From Data To Circularity: How Global Electronics Association Pushes Greener Electronics with Kelly Scanlon

The stakes around sustainable electronics have never been higher, and the momentum is real. At Productronica 2025 I sit down with Kelly Scanlon, Global Electronics Association's Lead Sustainability Strategist to unpack what “all in” actually looks like across a complex, global value chain—from executive commitment to the nuts and bolts of data, standards, and training that make greener products possible.

We dig into why 99% of surveyed CEOs still prioritize sustainability despite market headwinds, and what that means for design, sourcing, and operations. Kelly shares how shared standards for materials declarations enable reliable data exchange, and why decentralized data models—proven in the auto industry—could unlock secure, interoperable sustainability insights for electronics without exposing sensitive IP. We also spotlight a forthcoming carbon accounting standard focused on consistent methods for calculating CO2, helping teams align product footprints with evolving regulations and customer demands.

Beyond frameworks, we get practical about people and processes. From electrostatic discharge training that directly cuts scrap, to targeted health and safety programs for emerging manufacturing hubs, we outline how workforce upskilling delivers immediate environmental and financial ROI. The conversation then turns to circularity—the “RE” economy of repair, reuse, remanufacture, reclaim, and rework—and how better collaboration with recyclers and refurbishers can inform design choices that extend product life and keep materials in play. Along the way, we highlight the power of convening: bringing component suppliers, PCB makers, EMS leaders, and OEMs into the same room to align on methods, accelerate adoption, and tackle challenges no single company can solve alone.

If you care about supply chain resilience, accurate carbon measurement, and building products that last, this conversation offers a clear path forward—grounded in standards, amplified by partnerships, and delivered through training that sticks. Subscribe to the show, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a review to tell us which sustainability move your team is prioritizing next.

EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)

You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

Transcript

Setting The Sustainability Agenda

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I am on the Global Electronics Association booth at Productronica 2025 and I'm joined by Kelly Scanl Scanl Scan Scanlon. Scanlon. Scanlon and I'm joined by Kelly Scanlon. Kelly, let's talk a little bit about the sustainability issues within the association and kind of the sustainability concerns and demands of your members. What are you currently working on and what's what's driving that?

CEO Commitment Signals Industry Direction

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Yes, well, first of all, thank you for having me. Um and thank you for talking about sustainability for electronics. It is an important topic. Um let me start with just a quick factoid. Not even a factoid, it's a fact. So um there was a survey done just a few months ago, the UN Global Compact. They asked CEOs from around the world, so not unique to electronics, but around the world, 2,000 or so of them from hundreds of countries across many disciplines about sustainability and sustainability in their industries. And uh 99%, so we'll just say almost all of them, said that sustainability remains a major commitment for them, despite some of the political and financial challenges that many companies are facing.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yeah.

Defining “All In” For Electronics

SPEAKER_00 1:26

And that I think it was 88%. So again, almost all of them are remain committed and see that their commitments to sustainability now are even more than they were five years ago. That's really interesting. So that's the direction, and that's CEOs, that's the executive suite saying we're all in, we're we're doing this. Yeah. So it's not a question of if or how, it's just okay, we're doing, we're we're completely all in. So, what does it mean to be all in for electronics? We know um for the electronics industry, there are there's a lot of challenges related to um building electronics better, better meaning fewer impacts to human health, the environment, etc. So, where can we focus? Where can we help? Well, our Evolve Sustainability Program is dedicated to a few things. One, our members or the industry broadly has challenges with supply chain resiliency. And this is not just uh lately, it seems to be more of a buzzword of supply chain resiliency, but actually it's been a challenge from a long time. And so companies need data and information to help them build electronics better. What do they need to know about um the impacts of what they're designing and making that they can maybe improve on them?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

So data, access to data, access to information, and making sure that the data are reliable, making sure that the data are protected and you're not leaking out any sensitive business secrets, things like that. Um we also know that upskilling the workforce and workforce training is a major issue. Um and that's not just sustainability, that's more broadly, but also very specific to sustainability.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Um workers need to understand as our technologies change, how do they continue to build efficiently?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Uh we also know another big problem is natural resources and waste management.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah.

Data Access, Trust And Security

SPEAKER_00 3:22

So where do the chemicals and materials come from? What do they need? Uh, how do they manage their energy demands? Yeah. How do they manage the waste they're producing? Whether that's scrap materials or uh hazardous waste or uh water waste, whatever it may be. So there's a lot of policy, a lot of regulations that govern that, but they um they need help figuring out how to do this a little bit more easily.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Yeah, and it's really interesting when I think about everything the Global Electronics Association does. None of it is done in a silo. Everything operates as part of as part of this amazing ecosystem you have. So you talk about you talk about like conflict materials or rare earth materials. Legislation plays a huge part in that. So your government advocacy and your government connection has a huge role in that. We've seen, I think, just in the last 24 hours, Europe announcing different things on um on certain rare earth materials in terms of a watchdog of some kind. So those those things all connect together. So going through those things kind of one by one, starting with data, what is what is the Global Electronics Association able to do? Is it a question of bringing groups together to solve that problem, or is it a question of being a repository for data?

Standards And Decentralized Data Models

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Both. Um so we are asked regularly, as an industry association, especially being such a large one and such an important industry, can you be that repository for data? Yeah. It's really challenging to do that though. Um, I mean, that's like a data management activity. Uh, but there is an opportunity to think about what could that look like? And given the changes in how data are being managed through things like AI, maybe that is something. So we are talking about that and considering that. And that's definitely something that is a big endeavor, yeah, um, and maybe requires a lot more collaboration and partnership to realize. Yeah. But in general, data. We already have uh standards in place that help companies to do data collection, data identification, um, data exchange. Yeah. And we want to advance those. We want to expand those. Yeah. And so we're looking at um other platforms. You know, there's this really great platform called Katina X. It's for the auto industry, but the format is a decentralized data exchange. Right. And we're thinking about, well, that's for the auto industry, but electronics feeds into auto. Yeah. So this way of doing decentralized data, what does that mean exactly? And could that be realized for electronics? Yeah. So we're looking at that. But more um right here, right now, uh, we're a standards development organization.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah.

Partnerships That Scale Impact

Carbon And The New 1783 Standard

SPEAKER_00 6:07

So this is the beauty of the Evolve program is we get to use the infrastructure we have, standards, advocacy, training, events, yeah, um, and collaborate with others outside of the association through other associations that are doing great things. Yeah, like SEMI or SEMI, uh, the Semiconductor Climate Consortium we've worked with, Responsible Business Alliance, in particular the Responsible Environment Initiative, um, and then other um not associations, but other uh organizations like Siri or CEPN, the Clean Electronics Production Network. So we just have wonderful partners that together we can do better things, bigger things. But right now, standards on data, right? We have the whole 175X family that's on materials, yeah, declaration and data exchange. So we already are sitting on top of a really great resource that we need to do maybe a better job talking about. Like, hey, this is here that actually will enable some of your sustainability goals. Yeah, um, we have some new standards coming. We're actually going to be talking about them here at Protoctronica, um, 1783 on carbon dioxide. Uh so the management of greenhouse gases is a major, you know, under that natural resources and waste management, greenhouse gas is a big one. And so our companies need more help. So they've come together to create a standard on calculating carbon dioxide emissions. And so that's going to be a new standard to look forward to in 2026. Okay. Um, so yeah, we have we have some things already cooking that are already there that are actually cooked or very close to being cooked. So we've got really great resources already available that can help. So that's part of it is we've been doing sustainability for a long time. So we just need to talk about it better and make sure that our our big industry realizes our association is here for them in that space.

Convening The Whole Supply Chain

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Yeah, and I think people understand that. You mentioned before bringing stakeholders together, collaborating with with other uh associations. I think collaboration is one of the one of the key things that you're really good at enabling. You actually can bring the whole supply chain together. You can bring component suppliers with PCB manufacturers, with EMS companies, with OEMs, all together in one room. And because it's a global electronics association event, they'll attend and they'll attend at a very senior level and they'll take each other's viewpoint very seriously. I think that's it. When you look at projects like sustainability, you look at like the future of AI, you look at some of those issues around advocacy. None of those, none of those are things that individual companies can do. It's it's all about collective.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Talent, Training And Waste Reduction

SPEAKER_02 8:46

And and that's the key. You also mentioned the issue of talent and training and and that side of it. That's a very big part of what you do. How's that playing into the sustainability area at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 8:57

I would say that we have so much more, actually, we can be doing in this space. We have a mature um education program at the association, and we know how to develop training, we know how to deliver that training. Yeah, and so what can what more should we be doing in the space of sustainability? We have things like electrostatic discharge training, right? That could be sort of marketed or branded for sustainability because if you are making things and they're not working, they become scrap.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Yeah, it's a waste.

Global Education, Local Delivery

SPEAKER_00 9:28

If you're making waste, then yeah, we have to we have to train our workers so that they are making things and not yeah. So that I'd say that our workforce training and education opportunities are ripe. Right now we have a really great partnership. I mentioned Clean Electronics Production Network, CEPN. They uh through some funding through the German government actually developed workforce training on worker health and safety that targets not our more developed facilities, but our less developed facilities. So maybe um as we expand into Malaysia and Vietnam, how can we maybe making sure that those workers are receiving training? So they have they're doing this work. So kudos to them. Yeah, but we can help be um a megaphone for their activities and help expand that type of workforce training, either through our programs or enhancing what they're doing. Yeah, so it's just there's really like an unlimited amount of opportunity there.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Well, there's an unlimited amount to do, that's an unlimited amount to do that. And so you gotta prioritize that.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yes, and that's where in the meantime, what can we do with education? And well, we can do events, right? And so we want to get out and be um something as simple as a webinar, which has incredible reach because they can be recorded and they can be downloaded at any time. So we just did um something uh recently we try to do webinars on a regular basis. Yeah, um, and then events, we have events going around the globe, and so how do we get more conversations around sustainability at those events? Um, so yeah, there's really unlimited potential here.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Yeah, and I think it plays into that um thinking global, acting local thing because all of these initiatives need to be delivered in different ways in different regions. All of these different regions have different sustainability challenges because they're in maybe they're in different parts um parts of their industrial.

Regional Focus And Circularity

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that. Um, we have been trying to our focus as Global Electronics Association has been find those sustainability challenges that are more universal.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

And try to solve those because the rising tide floats all boats.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

And now as we mature, we are looking more regionally. What is unique about our India um colleagues? Um those facilities, and even getting more specific, Southeast Asia. Is there a difference that there's something more different that they need there versus in China versus in Germany versus in Mexico? Yeah, and so we're beginning to tease that out. Um, I think one of the more universal uh problems that I didn't get to mention yet is circularity. Yeah. So when I think about specific regions, they may have challenges with e-waste. Yeah. Um, whereas other regions may not see the e-waste issue, but they are the generators of the e-waste. So how do we partner? So in thinking about collaboration and collective action, uh, maybe and we're looking to partner more with those companies that do recycling.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah.

Designing For The “RE” Economy

Engineers, Executives And Real Impact

SPEAKER_00 12:35

And what I call the RE words, because there's a lot of them. You know, it's recycle, but it's also repair, reuse, remanufacture, reclaim, rework. So those companies and the companies that design and make electronics need to talk to each other more and need to have space to come together to meet, to talk technical, yeah, to maybe develop standards, to maybe do some more training, um, develop some workforce training. And uh I think that would really solve some issues. And again, thinking more universally, yeah. We know that those are maybe some unique problems regionally, yeah. But what's an elegant solution that can help all? Yeah, and really looking into circularity, circularity of materials, circularity of the printed circuit boards, the components, wire and cable, the assembled bit, you know, everything that's been assembled. And we have standards that are already there, like 771121 on rework. Yeah, um, that that is already in existence. Yeah, we need to do a better job talking about its utility to circularize. And we have some new ones coming in the new year, again, something to look forward to. That we don't let me say this Global Electronics Association, we've been doing sustainability a long time, but we're not a sustainability organization. No, and that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Yeah, that is cool. We're talking to the designers and the engineers, we're not talking to we we talk to sustainability people, yeah, sustainability officers, whatever, but they're part of an organization that you're talking to at many, many different levels at a at a you know, that's one of the things I was talking to Sanjay earlier. One of the things I love about what you've been doing recently is, you know, I see very um junior engineers excited by the hand soldering competition, and then I get to go to Paris and um moderate a panel of some of the CEOs of the largest EMS companies in Europe from different regions that are competitors that only you can bring together and get to the table together. So it's it's every level of the business that interacts with the Global Electronics Association.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

And if we're talking to the non-sustainability people about sustainability, I think that's where we have real impact.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Oh, that's impactful. Really impactful. Yeah, you're not just you're not just preaching to the choir.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Kelly, pleasure to chat. Lots going on, almost too much to to keep up with, but keep us informed and we'll we'll talk and soon.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Wonderful. Thank you, Phil.

unknown 14:54

Thank you.