Axis contributes to the United Nations Agenda 2030 and its 17 Global Sustainable Development goals through our sustainability efforts,. These goals encourage businesses like ours to address the challenges we face. These include poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace and justice.
Over the years in my career at Axis, I embraced our core values, which I found to be relatively straightforward compared to traditional business values I have seen in the past. We have only 3 Core Values; however, we can't be fooled by the simple approach, as they are intertwined with profound purposes. Our approach to the sustainability model is similar. We created four sustainability focus areas that are the cornerstones of our business as follows:
- Respect People:
Our goal is to look beyond fostering an attractive and sustainable workplace, and our responsibility follows along the entire value chain from our sub-supplier to the general public.
- Be Trustworthy
Our social impact and responsibility involve safeguarding human rights and ensuring good working conditions in our operations and at suppliers. We have zero tolerance for corruption.
- Innovate Responsibly
By acting socially responsibly and leading through technical innovation, we want to act as a role models, inspiring change in our company – and society as a whole.
In 2020 the new Lund Axis head office was completed and obtained BREEAM certification with the rating of Excellent based on various sustainability factors, including materials, energy, waste, outdoor environment, biodiversity, and alternatives for sustainable commuting.
That was not an easy task, but we did it!
- Protect our planet
Green is good, which is why we do our utmost to minimize the environmental impact of our operations. The goal is to help beat climate change, reduce our carbon footprint and responsibly use natural resources. These pillars are part of everything we do. From product manufacturing and lifecycle, energy consumption, repair and replace, transport and logistics, to setting high demands on all our suppliers and partners.
These initiatives are great, but how do they apply to smart cities?
Urbanization will intensify as its projected that 68% of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2050. In parallel, so will the energy consumption and waste production. An interesting fact is that it is also believed that IoT and artificial intelligence will be the key to lowering our environmental impact. Still, it's pretty ironic that we must reduce our environmental impact while planning to increase the presence of IoT and technology in cities drastically.
The Smart City concept is intended to do just that while bringing a positive experience to its citizens' daily life. Hence the importance of acting responsively and making decisions based on sustainable solutions, not solely on short-term financial impact.
Don't we have enough proof that the least expensive approach has severely impacted the environment and financially hurt us?
The attitude of "it's so inexpensive that once it breaks, we can replace it" is highly irresponsible and has resulted in filling landfills and is harmful to future generations.
Can we do better for our cities and making sure we all are part of the solution? Absolutely!
Sustainability can be offered in terms of the lifespan and scalability of our product. We will gladly provide life expectancy test results of our products so you can expect to see exceptional performance for an extended period. With Axis scalability in mind, when selected appropriately, you should expect our products to fulfill future technology needs without having to replace them. The ROI will surpass your initial financial investment with time because the product is manufactured with the UN Global Compact in mind.
As cities have a significant environmental impact, we can adapt to existing and future technology by keeping our open architecture while offering the lowest energy consumption possible.
Everything has a cost, and we are all part of the solution for reducing our environmental impact. It's not about how much it cost today, but how much it will cost in time!
Sophie Laplante - Business Development Manager, Cities