IPC at CES: Reinforcing our Industry’s Commitment to Sustainability
by John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO
Key Summary
• CES highlighted the growing need for sustainability across all electronics categories
• Companies want stronger standards, education, and advocacy to guide sustainable design and materials sourcing
• Uniform data on energy, water, and material use remains difficult to collect due to transparency and business sensitivity challenges
• Improved information sharing could support better design decisions and reduce environmental impact
• Sustainability opportunities include higher energy efficiency, responsible recycling, and better materials management
• IPC is committed to helping global members collaborate on practical sustainability solutions
CES 2024 truly showcases the best of electronics innovation for today and tomorrow. It’s exciting to be here. One of my biggest takeaways from today is how absolutely essential it is for the electronics industry to reinforce our commitment to sustainability – sustainability for smart cities and homes, vehicle technology, fitness and wearables.
As President of IPC, I meet with electronics companies from around the world. More than ever, I hear about a clear need for more standards, education, and advocacy support to ensure sustainability in the design of and materials sourcing for these innovative technologies.
However, we need to develop stronger mechanisms for uniform information collection and sharing about the energy, water, and materials needed across the electronics life cycle to make better design and to make sure innovative technologies are also less impactful. Accessing this information is complicated by business sensitive information and transparency challenges. I’d love to see technology help to address this data challenge and open up possibilities for better insights and better decisions that enable the industry to build electronics better.
Opportunities for innovation like we see at CES must include sustainability considerations including how we can access information that helps us all to be more efficient in how we select and use our resources including chemicals, materials, water and energy.
The electronics industry is keenly aware of the opportunity we have to find real sustainability solutions including improved energy efficiency, responsible recycling, and sustainable materials management. I am excited to continue our work at IPC and help our global members work together and meet these important goals.
Sustainability affects how modern technologies are designed, powered, recycled, and sourced. Companies recognize that long term innovation depends on reducing environmental impact while improving product performance.
Key information on energy use, water consumption, and materials is often proprietary, dispersed across global supply chains, or difficult to access, which limits uniform reporting and decision making.
More accessible and standardized information would help engineers and manufacturers select materials and processes that use fewer resources and lower environmental impact throughout the product life cycle.
Areas of opportunity include improving energy efficiency in devices, using materials more responsibly, adopting effective recycling practices, and optimizing resource use during manufacturing.
IPC is expanding standards development, education, and industry advocacy to help companies integrate sustainability into design, materials sourcing, and manufacturing while encouraging global collaboration.