For the Swedish Olympic Committee, sustainability as an essential part of their activities. They have implemented a solid sustainability programme and have started to think about the environmental aspects at every level - from how they plan to travel to the Olympic Games around the world to how they handle electronics. This includes short-term hire of IT equipment for events as needed.
The main task for the Swedish Olympic Committee is to prepare and manage Sweden's participation in the Olympics with an aim on having strong and competitive Olympic teams. This includes preparation, travel, materials and administration. They also provide a number of programmes to support leaders and athletes with resources and finances so that as many people as possible have the chance to come to the Olympics well prepared.
In the Stockholm office, everyone works on a laptop. When electronics are replaced, they are sent to Inrego for reuse. But it is mainly during the Olympics that the Swedish Olympic Committee needs a large amount of IT equipment. Then, for example, they provide all leaders with rented mobile phones from Inrego. Buying extra phones for the events became unsustainable as they were only used for one month every two years and thus quickly became outdated.
- It's very convenient to rent IT equipment on a short-term basis during the Olympics, says Anders Åberg, IT manager at the Swedish Olympic Committee. During the Games in Tokyo, it was not easy to arrange interviews and press conferences because of the pandemic. Instead, these were conducted from within the village. We also hired computers, webcams and speakers so that interviews with the participants could be conducted digitally.
Working more sustainably with IT equipment has made a difference to the organisation's IT budget, but the driving force has always been sustainability. The Swedish Olympic Committee sometimes buys reused computers for new employees and they don't notice any difference in quality from new products. Going forward, they have also started to look at more environmentally friendly options such as leasing electronics.
- During the Olympics, we leased iPhones, Android phones and PCs, and everything worked very well, says Anders Åberg. In the future, we will start leasing computers more, not just short-term rentals for events. The environment is a continuous work in progress that you don't just do once.
