Lenovo today 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.
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.
