An analyst says sustainability is staging a comeback for the IT channel, creating fresh opportunities for partners as businesses rethink procurement amid supply and price volatility.
Speaking at a recent breakfast briefing, Omdia senior analyst Ben Caddy said sustainability and circularity are re-emerging as practical tools for resilience after a “trickier period” driven in part by geopolitical tensions and market disruption. He warned that the topic remains subject to “green hushing” — less public corporate talk about ESG and net zero — but said the underlying demand is growing.
## Why sustainability is rebounding for the channel
Caddy attributed the renewed focus to an increasingly volatile supply environment. Delays and higher costs for hardware — notably pressure on DRAM and the traditional three-to-five-year refresh cycle — are forcing organisations to seek alternatives. “Circularity and sustainability are really coming back into the fray as a key area for how businesses are resilient going forward,” he said, framing sustainable practices as a practical response to procurement and pricing challenges rather than only a reputational concern.
## Refurbished hardware is gaining traction
One concrete manifestation of that shift is a jump in demand for refurbished equipment. Omdia figures cited by Caddy show about 16% of customers are opting for cheaper or refurbished hardware. Partners report a “real boom” in refurbished tech as buyers who previously rejected second‑user equipment reconsider for cost and sustainability reasons.
The boundaries between IT asset disposition (ITAD) providers and the traditional channel are blurring. Caddy pointed to efforts by firms such as Computacenter, SCC and Advania to develop device takeback and refurbishment capabilities, and noted that vendors including HP, Lenovo, Cisco and HPE have launched or expanded certified refurbished programmes.
## Services-led sustainability: advising, designing, optimising
Caddy argued the channel’s role is shifting from product resale to services around sustainability. Partners can act as strategic advisers on aligning IT strategy with sustainability goals, navigating regulatory pressures, and designing for circular lifecycles. Sustainable procurement — whether choosing refurbished devices or vendors with stronger credentials — is emerging as a buyer priority.
He also highlighted GreenOps as a growing services opportunity: helping customers optimise both costs and carbon through efficiency measures and operational changes. With data‑centre expansion and volatility in power markets, energy-efficient IT and operational optimisation present tangible commercial cases for sustainability services.
## A nuanced picture, but substantial opportunity
Caddy cautioned the recovery is not uniform. Public discussion of ESG from corporate leadership has cooled in some quarters, a trend he described as green hushing. He also noted concerns about hyperscaler emissions trending in the wrong direction. Nonetheless, he framed circularity and efficiency as practical responses to current market dynamics — helping firms manage DRAM price pressure, improve resilience, and reduce both costs and carbon.
For channel partners, the shift means expanding capabilities beyond transactional hardware sales to include takeback, refurbishment and advisory services that link sustainability to procurement, cost control and operational resilience. As Caddy put it, sustainability is increasingly “more of a services conversation than it has been before,” offering routes to revenue that dovetail with clients’ immediate commercial and environmental pressures.
