“I want to help people build a thriving future for all”

I am Italian, but since my parents’ families emigrated to South Africa and Kenya more than a century ago, I was brought up in both Rome and Mombasa (Kenya). I had the fortune to enjoy a positive blend of Italian, English and African cultures: incredible art and history, and the wild nature of the savannah and the coral reefs. I think all of this contributed to my understanding of the global social, economic and environmental implications of our behaviors and lifestyles (at home and at work!), and to my passion for helping people build a thriving future for all. This awareness has led me to work with and specialize in Sustainable Consumption and Production, and Transformative Education and Stakeholder Engagement, since my degree in Environmental Sciences.

Joining TCO Development was a very natural next step in my career. Since the year 2000, as a scientific communicator and sustainability professional and educator, I’ve had the chance to monitor global trends and promote lifecycle thinking, eco-design and ecolabels, at non-profit, public and private organizations. Between 2003 and 2011, the start-up and coordination of the Centre of Education for Sustainable Consumption of Liguria, a region in Italy, gave me the opportunity to put green procurement into practice, organize courses for procurers, and participate as a facilitator and expert in regional and national workgroups on ecolabels and sustainable production and consumption.

I started designing and facilitating workshops on the lifecycle and eco-design of cell phones and other electronic devices in 2005, before smartphones and social networks began to spread. Since then, we have witnessed huge technological developments. In fact, I remember that in the beginning, as educational tools, we used DVDs, cell phone parts, many kinds of chargers, audio cable connectors and packaging. Later, in 2013, the development of social networks made available videos that showed inspiring ideas for durable and modular devices! These ideas were a dream at that time, while nowadays, modularity, packaging reduction and common connectors have become reality. At the same time, awareness of minerals extraction and factory working conditions is growing. In all this, TCO Development has been leading positive change. Now for me, it is a joy to have the chance to contribute to speeding it up.

So, what’s happening with sustainable procurement in Spain and Italy? Well, national, regional and local governments are leading the way by setting environmental and social criteria to facilitate sustainable public procurement. Since 2013, Italy has designed environmental criteria for many product categories including IT, and in 2017, these criteria became compulsory. In Spain, regional and local governments have been including sustainability requirements in their tenders for many years now. Large private companies are guiding their core suppliers towards greener solutions as well.

In my role at TCO Development, I want to let as many organizations as possible know that we are here to support them in their sustainable IT procurement practices. That we are at their disposal for information on all the criteria and verification methods that are included in TCO Certified — and how the certification benefits people, the planet, and the purchasing organization. Together, we can lead the change towards a more sustainable life cycle for electronic devices in the office.

Organizational IT procurement on one side benefits the organization thanks to the quality and durability of the devices. On the other side, it contributes to a fair and circular economy and to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In practice, from your office, you can promote the improvement of people’s working conditions, probably on the other side of the globe, or the mitigation of climate change, for example. So, grab this unique opportunity and never ignore the power of doing your bit for a positive impact!

I understand that every new adventure brings new challenges, but many small steps can trigger powerful positive circles, and make things easier later on. I always say, that as many people together generate negative impacts on the planet, in the same way, by joining together, people can build the thriving future we want.