FuturePrint Podcast
FuturePrint is dedicated to and passionate about the power of print technology to enable new opportunities and create new value. This pod features deep-dive discussions with the people behind the tech as well as market analysis, trends, marketing and storytelling!
FuturePrint Podcast
#248 Decarbonising Print Through Innovation and Collaboration with Carlos Lahoz, HP Industrial Print
In this episode of the FuturePrint Podcast, we sit down with Carlos Lahoz, Head of Sustainability Strategy at HP Industrial Print, for a compelling and wide-ranging conversation on how sustainability is driving innovation in print technology.
Carlos shares insights from more than two decades at HP, outlining how the company is integrating environmental responsibility into its long-term strategy—not as a compliance measure, but as a core business imperative. From breakthrough energy-efficient presses like the A2200 to new sustainable consumables and global take-back programmes, HP is advancing practical solutions that deliver both environmental and economic value.
We explore how HP is supporting its customers through the HP Sustainability Amplifier, a dedicated programme offering tools, assessments, and data to help partners reduce their own carbon footprints. Carlos also discusses the complexity of tracking environmental metrics across the supply chain and the importance of transparency in driving genuine progress.
As well as internal innovations, the conversation covers HP’s role in cross-industry collaboration—most notably, the development of the Manifesto for More Sustainable Print, a joint initiative designed to align the print value chain around shared sustainability goals.
Listeners will come away with a deeper understanding of:
- How digital print reduces waste and emissions
- Why sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive
- The evolving regulatory landscape and what it means for industrial manufacturers
- The power of data, transparency, and collaboration in accelerating progress
This is a must-listen episode for anyone interested in the future of sustainable manufacturing, industrial print, and the role of technology in shaping a greener future.
🎧 Listen now and join the conversation driving sustainable transformation in the print sector.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Welcome to the FuturePrint Podcast celebrating print technology and the people behind it.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the latest episode of FuturePrint Podcast. This is Marcus Timpson, and I'm really happy to have with me today Mr Carlos Lajoz, who is a lead for sustainability within the HP Industrial print team. Welcome to the Future Mint podcast, carlos.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Marcus, and we've talked many times yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm happy to be here and we've done quite a lot of work together, which we'll talk about later over probably the course of the last 18 months, but this is our first podcast, so this is an opportunity to really sort of sit down with you and talk around some of the things that really shape your world and also perhaps shape the printing world and so on. We can have a, I think, a really sort of interesting chat around that. Obviously, carlos, we always like to kind of start the podcast with a little bit, because it is as much about people driving the industry as it is about technology and other trends and issues. Just to kick things off, would you mind sort of giving you a little bit of a background about yourself, how you got involved in the printing industry, what you do for hp and so on?
Speaker 3:sure, so I. I've been in in hp for for quite a long period, so more than 20 years working in print, always in large format, 3d or industrial print businesses. I started as an engineer, so I have a technical background, but then quickly moved into sustainability related topics inside R&D. So I was responsible for sustainability and environment in large format and 3D businesses, but moved in different positions, also marketing sustainability, innovation and most recently, I'm responsible for the sustainability strategy of the industrial print business, and I am based here in Spain, in Barcelona.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I know that you're really active and as a leader within this field as well as much as anything else, so I know that we're going to have a really interesting conversation that's based on a lot of your sort of first-hand experience and expertise and also your kind of commitment to sustainability as an individual. What does sustainability really mean within the context of HP Industrial Print? Could you kind of explain a bit about that and how it is integrated into perhaps a long-term strategic roadmap?
Speaker 3:Yes, so we have a very clear mission for our industrial print business. We are called into this industry and our mission is to decarbonize the industrial print business. But it's not only decarbonize, which is reducing the carbon impact, but also it's doing a positive impact how we can make a positive impact in people and communities. And this is our clear mission, and we do this through integrating it in our strategic processes. So it's part of our strategy to innovate better products and processes, but also it includes collaborating with our customers and suppliers. Sustainability is not only us, it's the end-to-end print industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and I know we did some film together and in the run-up to druper and so on, and and clearly hp has made strong public sustainability commitments. Really, how do they really sort of work woven into the industrial print division in terms of, perhaps, goals and initiatives or tangible goals and initiatives? Can you explain a bit about that, because I think we all, we all, would say that we're working on sustainability, but how does it come about really in terms of goals and initiatives?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the bigger HP Corporation has sustainability in its DNA since its foundation more than 80 years ago. So this DNA has been from the very beginning and it's present in every business since then. We are part of this corporation, we subscribe and support the same goals on climate, on human rights and digital equity and, as such, these goals become business goals. So the business needs to to align and and have the plans and strategies to to deliver on on those uh commitments, to progress on on those key sustainability areas from the corporation. So, yes, we are part of hp, it's important for us as well and, as such, we are delivering and obviously you're the lead largest probably definitely, in fact in terms of print technology as a manufacturer.
Speaker 2:How are HP's digital printing technologies helping your customers, perhaps reduce waste, improve energy consumption and their overall environmental footprint?
Speaker 3:overall or their overall environmental footprint? Yes, so when we look at what is the carbon or the environmental impact of print material, the material used, the substrate, is the biggest CO2 contributor. So the first lever that we try to address is how to reduce the impact of materials by better assessing or recommending better materials, but especially avoiding waste. Digital printing saves waste by transforming how print is produced. You remove the need of creating cylinders. You don't need to have make-readies or calibration prints that generate waste on setup. But also by using digital, it saves waste on inventories and obsolescence thanks to the ability of effectively produce shorter runs, more agile and more on-demand production. So this is the key lever on waste, but then also, of course, energy. Energy is the second biggest contributor to the impacts of print and it's an area of continuous innovation. Every generation that we launch into the market comes with an efficiency improvement and, yeah, we're continuing focusing also on efficiency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I guess that's part of your DNA as HPB. Equally in terms of helping you shape what you do, innovate. Can you share any recent innovations or updates or product updates from HP Industrial Print that were actually driven specifically by sustainability requirements? Are there any examples you might be able to point to?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, I can mention a few. Maybe we're talking about efficiency, so I can talk about a couple of them. One is the A2200. So it's the new, recently introduced web press for industrial commercial applications. This particular press brings 60 percent energy efficient improvement in printing. So, for a particular square meter, 60% less energy, which relates to a very significant reduction of CO2. So this is one example of an innovation and it's due to a new dryer technology high efficiency drying.
Speaker 3:We launched a few weeks ago the new consumables for Indigo as well. We call them CMYK Plus and PIP Plus, which extend the efficiency of the ink supplies. So with less ink you can print more. So this implies using less ink, saving transportation, saving CO2 for producing that ink, saving waste as well, more than 15% savings overall. So this means tens or up to hundreds of ink tubes every month that we can save. So this is another example of an innovation that, again, these are innovations that take years. So when we are working on a funnel of different innovations that will hit the market in the next months and years Also, not only on the technology side but also on the process side, and we also announced last week, in fact, a new take-back program in the US.
Speaker 3:So we are recovering the used ink cans, the ink tubes that are empty, so we are having a program that it recovers them for recycling. We had some of the European countries already working with this program. Now we are extending to US. That also presented several challenges because of the size and the volume of supplies, but now we have a solution that we are putting in the market. So yeah, innovations in technology, innovations in the processes as well and in the services that we offer our customers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I guess, like you say, it's a continual flow, isn't it? Innovation? And that is always a part of it. If it's not the lead thing, it's always a concern and something to address.
Speaker 3:Yes, and in fact now I forgot to mention one of the big innovations that we also introduced, that it's on the services to our customers. We also innovated by creating a tailored program for our customers to help them advance on sustainability. We call it HP Sustainability Amplifier. So, it's a complete program that is targeted to help our customers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's sort of a support that you're giving to customers in terms of helping educate them around sustainability and to improve and enhance what they're doing right. Exactly, yeah, yeah, which is a really positive, a really positive thing. Talking about customers, I guess, do you see sustainability rising on the customer's agenda more and more? How are they, how are their priorities evolving, and what is it you do? I guess Amplify is an example of that, but what is it that HB does to respond to these shifts in expectations?
Speaker 3:is it that HB does to respond to these shifts in expectations? Yes, so there are shifts and we all feel and I've been in sustainability for many years and I've experienced them very clearly we are moving from nice slogans to facts and hard facts and data, and also we are moving facts and hard facts and data. And also we are moving from developing innovations to really understanding how these innovations help our customers. So it's not that we have a new fancy innovation, but it's. What does it mean then for me as a customer? So it's getting way more practical. It's okay. What does it mean then for me as a customer? So it's getting way more practical. It's getting way more data-driven and factual, which is good, because in the end we are moving towards real progress.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I would imagine that, being somebody that's been in the sustainability for a while, you've seen it evolve literally and priorities evolve and understanding and then it's getting more granular. Now I get the sense it's much more people want to see evidence and much more demanding in terms of that. So I guess that's a positive thing, but that means that customers have to get more equipped to deal with that. Looking at the world because HP serves the whole world really do you tend to see regional differences, for example, between, perhaps, europe and North America and Asia, and how is sustainability prioritized in these regions? Is there different trends and different concerns and pressures and law?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's clearly differences, uh, I would I would say that there are two drivers for sustainability, two big drivers. There are others, but two big drivers. One, uh, is all the regulatory or regulations uh that are that are pushing sustainability forward, and the second one is is the consumer and the consumer demand, consumer demanding more sustainability. So I think these are the two big forces. And then when I think about the world, for example, europe is well advanced in the regulations side of things. So Europe is bringing new regulations on reporting, on claims, on product improvement and efficiency. But also Some of the US states as well are pretty advanced California, new Jersey, colorado so different states are pretty advanced.
Speaker 3:Even some countries in Asia, china and some other countries are pushing forward very advanced regulations that then drive the whole industry. That then drive the whole industry. But then if we look at the consumers, the second driver where we see is that in EU the sensitivity is pretty high, so consumers demand more sustainable products. But even in US, even with the latest federal government positions, more than 70% of consumers US consumers are expecting brands to drive climate and human rights agendas forward. Maybe in Asia Pacific the consumer demand is a little bit lower, so it's driven more from a regulations perspective. So, in the end, what you have is as we are, a brand we are, we need to act accordingly. So we need to to deliver on on both regulations and consumer demands. Um, and this is where we use sustainability to comply but also to differentiate, uh, in the market yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2:It's serving that and and making um the right choices in the right area for the right measure and, I guess, balancing that commercially as well, isn't it? And that's that's always the the challenge with with customers in mind and you mentioned consumers and you mentioned legislation and with that in mind, and I guess, like any business or individual on on a journey with sustained, you know, sustainability goals, measurement and transparency is is important, isn't it? Um? How does hp approach measuring, reporting the environmental impact of of your technology and industrial print solutions? How do you do that, both internally and for customer use cases? How do you go about that? That sounds complicated.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so HP also has had a long history for transparency. In fact, we were the first IT company to report our carbon footprint scope 1, 2, and 3, back in 2013, recognized by CTP that it's talking about carbon transparency for many, many years. So it's part of our way of being right, because we really believe that if we really want to advance, we need to collaborate. If we want to collaborate, we need to be transparent. So, in this line, we provide data, we provide guidelines regarding the impacts of our presses, our inks. We provide certifications, we provide compliance evidence. Of course, we do the reporting exercise now being more mandated from the EU side Also, we have so, besides being transparent and again in this sustainability program that we have the HP Sustainability Amplifier, we have all this data to share with our customers.
Speaker 3:We also have a support team, so we have an expert team of sustainability professionals that can help specific cases where some very specific data is required, and this is what we do externally. Specific data is required, and this is what we do externally, but, of course, internally, we continuously improve our data gathering and accuracy and systems to make it better and more automated. It's a long journey and all the brands know. If you want to model scope one, scope two and scope three. Emission. It means gathering data from suppliers, from customers, from all the ecosystem, which, yeah, it's complex and it will imply a very long journey, but we're in it. We have a specific team focused on gathering internal data.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it. We have a specific team focused on on gathering internal data. Yeah, yeah, so that will cover things like life cycle analysis, carbon footprint assistant, uh assessments and they sort of ecovedis style certifications, I guess as well. That's all incorporated in that, I assume yes, ecovedis, it's an.
Speaker 3:it's an example of a certification that we are pursuing as a company where we achieved in 2025, the platinum level, and it's more a reporting and progress certification. Specifically for our printers in the industrial print business, we have done LCAs and we have this data available for our presses and also for our inks. In some cases are internal LCAs because of the confidentiality of the data. In some cases are external as well. But it's more interesting, the LCAs, the lifecycle analysis that we are doing also for the printed products. So, yeah, we manufacture presses and inks, but our customers are manufacturing printed applications.
Speaker 3:So we've developed several LCAs in the areas of flexible pouches in the commercial applications. It's not our scope of responsibility, but these case studies are really helping our customers to understand these different technologies and impacts. The complexity of the LCAs is that it's a very expensive and long process if you really want to have a third-party LCA. So, for printed applications, we just developed a few case studies, but we are developing as part again this program, the hp sustainability amplifier, a simpler co2 calculator that that is allowing, uh, our customers to calculate the co2 of a print job. It's not third party validated yet, but uh, but it's already helping them to take better design choices, and this is available in in beta mode as of today, so it's also something that was just announced last week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, brilliant. It sounds like it's a huge, huge commitment as a huge organization is making and, like you say, platinum level. It's not easy to reach that level, is it? And to have this level of the future? A lot of what you've described and I know it's very much an hp thing you've just come back from d scoop last week collaboration and your kind of customer ecosystem or community, whatever you want to call it. Clearly, sustainability is a shared challenge among us all, isn't it? How? How do you work with suppliers, partners and customers perhaps to accelerate sustainability or the progress sustainability across the value chain? How do you go about that?
Speaker 3:yeah, I would say I have. We have two levels or two, two areas of work. First is with with our direct customers. Most of the scope three emissions in in our business customers, most of the scope three emissions in our business comes from our customers using our presses. Our presses are manufacturing presses, our manufacturing lines that are printing non-stop, and this generates a huge environmental impact. So if we want to improve sustainability, we need to collaborate with our customers For that.
Speaker 3:This is the reason why we launched a few months ago this HP Sustainability Amplifier. That is a program that aims to help them progress on their sustainability strategy. It's not about us, it's about them. It's trying to provide them with assessments, recommendations, tools, guidelines, data services so they really can improve, with assessment, recommendations, tools, guidelines, data services so they really can improve, and then, when they improve, we improve. So this is one of the big areas that we are working with in what it relates to collaboration. Then the other area is beyond our customers. As I mentioned at the very beginning, our strategy or our mission, it's decarbonize the print industry. This involves everyone, end-to-end, from material manufacturers to the brands that buy the prints, the printers, the recyclers. So what we are trying to do is align with all these end-to-end value chain of print the direction, the key principles to move towards more sustainable prints. It's how we can align the whole industry and really progress together into a better future.
Speaker 2:And that's again another strong commitment. It's not just commercially, internally and to your first customers, it's beyond that, isn't it? And so on. So your suppliers, and to some extent, even collaborating with people that you might at times think, well, perhaps they're competitive as well. But an example of that, and a great one, of course, which we've we've already kind of launched with you and a group of others, is a manifesto for more sustainable print, carlos, and this is something that really began with yourself and we've collaborated together on this. Tell us a bit about that, because I think that's a great example of collaboration.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 3:So in this frame of considering the end-to-end problem and the end-to-end value chain of print, what this manifesto is it's an initiative that tries to put together the, an initiative that tries to put together the whole industry to align on a group of set beliefs and high-level principles to produce more sustainable prints between the ecosystem of print so we can really accelerate and make tangible progress on sustainability in the industry.
Speaker 3:With that in mind, we've been working for the last months with a set of industry leaders representing the whole value chain of print to come together with a first draft at this point that we are that was presented and made public in in april in in the future print leaders event. Um data is now open for review. So what we are now is in a process of um engaging with uh, with some of the key people from from that we are we are missing in this value chain but also refining the content, these principles for more sustainable print. The idea is that we develop together it's a collaborative work this manifesto that is developed by the industry for the industry, so we can really all align and all progress towards more sustainable print, and the intent is to do this by September. We are probably considering Label Expo as the best event to present this first person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's a great example of both leadership and also collaboration, because, you know, bringing together a group of people and we've you know we work very much via Zoom and then we've got to the first draft and it really is a representative group from across Europe and not just Europe, actually, also North America too and some great people involved in that and are really behind it and really passionate about it.
Speaker 2:So I think it's it's a great idea and it's I think it's um. Cleverness is in its simplicity and that is that is the, the thing that everybody's got behind. It's like yeah, this is sort of that. We need this. It's, if simple um paths to follow, huge commitment generally, but it gives a lot of clarity, I think, an impetus for change, and I think it's a really positive, positive idea, positive concept, and it's already gaining a lot of positive um support, so that that's a really fantastic example yeah, and I and I would like also to recognize you, marcus uh because future print it's, it's helping put together all this community and and and really making sure that that we progress in this, in this project.
Speaker 3:That it requires again engaging in some cases with competitors, with people outside of our direct reach. So, yeah, future print has been, has been material to, to provide this independent uh party that that puts us all together under the same, the same umbrella yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it's been really positive to work with you on it and I think you know, looking forward to getting to september and then really sort of launching it, launching the first version, as it were. Um, looking ahead, looking ahead five, ten years, and that's something that obviously sustainability is very much linked to the um. What we do now is shaping the future't it? What do you see perhaps are the biggest opportunities and perhaps the biggest obstacles for industrial printing, perhaps to contribute to sustainable manufacturing over the next five years? So what do you see as the biggest opportunities and perhaps the biggest challenges?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I see three main things now. One is okay we, as part of our mission to reduce the impact, we believe, firmly believe, that digital, hp digital technologies saves waste and can transform supply chains, moving more to an on-demand, low inventory, low waste, and this will create a huge impact. So we can reduce the impact of industrial print by 40% 30-40% only by accelerating the adoption of HP Digital technologies. Then the second one is, of course, continue innovating in our products and processes.
Speaker 3:Efficiencies, so it's processes that consume less energy, inks, that the processes consume less ink, but also the logistics of how the transportation impacts are reduced, the concept of recycling and reusing, extending the life of the process. So this is innovation around products and processes is the second big opportunity or focus or area. And then the last one is collaboration through data, and the challenges here is we need to make sure that we have the data that is accurate for the purpose, but also the systems that consolidate this data and then all the process to share this data. And this will be a big challenge because there's no standards as of today, so there will be some standardization work to share sustainability data. So this is where I see kind of the biggest areas to really reduce the impact of print and some of these challenges.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I guess you're able to look back at five years ago, 10 years ago, and see, actually, you've come quite a long way in that time, right, Because you've got the data and you've been involved in that. Actually, often when we're making progress, we don't see because we're living in the now, right. And so looking back you think, wow, we've made a long amount or a big amount of progress yes, we are.
Speaker 3:We are finalizing the data, but we expect to complete by 2025 a reduction of 27 percent of our co2 intensity for the business. So we've've since the baseline that we set in 2019 pre-COVID. So from 2019 to 2025, we will reach a 27% reduction of our carbon footprint intensity, which is a significant milestone. So I'm pretty proud of what we are achieving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's proof that you can. Sustainability and commercial commerciality can work together right, and they're not two different things.
Speaker 3:Exactly, in fact. Yeah, we didn't mention during the interview, but some of the projects or innovations that we launch, like the more efficient dryer or the better or more efficient ink and consumables, come with a cost reduction associated to it for our customers. So you consume less energy, you need to ship less product, you need to manage less waste, so all this comes with an economical advantage as well. Manage less waste, so all this comes with an economical advantage as well. So, yes, if, if we are smart, sustainability can also add customer value. This is what we are trying to to leverage brilliant.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, congratulations on the work that you've done so far and I know you're very passionate, committed to to this, and it's been great working with you on the manifesto and continue to work there too, and it's proof that actually people make the difference as as much as technology. And, um, you know, looking forward really to see how this develops over the coming months and um, thank you for joining us today for the podcast.
Speaker 3:I'm sure we'll revisit this in in in autumn and see how it's developed from there yeah, sure, so thank you for for having me and yeah, we'll talk more, for sure, excellent.
