Mary de Wysocki, senior VP and chief sustainability officer, Cisco Systems
Among de Wysocki's key statements from that Q&A: "My primary objective as CSO is to steward environmental sustainability initiatives across Cisco. As we think about our strategy, we’re focusing on how we can decarbonize our business and embed circularity. Equally important is looking at how we can enable sustainable growth and innovation. The greatest opportunity is on helping our customers, partners, and other stakeholders decarbonize their business and embed circularity. Cisco’s technology and ecosystem can play a significant role in the twin transition to a digital and low-carbon economy."
That journey toward sustainability, de Wysocki added, must be authentic, transparent, and data-driven.
The efforts don't end there. The timeline below, updated regularly, further explains Cisco's sustainability strategy, key milestones, customer engagements, partner integrations and more. Check back regularly for updates.
November 2025 Updates
Cisco Partners of the Year: Cisco's Partnering for Purpose winners for 2025 included KIW, Morgan Solar, EchoStor Technologies and Iron Bow, the networking company said.
Partnership - AI Infrastructure: AMD, Cisco and HUMAIN have formed a joint venture to deliver AI infrastructure. Much of the work initially involves Saudi Arabia-based data centers, but the overall strategy is global. The companies expect to develop up to 1 GW of AI infrastructure by 2030. HUMAIN is backed by PIF -- the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia.
Partners of the Year: Cisco named NTT Data as its global sustainability partner of the year for 2025. Also, regional sustainability partners of the year included NTT Data for the Americas; Genesis Technology for Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC); VEM Sistemi for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa); Consist Software Solutions in Germany; Green Networks in MEA-TRC; KPN in EMEA North; VEM Sistemi in EMEA South; and BT Group in UK & Ireland Theater.
More Partner Awards: At its annual partner summit, the company honored multiple partners that develop sustainability and energy efficiency solutions. The Cisco Partner for Purpose award winners for 2025 include: Morgan Solar for Energy Blinds, which are powered and controlled via Cisco PoE networks. And KIW for Splid.AI, which converts wasted renewable energy into distributed AI compute power.
October 2025 Updates
IT Infrastructure and Circular Design Milestone: Cisco has reached its goal to incorporate Circular Design Principles into 100% of new products and packaging by the end of our 2025 fiscal year, Chief Sustainability Officer Mary de Wysocki disclosed in a blog.
Partnership - Data Management: Cisco, with help from Deloitte, built a sustainability data foundation (SDF) -- which provides sustainability-related data for thousands of Cisco products. The data hub also allows Cisco to measure its progress toward achieving net-zero in 2040, the companies said.
Office Infrastructure: Cisco Systems is touting sustainability milestones tied to its Austin, Texas, location. The location achieved LEED and WELL certifications.
August 2025 Updates
August 13 - Missed Opportunity: CEO Chuck Robbins mentioned AI market opportunities multiple times during the company's quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts on August 13. However, Robbins failed to say how Cisco's network hardware and software can assist partners, customers and data center providers with power management amid AI's massive energy consumption requirements.
July 2025 Updates
July 30 - Smart Energy Solutions: In a blog, the company described how intelligent energy management solutions can help customers and partners to address power management for AI infrastructure.
April 202025 Updates
April 25: In a blog, the company described how power purchase agreements (PPAs) in India, Spain and the United States (Texas) contribute to the company's net-zero goals.
February 2025: Updates
Venture Capital and Climate Investments: Cisco Investments is seeking to "invest in organizations that align with Cisco’s own climate goals and those of its customers," according to a lengthy article from the networking company.
AI Networks and Energy Efficiency: Cisco Systems outlined an AI network optimization strategy for service providers. The Agile Services Networking architecture is a "more energy efficient and less resource-intensive architecture" compared to traditional networks, Cisco asserted.
Partnership: The company is working with Orange Business in such areas as carbon impact, circular economy, eco-design, and go-to-market strategies, the companies said.
December 2024: Sustainability Strategy Updates
Networking and IT Services: Cisco is now publishing life cycle assessments (LCAs) for some of its hardware products. The LCAs estimate a product's environmental impact associated with its production, transport, use, and end-of-life.
November 2024: Sustainability Strategy Updates
Startup Funding - E-Waste Reduction: DEScycle, a startup that recycles metal from electronic waste, has raised €12.2 million (US$12.8 million) in Series A funding. BGF and Vorwerk Ventures led the round. Cisco Investments, Kadmos Capital, and Nesta also participated as new investors.
Partner of the Year - IT Services: For the second consecutive year, Cisco named Logicalis as its global sustainability partner of the year. Key Logicalis focus areas include circular IT solutions, sustainable network transformation, smart buildings and sustainable managed services.
Partner Program - IT Solutions and Services: Cisco plans to overhaul its partner program to help partners "power AI workloads anywhere, and keep their organizations secure, resilient, and high-performing." Much of the Cisco 360 Partner Program announcement focused on AI, security and networking. The company did not mention energy management or sustainability in the launch statement.
September 2024: Sustainability Strategy
Climate Week NYC: At the conference, multiple Cisco executives described how the company's products are becoming "more energy efficient, as well as modular, recyclable, and reusable (that is, circular)," delivering benefits that can "cascade across industries, countries, and continents."
August 2024: Sustainability Strategy
Partnership - Smart Buildings:Cisco Systems and Honeywell have reinforced their smart building partnership to help customers improve energy efficiency while reducing carbon emissions.
Funding - AI Startup: --Groq, a potential Nvidia rival, has raised $640 million in Series D funding at a $2.8 billion valuation. BlackRock Private Equity Partners led the round, with participation from Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco Systems, Global Brain's KDDI Open Innovation Fund III, and Samsung Catalyst Fund.
Honorees:SustainableIT.org, a CIO-led nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing global sustainability through technology leadership, announced the honorees of the 2024 SustainableIT Impact Awards. The awards recognize "outstanding contributions to technology-driven sustainability across Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) categories," the organization said. Honorees from the technology and IT services sectors included Cisco Systems, Cognizant, NTT Data Group and Rackspace, among others.
April 2024: Sustainability Strategy
IT and Solar Power: Cisco and Morgan Solar are testing a renewable energy solution that powers collaboration and meeting spaces. The solution involves Morgan Solar’s Energy Blinds, Cisco’s Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch, and Webex. Early tests produced up to 50W of renewable energy per window -- enough to effectively run the pilot room’s required equipment and devices. When the room is not occupied, the system stores excess solar energy for later use.
March 2024: Sustainability Strategy
MSP Partner:Logicalis, a major managed IT services provider (MSP), is the first partner globally to achieve Cisco’s Sustainable Campus Access add-on specialization, the companies said.
More: Continue to next page for additional Cisco sustainability updates & the associated channel partner implications.
Hi Brendan: Thanks for your question. I've reached out to Cisco to see if I can find the answer for you. I will update this comment if/when I receive a reply.
Hi Brendan: Cisco just replied to my inquiry. According to a spokesperson for the company: "As of last month, I can confirm we have 531 partners who have earned the ESS, certifying them for participating in Cisco’s Take Back Incentive where partners, in participating countries, are exclusively eligible for incremental discounts of up to 7% on new products, with a commitment to return customers used hardware back to Cisco."
Sustainable IT news & strategies. We empower MSPs, IT service providers, and channel partners to deliver green solutions that help Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) meet net-zero goals.
How many partners have earned Cisco's environmental sustainability specialization???
Hi Brendan: Thanks for your question. I've reached out to Cisco to see if I can find the answer for you. I will update this comment if/when I receive a reply.
Best,
-jp
Hi Brendan: Cisco just replied to my inquiry. According to a spokesperson for the company: "As of last month, I can confirm we have 531 partners who have earned the ESS, certifying them for participating in Cisco’s Take Back Incentive where partners, in participating countries, are exclusively eligible for incremental discounts of up to 7% on new products, with a commitment to return customers used hardware back to Cisco."
-jp