Unvarnished - Carlos Lahoz is Helping Printers Make Sustainability a Reality

Sustainability in print comes with real challenges, from reducing waste to cutting energy use without driving up costs. Carlos Lahoz has spent more than 20 years at HP tackling these complexities from multiple angles — engineering, compliance, marketing, and strategy. His deep understanding of sustainability's technical and business sides makes him a key figure in helping print companies turn their sustainability goals into measurable results.

In this episode of the Unvarnished video interview series, Carlos talks about the biggest sustainability challenges printers face, the need for clear industry standards, and how HP is helping businesses make measurable progress. By helping to lead HP's Sustainability Amplifier program, he's working to help printers assess where they stand with sustainability, set realistic sustainability goals and take action. It’s designed to work for companies at any stage — whether they’re just beginning to explore sustainability or refining well-established strategies.

One of the biggest obstacles to sustainability, Carlos says in the interview, is the lack of a common definition. Printers, brands, media manufacturers and OEMs often talk past each other, each focusing on different sustainability metrics. For some, it’s about recycled materials; for others, it’s carbon footprint or energy efficiency. Without alignment, businesses struggle to communicate their sustainability progress in a way that resonates with customers.

"Sustainability is about collaboration. It's about sharing transparency," he says. "We need to help our customers assess where they are, give them recommendations on what to do next, and provide data, guidelines, and tools that help them progress."

At Edge Long Beach (May 14-17), Carlos will lead a panel on reducing waste, energy and media use, sharing practical insights on how print companies can integrate sustainability without compromising profitability.