The Challenge
Across the IT supply chain, sustainability, environmental disclosures and defensible Net Zero trajectories are table stakes. Demonstrating commitment, progress and future plans are critical customer decision criteria. Public sector procurement sets mandatory expectations through PPN006, which requires suppliers to commit to Net Zero and publish a credible Carbon Reduction Plan.
CDW’s global parent has gained approval for a portfolio of science-based emissions reduction targets, from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). CDW’s UK business needed to align and support progress towards achieving the targets whilst driving Carbon Net Zero in the UK.
CDW had recognised the challenges early and had already begun measuring its carbon footprint leveraging a leading carbon accounting platform. But data on its own does not create progress. What CDW needed was a clear, credible and programmatical route to achieving its Net Zero target, combined with expert thought leadership, and real world expertise, that would inspire confidence and support progress. Achieving this without diverting its internal teams or building a large in-house sustainability function.
Additionally, CDW wanted advice and guidance to understand and react to the widening set of UK reporting obligations, spanning energy and carbon reporting, climate-related disclosures and energy efficiency compliance. Providing a launchpad to keep pace changing expectations, while continuing to run the business.
The Opportunity
For an IT supplier, sustainability is becoming a commercial issue as much as an environmental one. Buyers are choosing partners on the strength of their Net Zero credentials, and contracts can increasingly be won or lost on them.
A clear and well-evidenced Net Zero strategy was therefore an opportunity, not just an obligation. It would allow CDW to respond credibly to the organisations it supplies, protect and deepen existing relationships, and stand out in a competitive market. Acting early also meant CDW could shape its plan on its own terms, rather than reacting under pressure.
PNZ Approach
PNZ Advisory worked alongside CDW’s internal teams as a flexible, specialist partner, delivered as an ongoing service over a two-year programme rather than a one-off project. The aim throughout was to add expertise and capacity where CDW needed it, not to replace the capable people already in the business.
We began by scoping the business and reviewing how ready it was to move towards Net Zero, identifying where its most significant carbon impacts and biggest opportunities were likely to sit. We ran a series of carbon reduction workshops across the key areas of the business, working with the people who run those areas to surface practical, realistic, reduction measures.
Using CDW’s own carbon data from its accounting platform, we analysed these measures, modelled their effect, and recommended a prioritised set of carbon reduction projects. These were shaped into a net zero strategy with CDW’s Sustainability Manager and teams from across the business, ensuring the final plan reflected operational reality, targeted practical application and commitment to act.
The Solution
The programme gave CDW a comprehensive, defensible, Net Zero framework and the ongoing support to act on it.
At its core is a Net Zero strategy: a clear, prioritised roadmap to CDW’s target. This is underpinned by a Net Zero glide path, built from CDW’s own carbon data, which established the trajectory of emissions reductions over time demonstrating how the target is reached. To turn the strategy into momentum, we built a Net Zero action tracker converting the plan into specific, owned actions the business can track and report against.
Alongside the strategy, PNZ provided ongoing compliance support. Quarterly compliance trackers kept CDW ahead of its UK obligations, covering energy and carbon reporting, procurement requirements, climate-related disclosures, energy efficiency compliance and packaging responsibilities. When CDW needed to meet an energy efficiency compliance deadline for ESOS phase 4 compliance, PNZ also led the hands-on reporting and submission, coordinating closely with CDW’s teams to deliver it on time.
All of this was delivered flexibly under a single service package, giving CDW access to specialist support that scaled with its needs and worked in partnership with its internal teams.
Impact Delivered
Sustainability Impact - CDW moved from holding carbon data to owning a clear, board-ready plan to act on it. The strategy and live action tracker give the business defined priorities, named ownership and a way to demonstrate progress against its Net Zero target.
Just as importantly, CDW is now better placed to respond to sustainability, disclosure and Net Zero requirements, meeting customer ambition and public sector procurement expectation. The plan strengthens CDW’s customer and partner credibility, helps protect existing relationships and supports new opportunities. With PNZ providing a dependable compliance cadence, CDW meets its reporting obligations on time without overloading its internal teams.
Carbon Impact - The Net Zero glide path quantifies CDW’s route to its target using its own data, giving a clear line of sight on the reductions required over time. Through PNZ’s energy efficiency compliance reporting, significant annual energy and carbon savings were also identified and quantified following operational changes at CDW’s sites.
