Can you talk about you or your company’s efforts relating to renewability, sustainability or other environmentally-friendly activities?

For any new team member to Dell, the strong commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters quickly becomes clear. From our most senior leadership down throughout the organisation, Dell really focuses on combining innovative technology with our global scale to drive measurable societal impact, with a strong focus on sustainability, the circular economy and other environmentally-friendly practices. As part of this, my team’s role is to provide legal support across supply chain and ESG issues for our country legal and business teams across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and APJC (Asia Pacific, Japan and China).

In addition to helping ensure strict regulatory compliance in this increasingly complex and crucial area, Dell has ambitious goals that are closely tracked and supported through effective policies and programmes, across four key pillars: Advancing Sustainability, cultivating inclusion, transforming lives and upholding ethics and privacy. For example, by 2030, our goal is that for every product sold, Dell will reuse or recycle an equivalent product, with 100% of our packaging being made from recycled or renewable material. We will also reduce our Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% and source 75% of our electricity from renewable sources across all Dell facilities by 2030, with a commitment to achieve net zero GHG emissions across our entire value chain by 2050.

Our team is amongst the lawyers that act as a bridge between, and a central point of contact for, our country, regional and global teams on supply chain and ESG legal matters – we are proud to be a part of the larger ESG landscape within Dell Technologies.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

In-house lawyers not only have to understand the legal and regulatory landscape, but also understand the company’s culture, business and operations. Depending on the role, an in-house lawyer is likely to deal with multiple stakeholders on any given day, from sales, finance, R&D, product regulatory, tax, marketing and numerous other teams that drive the business forward. Because of this, in-house lawyers often have very strong networks across the organisation (including with senior leaders), the expertise to balance competing priorities with legal and reputational risk, and the ability to shape a company’s policies and practices. Given this, an in-house legal team is often uniquely positioned to influence, as well as support, multiple stakeholders at all levels of the organisation; a crucial factor for driving positive change.

Of course, in an organisation as large as Dell Technologies, change comes from many areas – not least our expert ESG, product, regulatory, services, marketing and other teams focused on innovative sustainability projects, all of whom are supported by our legal and compliance teams. I certainly learn a lot from their deep level of technical expertise!