Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan calls for more accountability and transparency from the industry at the 9th Milken Institute Asia Summit

Today, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan called for more accountability and transparency from the industry at the 9th Milken Institute Asia Summit. The theme of this year’s summit was “The World Transformed” and during his fireside chat with Diane Brady, Assistant Managing Editor at Forbes, Min talked about how the gaming company is seeking to transform the world through its sustainability efforts, inviting other businesses to follow suit.

With forest fires burning twice as many trees around the world as 20 years ago, companies can no longer afford not to take effective action against global warming. That is why Razer is leading the charge and rallying the 3.2 billion gamers around the world to form the next frontier for climate cersonhange. As the leading lifestyle brand for gamers, Razer’s massive community consists largely of millennials and Gen Z, also dubbed Generation Green for their environmentally and socially conscious behavior. To mobilize its community, Razer introduced its sustainability mascot Sneki Snek and has been saving trees and making sustainability endemic to gaming since 2020.

During his chat, Min talked about #GoGreenWithRazer, the company’s ten-year plan to protect the planet, elaborating on the four pillars, Green Products, Green Organization, Green Community and Green Investment, and shared the company’s best practices in the aims of inspiring more companies to prioritize sustainability in the same way because not only is sustainability good for the planet, it’s also good for business. According to McKinsey, investing in a proper sustainability strategy can reduce costs and operating profits by as much as 60%,[1] and while 90% of executives think sustainability is important, only 60% have a sustainability strategy.

If we are to ensure that the planet remains an arena we can all continue to play in, the industry has to come together and enable consumers to make more informed decisions and exercise responsible consumerism. That’s why Min called for more accountability and transparency from manufacturers and shared Razer’s best practices, starting with ecolabels.

Last year at RazerCon 2021, Razer announced its partnership with global safety science leader UL, to develop new Product Category Rules (PCR) that will govern the sustainable manufacturing of gaming products through the establishment of an Environmental Product Deceleration ecolabel or type III ecolabel. Razer took it upon itself to do this because the gaming industry lacked a standardized way to measure sustainable product, and the company wanted to provide one. This new type III ecolabel will validate the environmental impact of a product from cradle-to-grave, giving consumers the full picture, which is a part of Razer’s efforts to be more transparent with its community. By the end of this year, Razer will start to introduce this new type III ecolabel on all its products.

Razer’s work with UL doesn’t end there as on World Environment Day 22’, the company announced that two of its bestselling mice, the Basilisk V3 and the DeathAdder Essential, were the first gaming mice in the world to receive UL’s ECOLOGO? Certification. The ECOLOGO? is a type I ecolabel that assures consumers that the mice have been evaluated by an independent scientific third-party and meet strict environmental performance industry standards. Contrary to other companies who make their own single attribute claims, Razer put its products through the ringer to validate its sustainability claims against multiple attributes and encourages its peers in the industry to also independently verify the processes behind the manufacturing of their products.

One of the benefits of looking at the total environmental footprint of products as opposed to one single attribute is that it will force manufacturers to investigate more robust sustainable solutions across the entire lifecycle of the product.

Razer’s focus is on reducing emissions and prioritizing recycling and only when it can’t reduce anymore does it resort to offsetting using the industry’s gold standard carbon credits from vetted and traceable registries. Razer has adopted “Life Cycle Thinking” to reduce its emissions across every stage of the product lifecycle, meaning it thoroughly assess every step from mineral sourcing to manufacturing, to transportation, and end of life, baking sustainability into every stage. The company has also implemented a Design-for-Sustainability Program that incorporates environmental targets into product design process and all designers are trained on and equipped with Life Cycle Assessment tools to make design decisions that are directly linked to lowering environmental impact.

Razer is currently working on a solution that will not only bring accountability and transparency to carbon disclosure and offsetting but will also help manufacturers calculate the carbon footprints of their products and help them transition to net zero more effectively. The company will be making waves again at its upcoming RazerCon 2022 digital event happening on October 15th, 2022. Stay tuned for more sustainability updates then.

[1] How the E in ESG creates business value | McKinsey & Company