A Sustainability Program with Regional Nuance
It’s been a calendar year since Akamai’s Director of Corporate Sustainability and ESG Officer Mike Mattera and I kicked off our sustainability listening tour in earnest. In 2024, we met with Akamai customers and employees in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) to begin to understand how these key stakeholders are thinking about sustainability.
We decided to start the conversation here because of the region’s developed regulatory frameworks and considerable level of engagement. We wanted to know what’s gone well, what’s been challenging, and where they are stuck so we can tailor our support accordingly.
After rigorous exploration and discussion, we used their feedback to create two learning modules that we developed in partnership with sales leadership to empower our employees to fill some of these gaps for our customers. It was a massive amount of effort but it was an important step in establishing a direct feedback loop that gives our customers an opportunity to shape our program.
After taking action on this initial round of discussions, we began to expand the aperture of our work. We’ve always known that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to sustainability and it's time to explore what that means in other parts of the world. What works in EMEA might not work in other regions and vice versa.
So with these building blocks in place, we decided to continue the conversation this year in Asia-Pacific (APAC), visiting key stakeholders in Tokyo, Singapore, and Sydney to begin to weave regional nuance into our program.
We spoke with a wide range of stakeholders
We engaged with a diverse group of stakeholders, including customers, employees, partners, peers, competitors, analysts, members of the press, and renewable energy developers. Connecting with this group helped us zoom out and gain a more comprehensive view of the landscape.
The conversation started with our customers. We met with relevant leaders from a wide range of industries: fashion, social media, auto manufacturing, broadcasting, energy, and so many more. Each brought their own unique perspectives and challenges to the conversation, which helped us increase our understanding of the overall picture.
Some customers are trying to procure renewable energy in APAC, which can be particularly challenging in the region. Others are trying to measure the carbon footprint of new parts of their business. All are at different points on their sustainability journey, but that provided us with a valuable view into what's possible.
We also had rich discussions with Akamai employees. While the conversation differed by country, we received many detailed questions about Akamai’s 2030 goals, like powering our platform and operations with 100% renewable energy and achieving net-zero emissions.
Our employees wanted not only to dive deeper into these strategies, but also to learn more about how they are unique in our industry. Employees also asked how they could assure customers that Akamai’s sustainability commitments are genuine. They were pleased that they could confidently share with customers that sustainability is woven into Akamai’s mission critical goals, as well as other key parts of the business.
We confirmed assumptions and gained new insights
The more leaders we spoke with, the more we began to see some key themes emerge.
First, we confirmed our assumption that APAC is not a monolith. Customer needs, regulations, and infrastructure vary significantly by country — even more so than we’ve seen in other regions. This means we need to make even bigger investments of time to first understand each market’s unique landscape and then tailor our approach accordingly. It sounds daunting, but it also represents a lot of opportunity as we continue to scale the program.
We also confirmed our assumption that customer interest and action are credible in the region, and we learned there are other parts of our work that might resonate as well.
For example, we often lead with our net-zero strategy or environmental regulations as entry points into stakeholder conversations. These themes seem to be very important to certain audiences in other regions. In APAC, though, while these topics are of interest, we’ve realized that our commitment to reducing waste through network efficiencies might be even more resonant in some cases.
We look forward to continuing the conversation
As we’ve had time to digest all the feedback we received over the last few weeks, our strategy in APAC is coming further into focus. While the conversation is unique in the region, it is very clear that the time to engage our customers on the topic of sustainability is now. The headwinds and complexity are real, but progress is possible with the right approach.
Yes, we could have met with these stakeholders virtually, but taking the time to meet them in person (we purchased credible offsets for our travel) demonstrates that we are serious about establishing that direct feedback loop that shapes our program.
We'll use the new insights to continue to fill gaps for our customers as they progress along their unique sustainability journeys. We also look forward to continuing the conversation in other regions. The more voices we have in the room, the more rich the discussion, and the more robust our program.
If you are a customer with unique regional insight into sustainability, please reach out through your Akamai account team to set up a conversation.
