We accelerate the journey towards more sustainable IT
Our mission is to build the future with IT. This means helping businesses manage their consumption of IT in a sustainable, efficient way as well as helping them leverage IT solutions to achieve sustainability goals.
Through our network Atea Sustainability Focus, we accelerate the transition towards more sustainable IT. We bring together the voice of Nordic IT buyers, create a platform for dialogue and drive important issues towards the industry. Since the global IT industry considers Nordic IT buyers to be among the most progressive and ambitious when it comes to sustainability, this is an opportunity for buyers to use their influence to accelerate the sustainability work of the industry.
Atea operates one of the largest electronic reuse and recycling operation in the Nordic and Baltic regions, and promotes IT reuse through our take-back services and our 100% Club network.
Electronic devices are a major driver of carbon emissions within organizations. Most of the carbon emissions from an electronic device occurs when the device is manufactured. Therefore, extending the life cycle of electronic equipment is a highly effective way of reducing carbon emissions and waste.
Through its take-back programs, Atea retrieves used equipment from its customers, fully cleanses the equipment of data and prepares the equipment for reuse and recycling. This operation has a major impact on the carbon footprint and electronic waste of Atea’s customers.
Atea takes back 20 to 30 percent of all equipment sold for reuse and recycling through its take-back service and keeps raising the bar.
In 2024, using take-back services, more than 640,000 units were recovered by giving IT products a second life, saving 75,705 tCO2e.
Atea's Vision 2030
Atea’s mission is to build the future with IT. We believe that information technology, combined with knowledge and creativity, can improve living standards across society and help to achieve a more sustainable future. As one of Europe’s largest resellers of IT infrastructure, Atea is uniquely positioned to facilitate and accelerate a journey towards sustainable IT.
This is our goal with the Vision 2030 – to be a step ahead and drive positive change in our industry.
Sustainable developments goals and Atea
Agenda 2030 was established by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action for global development. The agenda consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 underlying targets to be achieved by the end of this decade. It has been adopted by all UN member states.
Atea supports all 17 SDGs and focuses particularly on six goals: gender equality (Goal 5), decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), industry, innovation, and infrastructure (Goal 9), responsible consumption and production (Goal 12), climate action (Goal 13), and peace, justice, and strong institutions (Goal 16).
Responsible Sourcing
The IT industry’s supply chains are long and complex, and they provide livelihoods for millions of people. Working to protect human rights, to ensure ethical and responsible working methods, and to reduce the climate footprint in the supply chains — all of this is as challenging as it is urgent. We must systematically use our influence to create positive, lasting change.
Promoting responsible sourcing
Atea has set clear sustainability demands for its vendors according to the industry’s highest standards. We expect our suppliers to act according to Atea’s and RBA’s Code of Conduct, which means they have set systematic and long-term work towards sustainable supply chains. On top of this, we provide information to customers so they can contribute to setting sustainability standards for the products they purchase. In our eShop, we have made it easy for customers to search for sustainability certifications.
Atea and the Responsible Business Alliance
Our most important tool for promoting sustainability within the IT supply chain is our membership in the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA). The RBA is the IT industry’s sustainability organization and sets standards to guide the industry. To become a Regular Member of the RBA, vendors must demonstrate a systematic and long-term work plan for sustainable supply chains.
Atea and the Norwegian Transparency Act / Åpenhetsloven
On July 1 2022, the Norwegian Transparency Act entered into force, establishing processes for the public to access information about how enterprises covered by the law address adverse impacts on human rights and working conditions.
Accelerating the transition towards more sustainable IT
As an IT buyer, your choice matters and we are here to lead the way. Our objective is to help more businesses buy and manage IT in a more sustainable way. Here are key steps we can take together.
Lifecycle management of IT products
The 100% club
The 100% club brings together organizations with a shared vision of returning 100% of their IT equipment for reuse and recycling. Extending the life cycle of electronic equipment through reuse and recycling is a highly effective way of reducing carbon emissions, as up to 95 percent of the carbon emissions of an electronic device occurs when the device is manufactured. The 100% club has over 500 corporate and public sector organizations as members.
Atea Sustainability Focus (ASF)
The Atea Sustainability Focus initiative brings together the collective voice of the Nordic market so that our sustainability requirements are heard in the global IT industry. The ASF organization works with over 600 public and private sector customers, with an advisory board of leading corporations.
Within the framework of ASF, Atea collects recommendations from across the Nordic market and summarizes findings in a detailed sustainability report, and then brings the recommendations forward to the IT industry through our participation in the Responsible Business Alliance.
The Atea Sustainability Forum is an annual meeting of ASF participants, with inspiring lectures by leading experts, workshops on current sustainability topics and networking opportunities.
ASF Leadership for Change
The ASF Leadership for Change collective represents a consortium of leading Nordic IT purchasers dedicated to fostering sustainability in the IT sector through mindful procurement and consumption decisions. The network is devoted to creating and circulating best practices for IT procurement and consumption.
Read more about best practices: Extending the lifespan of IT products
Read more about best practices: Creating and implementing a strategy for sustainable IT
Guide to sustainable procurement of IT
Atea has established the a guide to sustainable procurement of IT for buyers to set sustainability requirements when procuring IT. As an IT buyer, you have the opportunity to promote positive change within the industry.