Lenovo launched its CO2 Offset Services in India, allowing customers to seamlessly offset carbon emissions of selected new Lenovo products at the point of purchase.
Lenovo customers can choose offset projects from a range of United Nations-approved initiatives spanning continents and hemispheres. A certificate confirming the offset emissions for each product’s serial number is issued with the purchase, along with an official certifying badge for each product.
The service works by factoring in emissions produced from the manufacture and shipping of each individual product, as well as those for an estimated typical five years of usage. This amount is then offset through one of many partner initiatives, including projects overseen by the United Nations.
Partner initiatives in Asia Pacific include a biomass energy project that generates electricity using a sugar mill, a wind energy project that generates clean and renewable energy, as well as a project that offers waste disposal in a safe and clean manner that generates renewable energy and reduces greenhouse gases.
Lenovo CO2 Offset Services seeks to meet customers’ growing desire for eco-transparency in all their purchases and is one of the first in the world to tie dedicated offsets to individual products, to help better understand individual carbon footprints.
“This is a unique opportunity for our customers to see direct carbon offset results that are tangible through the IT purchases they make, and it is also a cause that is near and dear to my heart,” said Rohit Midha, Director, Service Sales at Lenovo. “We have crunched the numbers and can say with confidence what carbon impact the individual product you buy will have. You can then simply choose to offset this product’s carbon footprint at the point of purchase.”
The service was first launched to Lenovo customers in Europe and has now been extended to customers across Asia Pacific. Lenovo is also working to allow business customers to retrospectively offset purchases made within the last three years, where data is available. To date, more than 26,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (corresponding approximately to the emissions of 1.7 million miles of air travel) have already been offset by Lenovo’s customers globally.
An example of how the program works can be seen in a recent cooperation with a Lenovo customer in Germany. Lenovo worked with the insurance company LVM Versicherung to supply 4,000 new ThinkPad X1 Yoga laptops and 4,500 ThinkVision P27h-20 monitors through Lenovo’s CO2 Offset Services. To further reduce carbon emissions from shipping, the order was delivered from one of Lenovo’s global manufacturing sites in China via train instead of airplane. Not only did the service help the company meet its sustainability targets, it also fostered a sense of corporate purpose that contributes to the wider sustainability ethos and commitments.
“Climate action is more urgent than ever. Consumers’ awareness about the issue is at an all-time high and leading companies have been preparing for this, and are responding to it,” commented Niclas Svenningsen, Manager for Global Climate Action at UN Climate Change of the initiative. “Lenovo has a long track record in addressing environmental issues, including climate change, through the establishment of a science-based target, which includes 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, reporting to CDP, and in-house initiatives that have reduced their carbon footprint significantly. We are glad to collaborate with Lenovo under our Climate Neutral Now initiative, to further raise awareness and encourage the voluntary use of carbon markets as a tool to accelerate climate action. This is the first collaboration of this kind for Climate Neutral Now and we look forward to its success.”
