EPEAT

CIARA is committed to the responsible sourcing of minerals throughout our global supply chain. CIARA manufactures products for which 3TG minerals are necessary to their functionality or production. As a responsible manufacturer, CIARA purchases components and materials that may contain 3TG, but does not purchase 3TG directly from smelters or refiners. CIARA has designed its due diligence process to respect with the framework set forth in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Due Diligence Guidance.

As an active member of RBA, we participate in initiatives such as the Responsible Minerals Initiative (“RMI”). We use these tools, RMI guidance, and the OECD framework to conduct due diligence on our 3TG supply chain and implement our sourcing actions according to our sustainability goals and global objectives. This includes the inquiries sent to 18 major suppliers and obtaining the CMR policies of suppliers, in addition to the RMI-CMRT lists that CIARA has consolidated and presented them in this disclosure.

CIARA to ensure this important is effectively implemented reviews each supplier’s CMRT to determine if the responses were complete and if the suppliers had a conflict minerals policy. We sought to understand our suppliers’ progress on due diligence and obtain a list of 3TG smelters and refiners in their supply chain and country of origin. In analyzing supplier responses, we usually find three areas of concern: inaccurate smelter and refiner lists, inconsistent approaches to determining whether 3TG was sourced from the Covered Countries, and absence of conflict minerals policies. The Responsibly Sourced Minerals Policy states that all suppliers are subject to the RCOI inquiry before doing business with CIARA and are audited on an annual basis. Suppliers are required to confirm they do not directly or indirectly finance armed groups in conflict areas. Any non-compliance will cause a supplier to be banned from the approved supplier list (flow chart, page 3). All suppliers are evaluated, so current suppliers will be evaluated in this process, and any current suppliers will have to meet these requirements, then going forward, suppliers must respond on the RCOI before doing business. If CIARA finds that suppliers are sourcing conflict minerals from covered countries, they should address it through an NCR and pertinent corrective actions within a limited period of time. CIARA shall obtain and approve the results of corrective actions from suppliers.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued rules implementing the “conflict minerals” (tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold) disclosure requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”). Underlying the Dodd-Frank disclosure requirements is a concern that conflict minerals originating in the Democratic Republic of Congo “DRC” or adjoining countries may be mined and sold by armed groups to finance civil violence. These minerals can make their way into the supply chains of the products used by consumers and businesses around the world. Tracing these minerals in the international supply chain is complex.

Under these rules, certain suppliers report annually to the SEC on their use of conflict minerals originating in DRC or any of the DRC’s adjoining countries in products or components that they manufacture that CIARA incorporates in its products manufactured in 2020 and 2021.

Obtaining the CMRT questionnaire to our suppliers, considering other third- party data and conducting a smelter and refiner review, has assured us in the Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry (“RCOI”). Combination of RCOI and our risk assessment and focus aspects described in this report, demonstrate CIARA’s efforts to verify the 3TG sources in our supply chain and the location of origin as needed.

From the 325 smelters and refiners listed in our RMI_CMRT, there was only one smelter amongst the Covered Countries, and all others were “RMAP Conformant.” CIARA had approached 18 directly involved suppliers of its products, and 16 suppliers communicated their smelters list or refiners.

At CIARA, we include the following elements of the OECD framework in our due diligence:

1. Maintain our integrated management system (IMS)
2. Review and assess the applicable risks in the supply chain
3. Deploy the strategic approaches and mitigation plans against the identified risks
4. Review, report and maintain the third-party audits of supply chain due diligence of supply chain

We currently focus our compliance efforts in the following areas:

• Conducting a reasonable country of origin inquiry with our global supply base as part of our conflict minerals due diligence process.
• Utilizing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (“OECD”) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-risk Areas and, where appropriate, their five-step framework for risk-based due diligence in the mineral supply chain.
  • As part of this process, we collect and evaluate various supplier responses to the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT).
  • We request suppliers to identify products in their supply chain that contain conflict minerals and validate the country of origin of these minerals.
  • Include a contractual clause related to conflict minerals in our contractual Terms and Conditions.
  • Requiring, in accordance with our Responsibly Sourced Minerals and RBA Code of Conduct policies that our suppliers to comply with any applicable laws and regulations regarding conflict minerals and assist us in meeting our obligations under law and regulations.

We recognize these rules have required, and will continue to require, time and effort on the part of our suppliers. We appreciate their ongoing support in this important effort.

Supplier RCOI Evaluation Process

CIARA Technology applies global environmental management by striving for a green, recycling-based and low-carbon culture. We follow an amalgamation of environmental and business processes to preserve and protect the wellbeing of the environment, understanding that it is important to reduce our environmental impact in order for future generations to flourish.

CIARA Technology by considering the severe impact of climate change on our planet and determining significant targets of greenhouse gas emissions has planned to implement initiatives more than just environmental activities. Through efficient working with suppliers and logistics partners and helping them identify energy efficiency improvements we benefit both the climate and their bottom lines. CIARA reports its annual emissions to CDP.

Our environmental management system is compliant and certified under the international standards ISO 14001:2015. It also uses and implements other international requirements such as ISO 31000:2018 – Risk management, and as best practices, the 300 Series Environmental (GRI 301: Materials 2016, GRI 302: Energy 2016, GRI 303: Water 2018, GRI 305: Emissions 2016) to collect, calculate and report relevant and reliable environmental information.

The information below was verified by the third-party, and it represents the current profile of the energy performance and improvement of CIARA Technology located at 9300 Trans Canada Highway in Montreal.

Environmental Data Disclosure
Global Reporting Initiative

Life Cycle Assessment of CIARA Devices

LCIA total results for each CIARA device, the Product Carbon Footprint amounts including inputs, total life cycle carbon footprint, and carbon footprint of the product’s life cycle stages are demonstrated as following:

Technical Information of CIARA’s Devices

CIARA, also shares the information related to the carbon footprint of each life cycle stage of its products. For example, below table contains the information related to Kronos 540:

Figure 1: Contribution of each life cycle stage to the GWP impacts – Kronos 540

Data Quality Assessment and Uncertainty Explanation for the LCA of CIARA’s Devices

Sensitivity Assessment

In order to analyse the influence of certain processes and life cycle stages on the overall impacts and with the objective of refining the system boundary, sensitivity assessments are performed. The influence of certain parameters in the modeling is assessed by determining the difference between the results of the impact assessment for each parameter. Two parameters are considered in this process as following:

• The total mass of the components and materials: to analyse the influence of this parameter, the total life cycle impact results were compared to those considering a 30 % increase of the components and materials composing the device;
• The electricity used during the operation of the device: in this case, the influence of this parameter is determined by comparing the results considering an electricity consumption equivalent to twice the consumption modelled in the assessment.

Summary of results for absolute GHG emissions (annual tons of CO2e) and GHG emissions reduction goal are as following:

Disclaimer

While the results are based on the Ecoinvent 3.7 database, the OpenLCA software, and a certain number of assumptions developed according to the best professional judgment, it must be noted that the use of different LCA softwares, LCI datasets and/or assumptions may lead to differences in carbon footprint and other LCIA results.

Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The chosen boundaries are scopes 1, 2 and 3, as follows:

• Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions from sources owned by CIARA. This accounts for on-site combustion of natural gas and emissions from the three vehicles CIARA owns and uses for its operations and customer services. The GHG emissions form the diesel generator has been included. CIARA does not own forklifts powered by fossil fuel and did not register any refrigerant leaks.
• Scope 2: Electricity indirect to GHG emissions are the emissions resulting from the purchase of electricity by CIARA. The source of these emissions is at the site from which the electricity is produced.
• Scope 3: Other indirect emissions are all emissions resulting from CIARA’s activities; they come from sources that are not owned or controlled by the company. Scope 3 consists of the emissions from the life cycle stages for the eleven devices considered in the life cycle assessment. Those stages are the manufacturing of raw materials and components, the transportation of those components to CIARA’s assembly site (CIARA’s device assembly site is not included in scopes 1 and 2; e.g., water consumption and packaging), transportation to the final user, waste management of device packaging, energy consumption for device use, transport to treatment facility and dismantling. Transportation of employees to and from work or for business travel, the purchase of office furniture and supplies, and garbage generation (coffee cups, newspaper, other) were not considered.

Corporate Carbon Footprint per Scope and Total Corporate Carbon Footprint (2020)

Life Cycle and Carbon Footprint Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment of CIARA Devices 2021

LCIA total results for each CIARA device, the Product Carbon Footprint amounts including inputs, total life cycle carbon footprint, and carbon footprint of the product’s life cycle stages are demonstrated as following:

Technical Information of CIARA’s Devices

CIARA, also shares the information related to the carbon footprint of each life cycle stage of its products. For example, below table contains the information related to D11070:

Data Quality Assessment and Uncertainty Explanation for the LCA of CIARA’s Devices

Sensitivity Assessment

In order to analyze the influence of certain processes and life cycle stages on the overall impacts and with the objective of refining the system boundary, sensitivity assessments are performed. The influence of certain parameters in the modeling is assessed by determining the difference between the results of the impact assessment for each parameter. Two parameters are considered in this process as following:

• The total mass of the components and materials: to analyze the influence of this parameter, the total life cycle impact results were compared to those considering a 15 % decrease of the components and materials composing the device;
• The electricity used during the operation of the device: in this case, the influence of this parameter is determined by comparing the results considering an electricity consumption equivalent to a reduction of 30% of the consumption modelled in the assessment.

GHG Transportation Emission

CIARA tracks its GHG transportation emission and the progress toward its goal mentioned in the section above. The total emission increased but it would be more accurate to track the ratio emission/product:

In 2020, we set a 2% reduction goal for 2021, but the emission increased due to the increase in sales of EPEAT-certified PCs. For the next years, CIARA will track the ratio of emissions/product that would reflect better the impact.

For 2022, we set a reduction of 2% for our ratio. The goal is to reach the ratio tCO2eq/product 0.392.

CIARA Product Carbon Footprint Reports

Carbon Footprint Report – ASTRO PB62 Micro PC

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON D10500 Desktop Computer
[Download not found]
[Download not found]
[Download not found]

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON D11170 Desktop Computer

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON T11170 Desktop Computer

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON D11560 Desktop Computer

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON T11560 Desktop Computer

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON D11750 Desktop Computer

Carbon Footprint Report – HORIZON T11750 Desktop Computer

Carbon Footprint Report - KRONOS 540 Workstation

List of CIARA Suppliers

CIARA works closely with its suppliers to improve energy management at different levels. For this purpose, our suppliers are ISO50001 certified for energy management. Here is a full list of our supplier sites that are ISO50001 certified:

CIARA Recycling Program

CIARA offers IT asset disposition services such as secure logistics, data destruction, hardware testing, sanitization, IT asset remarketing, certified recycling, inventory stocking and asset reporting.

LEARN MORE