizes that water is a vital shared resource that we share with the communities where we operate. Water challenges are projected to grow more acute as the impacts of climate change—like droughts, extreme weather, flooding, degraded water quality, and water scarcity—intensify and become more widespread.
Grants | US$10.1M |
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Impact Investments | US$9.7M |
Total | US$19.9M |
Additional examples of how Cisco and the Cisco Foundation are making progress in this area include:
- We have a multiyear, multimillion-dollar partnership with Mercy Corps, the global humanitarian nonprofit, to help them develop and scale technology-enabled climate solutions that can build resilience in communities that are experiencing devastating drought conditions in Kenya. We support local partners to develop digital services that can help agricultural and pastoralist communities adopt climate-resilient approaches to nature resource and land management.
- We assist those experiencing severe effects of a changing climate through the Cisco Crisis Response Team, which can respond when natural disasters and other crises affect communities. This team can provide emergency connectivity for local organizations so they can speed the delivery of food, water, medical care, and other aid, and begin to rebuild. They also help nonprofits and other organizations build their capacity to respond to crisis, build stronger communities, and adapt to climate realities.
- The Cisco Networking Academy program helps build the skills and capabilities for a digital, regenerative economy.
- Since 2015, Cisco surveillance, data, and analytics technologies have been used to protect endangered species around the world through Connected Conservation—the first solution of its kind to proactively protect animals while leaving them to roam freely.
By putting possible into action, we can accelerate the world’s transition into a regenerative future.
Governance of environmental sustainability topics
Cisco named Mary de Wysocki as our first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer in fiscal 2023. Mary leads the company’s environmental sustainability strategy, oversees its progress toward public environmental goals, and helps Cisco drive long-term value for the business, its value chain, and the planet.
At Cisco, environmental sustainability spans multiple functions and job roles. We continue to enhance governance to mitigate risk and oversight of our ESG efforts. In fiscal 2023, we enhanced governance by:
- Creating the Cisco Sustainability Council to drive cross-company governance and execution. The Council includes Vice President and Senior Vice President representation from critical functions throughout the company, including Finance, Legal, Supply Chain, Engineering, Operations, Communications, IT, Procurement, Government Affairs, Cisco Services, Sales, our Partner organizations, and the Chief Sustainability Office.
- Creating a new Board committee, the Environmental, Social and Public Policy (ESPP) Committee, which oversees Cisco’s initiatives, policies, programs, and strategies concerning environmental sustainability and other key corporate social responsibility (CSR) and public policy matters, as more fully set forth in the Committee's Charter.
- Establishing governance processes for external communications, public goals, and claims related to sustainability.
- Performing a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) scenario analysis.
- Building a sustainability data foundation to further support reporting consistency, strategy, product design, and customer needs.
Active environmental targets and goals
Our goal to reach net zero by 2040 includes two near-term targets and a long-term target:
Date goal announced | Target timeframe | Target | FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified) |
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Date goal announced: September 2021 | Target timeframe: Long-term | Target: Reach net zero GHG emissions across our value chain by reducing absolute scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by 90% by 2040 (FY2019 base year).1 See Scope 1-3 summary table below for details or visit our net-zero page. | FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified): Active. We are reporting progress in the following rows through our FY25 and FY30 near-term targets. |
Date goal announced: September 2021 | Target timeframe: Near-term | Target: Reduce absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 90% by FY25 (FY19 base year).1 | FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified): 48% |
Date goal announced: September 2021 | Target timeframe: Near-term | Target: Reduce absolute Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, and use of sold products by 30% by FY30 (FY19 base year).2 See Scope 1-3 summary table below for details. |
FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified): 14%3 We expect our progress to fluctuate year-over-year based on the number and type of products we sell each year. Due to increased product sales, there was an increase in GHG emissions in FY23, thus progress has decreased from FY22. |
1 We will neutralize any remaining emissions by removing an equal amount from the atmosphere.
2 The baseline and progress reported for our fiscal 2030 goal includes: purchased goods and services from manufacturing, component, and warehouse suppliers; upstream transportation and distribution from Cisco purchased air transportation; and use of sold products.
3 We updated our methodology in fiscal 2023 for calculating “Scope 3 Category 11: Use of sold products” to further align with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. For more information on our current methodology, as well as data and goal tracking using our previous methodology, visit the Historic GHG methodology discussion in the Strategy, goals, and emissions data section on our ESG Reporting Hub.
In addition to our net-zero goal, Cisco made additional public environmental commitments that reflect our aspiration and willingness to tackle difficult problems. We also set internal annual targets that are reviewed on a regular cadence to support progress toward our public goals. Cisco's publicly stated environmental goals align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Links in the left-hand column in the table below direct to Cisco's public announcement of each goal. Links in the goal column direct to other places where we report performance against a goal.
Date goal announced | Goal topic | Goal | FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified) |
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Date goal announced:August 2019 | Goal Topic:Energy/GHG | Goal:80% of Cisco component, manufacturing, and logistics suppliers by spend have a public, absolute GHG emissions reduction target by FY25.4 See Supply Chain Environmental Stewardship for details. | FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified):92% |
Date goal announced:July 2019 | Goal Topic:Product and packaging materials |
Goal:
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FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified):27% meeting circular design criteria |
Goal:
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FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified):22% reduction | ||
Goal:
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FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified):65% cumulative improvement | ||
Goal:
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FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified):60% by spend with at least one certified site | ||
Date goal announced:October 2022 | Goal Topic:Product and packaging materials | Goal:50% of plastic used in our products (by weight) will be made of recycled content by FY25.9 | FY23 progress (against base year unless otherwise specified):24% |
4 Suppliers are expected to set absolute GHG emissions reduction targets or intensity targets that produce an absolute emissions reduction during the target period. Cisco encourages suppliers to set targets in line with an approved science-based methodology. Progress toward this goal is quantified using Cisco’s supply chain spend which can vary annually. Cisco will continue to work with suppliers to set their own absolute GHG emissions reduction targets, and to report progress toward this goal annually through fiscal 2025.
5 The scope of this goal is limited to hardware products and associated packaging, excluding: standalone components (e.g., chassis, ASICs, optical modules), standalone basic product accessories (e.g., power cables, brackets), Original Equipment Manufacturer products (where Cisco does not own the design), products and packaging of nonintegrated acquisitions. Product and packaging designs achieving a score of 75 percent or higher are counted toward the goal.
6 To improve measurement accuracy, we changed our methodology for this goal in fiscal 2023 to calculate the foam used in our shipped product packaging instead of the total foam purchased from suppliers. The base year (fiscal 2019) foam use was recalculated using the updated methodology, and fiscal 2023 progress is measured against this.
7 Packaging efficiency is measured by comparing the size of the product relative to the packaging, using dimensional weight. Dimensional weight uses volume and a standard dimensional factor to calculate the weight of a package. In this methodology, the packaging efficiency metric is based on the difference of the normalized dimensional weight (by volume) between the baseline and current year. In fiscal 2023, our calculation methodology was updated, and we are using that to report our fiscal 2023 progress. This goal applies to high-volume packaging requiring redesigns.
8 According to current standard definitions used in certification protocols, “zero-waste” diversion is defined as a 90 percent or greater overall diversion of solid, nonhazardous wastes from landfill, incineration (waste-to-energy), and the environment. Diversion methods can include reduction, reuse, recycling, and/or compost.
9 The scope of this goal excludes plastics contained in commodity components (e.g., plastic screws, fans, and cables) and in products designed and manufactured by our Original Design Manufacturers.
Scope 1-3 emissions summary
The table below summarizes our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. For information about specific Scope 3 categories, please see the drop-downs below, or reference C6.5 of our 2023 CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) response. Details on Cisco’s operational energy use and Scope 1 and 2 emissions are included in Our operations.
Important context for understanding the values provided:
- We are continuously enhancing our methodology for calculating several Scope 3 categories. As a result, Scope 3 figures reported in the table below may differ from those reported in previous versions of the ESG Reporting Hub and historical CDP responses. We report the most up-to-date data available as our methodologies improve.
- Scope 3 figures can vary from year to year based on various factors, for example, changes in sales and supply chain spend.
- Every year, companies reporting GHG emissions as part of CDP’s supply chain program submit data for their last completed fiscal year for which data is available. In Cisco’s case, we reported fiscal 2022 data in July 2023, because our fiscal 2023 data was not yet available. Therefore, we will report fiscal 2023 data in 2024 to CDP.
Emissions category | CDP response evaluation status | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e) | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e) | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e) | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e) | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e) |
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Emissions category:Scope 1 emissions | CDP response evaluation status:N/A | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):47,276 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):38,743 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):26,694 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):34,931 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):39,514 |
Emissions category:Scope 2 location-based emissions | CDP response evaluation status:N/A | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):651,331 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):607,218 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):579,445 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):564,012 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):567,637 |
Emissions category:Scope 2 market-based emissions | CDP response evaluation status:N/A | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):187,428 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):163,645 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):147,801 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):108,373 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):81,806 |
Emissions category:Scope 3 emissions total | CDP response evaluation status:N/A | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):26,479,732 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):21,542,949 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):20,399,732 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):17,845,589 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):22,115,000 |
Emissions category:Category 1: Purchased goods and services | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):6,873,154 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):5,822,879 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):5,379,884 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):4,764,119 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):4,970,027 |
Emissions category:Category 2: Capital goods1 | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):N/A | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):N/A | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):N/A | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):N/A | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):130,218 |
Emissions category:Category 3: Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in Scope 1 or 2) | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):120,398 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):110,917 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):105,740 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):92,562 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):108,760 |
Emissions category:Category 4: Upstream transportation and distribution2 | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):989,830 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):846,694 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):756,169 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):835,024 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):1,010,261 |
Emissions category:Category 5: Waste generated in operations | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):816 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):1114 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):509 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):569 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):583 |
Emissions category:Category 6: Business travel | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):387,856 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):182,638 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):7283 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):81,815 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):216,735 |
Emissions category:Category 7: Employee commuting | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):79,735 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):49,463 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):4575 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):7249 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):14,586 |
Emissions category:Category 8: Upstream leased assets | CDP response evaluation status:Not relevant, explanation provided | |||||
Emissions category:Category 9: Downstream transportation and distribution2 | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):150,100 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):103,854 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):102,983 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):79,164 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):91,409 |
Emissions category:Category 10: Processing of sold products | CDP response evaluation status:Not relevant, explanation provided | |||||
Emissions category:Category 11: Use of sold products3 | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):17,867,750 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):14,416,920 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):14,033,250 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):11,978,535 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):15,563,298 |
Emissions category:Category 12: End-of-use treatment of sold products (end-of-life) | CDP response evaluation status:Relevant, calculated | FY19 base year (metric tonne CO2e):10,093 | FY20 (metric tonne CO2e):8470 | FY21 (metric tonne CO2e):9339 | FY22 (metric tonne CO2e):6552 | FY23 (metric tonne CO2e):9124 |
Emissions category:Category 13: Downstream leased assets | CDP response evaluation status:Not relevant, explanation provided | |||||
Emissions category:Category 14: Franchises | CDP response evaluation status:Not relevant, explanation provided | |||||
Emissions category:Category 15: Investments | CDP response evaluation status:Not relevant, calculated | Screened for relevance in fiscal 2019, determined to be immaterial |
1 Emissions for capital goods were included in Category 1 for fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2022.
2 Air transportation emission factors from the United Kingdom’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)/Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) (formerly Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)) include direct and indirect climate change effects.
3 We have updated our methodology for calculating “Scope 3 Category 11: Use of sold products” to align with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. For more information on our current methodology, as well as data and goal tracking using our previous methodology, see our Historic GHG methodology below.
Each year, an independent third party provides a limited assurance review of our Scope 1 and 2 GHG inventory. In fiscal 2022, we expanded the assurance review to include the Scope 3 categories we report on in the table above. This review is conducted in accordance with the ISO 14064-3 International Standard. After the review is completed, we update the emissions data in the ESG Reporting Hub and related disclosures to align with the assurance statements. Cisco’s Scope 1–3 assurance statement for fiscal 2023 is available here. Assurance statements from previous fiscal years are available at the links below:
- Fiscal 2022 assurance statement
- Fiscal 2021 assurance statement
- Fiscal 2020 assurance statement
- Fiscal 2019 assurance statement
Scope 3 emissions
The majority of Cisco's emissions footprint is attributable to the use of our products, our supply chain, and other indirect emissions sources. For information about specific Scope 3 categories, please see the descriptions below, or reference question C6.5 of our 2023 CDP Climate response. Cisco calculates our Scope 3 GHG emissions based on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol guidance for calculating Scope 3 emissions (version 1.0).