Environmental Standards and Compliance

Cisco’s Corporate Environmental Policy provides a high-level framework that guides the continuous improvement of our environmental performance. We share details of our environmental policies through our annual Purpose Report and Purpose Reporting Hub. Our Environmental Management System (EMS) drives ongoing enhancements to our business processes, products, and services to effectively address our environmental impacts.

Cisco’s environmental policy outlines its commitment to continuous improvement, using an EMS and public initiatives (like Net Zero) to reduce impacts from products and operations. It also guides suppliers to adopt more sustainable practices, including waste reduction and circular economy principles. We encourage all stakeholders, employees, suppliers, customers, and partners to report environmental concerns and suggest improvements to our practices.

ISO 14001:2015 EMS

Cisco’s International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001:2015 EMS is a global framework that touches functions and aspects across our Purpose efforts. It relies on individual accountability, management responsibility, measurement of key performance indicators, and a continuous improvement philosophy to support business and environment goals and drive environmental performance. Our EMS is certified by TÜV SÜD America Inc. to the international EMS standard ISO 14001:2015.

We select Cisco sites for ISO 14001:2015 certification based on those with the greatest potential for impact. Criteria include:

• Facility size and lab area
• Building headcount capacity or persons housed
• Primary facility function
• Business or customer needs

We use our EMS to identify environmental impacts and risks at Cisco sites and set relevant local and corporate-level objectives. Following site selection, we calculate a baseline environmental score to measure performance over time, measuring impacts across corporate functional areas; associated products, activities, or services at that location; and the environmental impacts associated with the generation or use of materials, impacts on air and water, climate change, and depletion of natural resources.

Cisco's corporate environmental sustainability activities are included in our certified ISO 14001:2015 EMS and are part of the internal and annual external audits we perform. Internal EMS audits assess how our environmental processes and goals have been implemented and how well we are improving our EMS at our certified sites. The annual external audit, conducted by a third-party registrar as part of our ISO 14001:2015 certification, identifies areas for improvement, measures performance, and provides external validation and verification of our EMS processes and programs.

Cisco assesses existing sites and acquisitions against the certification criteria and incorporates them into the ISO 14001:2015 certification roadmap to support business and customer needs. As of the end of fiscal 2024, 75% of Cisco’s real estate (by square footage) was ISO 14001:2015 certified.

For information on Cisco’s global ISO 14001:2015-certified site locations, refer to the Data and Assurance page.

Cisco's Global eScrap Management Aspect Team

Cisco’s Global eScrap Management Aspect Team is responsible for setting objectives for ISO 14001:2015 Cisco offices and aligning on objectives identified by Cisco's EMS and Environmental Aspect Management process. They drive Cisco’s environmental performance, pollution prevention, and continual improvement.

Compliance with Environmental Regulations

Cisco complies with applicable environmental regulations and laws in the countries in which we operate.

Read about Cisco’s position regarding relevant product-related materials, recycling, battery and packaging legislation under Materials (e.g., Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS); Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), Battery & Packaging Compliance.

For information regarding the homologation status for given Cisco products in certain countries, visit our self-service PAS (Product Approvals Status) database.

In the past four fiscal years, Cisco has not paid any significant environmental fines over US$10,000.