Carbon offsetting has become a buzzword across the ESG sector, but to make a genuine difference, these programmes need to involve all stakeholders and a commitment to ongoing action. For technology giant Lenovo, this means supporting customers to join the company on its sustainability journey.
Thibault Dousson, services and solution Lead, Lenovo META, says the company “has a long track record in addressing environmental issues.” The CO2 Offset Service initiative was launched as a pilot programme in the Nordic region in February 2020 and, once this proved to be successful, Lenovo rolled it out to MENA, Europe, Asia Pacific and North America during 2021.
Elaborating on the CO2 Offset Service, he says it “was intended to support our customers in their own sustainability efforts [by meeting] customers’ growing desire for eco-transparency in all their purchases and help them better understand and offset their individual carbon footprint.”
In practical terms, the initiative involves what Dousson describes as “a simple purchase add-on” that enterprises and customers can use to offset the carbon emissions produced along the entire value chain, from manufacture to shipping of the product to power consumed during the divide’s life cycle.
“Before they buy a Lenovo device, the cost of carbon offset can be added with the click of a button,” Dousson explains. “Lenovo works with an environmental partner to compensate for the CO2 emissions associated with the purchased device, and then enterprises and consumers can track and confirm the offset information through the serial number of the device.”
“Working through a third-party global advisor, the funds are channelled towards UN-approved environmental projects like windmills, solar cells, and renewable energy initiatives, including innovative methods that harness agriculture by-products as a generator for electricity,” says Dousson.
For the Middle East, Dousson says local government sustainability initiatives, such as the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, formed the foundation for expansion in this region. The UAE strategy aims to achieve 50 percent clean energy use by 2050.
Dousson says customer uptake of the CO2 Offset Service is on the rise since being rolled out globally in 2021: “The amount of carbon offset by customers is increasing by double-digits quarter-on-quarter. To date, Lenovo’s customers have offset more than 1 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide from their purchases of Think PCs.”
He adds that this widespread uptake “indicates customers are increasingly on the lookout for IT solutions that address their ESG-related needs and enable them to reduce their environmental footprint.”
The initiative is independently validated by DEKRA, an international testing, inspection and certification organisation.
“This is the first DEKRA audit of its kind for an electronics manufacturer,” says Dousson. “Consisting of an in-depth assessment of Lenovo’s carbon footprint calculation process, DEKRA has validated the accuracy of the related claims and verified the service’s CO2 compensation process.”
Lenovo plans to expand the CO2 Offset Service, as well as introducing further ESG-related measures for what Dousson terms as “sustainable innovation.”
“In line with our ambition to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, we will continue to foster a more circular economy, drive out waste across the value chain, reduce the usage of virgin materials in products, focus on renewables and always maintain rigorous supplier standards aligned with our mission,” he explains.
“ We are glad we found a solution that makes understanding the ecological impact of every individual product and its lifetime usage simple and transparent, offering a simple way for enterprises and consumers to offset carbon emissions and contribute to specific ecological projects.,” says Dousson.
Photo credit : Lenovo