Sustainable Raw Materials Management

Technology advancement and the quality of life depend more and more on the materials they are built with. For electronics, materials help to reduce the product volume and weight, and enrich functionality for various user needs.

Sustainable raw materials management is a part of Acer’s sustainable strategy. We are committed to minimizing the negative environmental and social impacts of raw materials in the product life cycle. Beginning with the use of recycled plastics, we are incorporating more recycled materials and further avoiding the use of raw materials from biodiversity sites. Acer's Sustainable Raw Materials Policy is as follows:

• Conduct the environmental and social impact assessment of raw materials, then formulate priority raw material lists to minimize negative environmental and social impacts.

• Expand the use of recycled materials and prioritize the use of sustainable raw materials certified by third parties.

• Work with the supply chain to investigate and prevent the use of raw materials from important global or national biodiversity areas.

• Continuously collaborate with external stakeholders including research or advocacy organizations to promote the use of sustainable raw materials.

• Periodically disclose the progress of sustainable raw material use and plans.

To implement our sustainable raw materials policy, the following actions have been taken:

• Identify priority raw material lists 

  In consideration of global trends and raw materials of concern by stakeholders, several raw materials including metals, plastics, paper, and glass were scoped for a seven-aspect assessment to formulate our priority raw material lists. These seven aspects cover regulation trends, environmental and biodiversity impacts, social and human rights, industrial readiness, Acer’s status, industry relevance, and supply chain risk. By taking into account of these aspects, we finalized our phase one priority raw material list, which includes aluminum, cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, nickel, plastic, tantalum, tin, and tungsten, to start our raw materials investigation.

• Provide training on sustainable raw materials

  Training on sustainable raw materials was held for cross-function teams from product design, management, procurement and supply chain. The topics include introducing global trends, regulation and voluntary requirements of sustainable raw material, as well as identifying the roles when communicating with supplier chains.

• Advocacy and participation 

  Acer joined the “Circular Electronics Initiative and Partnership", a pilot project launched by the Green Economy Research Center of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER). Information and global trends related to circular electronics will be collected and consolidated, and discussion for the feasibility of developing and applying low-carbon circular materials with the members will be held. Additionally, we also participated in the “Ocean Waste Recycling Alliance” to cooperate with members to promote the reuse and recycling of ocean wastes.

• Supply chain management 

  To begin with, we will focus on components with higher material content from our priority raw materials list and will gradually expand to include other parts. In the future, we plan to integrate priority materials management into our management system to enhance oversight and performance evaluation. 

  Through our ARSM supply chain management system and ESG scorecard, we continuously evaluate our supply chain’s management of responsible minerals and other important environmental and social topics.  

We have set a goal to use 20-30% post-consumer recycled plastics in our computers and monitors (on average by weight) by 2025, for which 18.8% use was achieved in 2023. We also continue the management of responsible minerals and disclosure by publishing our responsible minerals report. The amounts (in tonnes) for materials used in 2023 are: Aluminium: 4,833; Cobalt/Lithium: 788; Copper: 6,130; Iron/Steel: 6,898; Nickel: 129; Titanium: 5; Plastic: 10,828. Sustainable raw materials management is an important part of Acer's sustainable strategy, and we will continue to disclose our progress.