The hidden cost of scarce raw materials, like gold

From everyday items such as phones and jewellery, to astronauts’ visors and the equipment the network industry uses, gold is vital to modern day economies. But sourcing this raw material does not come without a cost.

Black markets still fuel a large part of the global gold consumption. Methods used to extract gold can cause health issues and severe environmental hazards (1).

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The sustainability toolbox is growing!

A growing number of companies want to make their business model more sustainable. That is a great development and we see more and more companies adapting and working towards that. But apart from the obvious how do you know what is best to do? How do you know what the actual impact is? Because in the end it is about traceable actions and insights and less about a statement on a page. 

Luckily all around the industry tools are beginning to pop up. Below we list a few of those tools that might give you the bit of guidance you are looking for.

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JANUARY 2022 – ALL ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Doesn’t everyone like to start off the new year better than the previous one? You know what we are talking about? Almost all of us have them.. Stop smoking, going to the gym, start recycling, loose some weight, pick up that one special project… That’s right: New Years resolutions!

January traditionally is filled with them, that is why we are focussing this month on sustainability and being a bit nicer to this big green and blue globe we live on.

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Let’s go circular!

The Netherlands is the most connected country in the world and Amsterdam is an important international digital hub. Combine that with a reliable and favorable energy network and you have an ideal country to house datacenters. The Netherlands is on its way to become the number 1 data hub in Europe. And indeed Google, Microsoft and the alike already have and are expanding their datacenter presence in The Netherlands.

Typical for Dutch IT is their ambition to becoming more sustainable and work towards circularity; a model in which there is minimal/no waste.

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Sustainability as Second Nature to Preserve Our ‘First Nature’

In The Netherlands we recently celebrated Circular Economy Week. Within this framework many organizations have introduced a variety of sustainability initiatives including Dutch telecom provider KPN. As of 2025, all of their modems, TV setup boxes and other networking devices will be 100% recyclable. Nice. A bit late, some will argue, but still. Other companies promise to take a closer look at the procurement of their raw materials. Nice. At this pace, however, a ‘week’ will never do the trick.

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