The useful life of laptops will be extended to five years and that of smartphones to four years. As a result of this decision, the replacement of around 2,800 laptops (UvA and AUAS) from 2018 was pushed back from 2022 to 2023.

Following a successful pilot, the Fairphone was included in the range. From 2023, sustainable procurement criteria will be experimented with when purchasing new ICT equipment.

Our footprint in the Cloud (Microsoft 365, Video Service for Education, SAP, etc.) is as yet unknown. An eco-dashboard for MS365 has recently been implemented. Analysis of this and other eco-dashboards and identification of reduction measures is planned for 2023.

We aim to identify current energy use and savings potential, set targets and initiate an action plan. This has not yet been achieved. A study on the best measures to reduce our energy consumption in the Cloud and within the UvA is planned for Q4 2022.

Discussions on sustainability with two major Cloud storage providers started in 2022. Using eco-dashboards, the ecological impact of Cloud usage will be monitored to make the process more efficient – where possible. Cloud suppliers aim for carbon-neutral data centres.

Since 2022, equipment handed in has been reused or recycled in the Netherlands. One problem is that not all smartphones are returned after use. As a result, their sustainable disposal cannot be guaranteed. This problem will be addressed in the mobile telephony tendering procedure.

In 2022, the energy consumption of our own data centre was analysed and we sought to make the server settings more energy-efficient. This would reduce energy consumption by an estimated 10%.

On the advice of our print supplier, we use paper with a lower ecological impact. In addition, printing is discouraged and scanning is free. Our sustainability goals will be taken into account in the next round of tenders for our printing facilities.