DUBAI: Lenovo™ has announced the Middle East launch of its CO2 Offset Service to its consumer PC portfolio. Available on all, Think commercial PCs, Lenovo Legion™ and Yoga™ PCs for consumer and commercial customers, the Lenovo CO2 Offset Service gives consumers a simple and transparent way to offset carbon emissions and help the environment by supporting one of several United Nations Climate Action projects.

As one of the first PC manufacturers to bring this type of carbon compensation service to the IT industry, Lenovo developed CO2 Offset Service as a solution for its customers to help them meet their own environmental goals. However, it is just part of the company’s broader Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) strategy and ambitions. Recognizing the toll that human activities are taking on our planet, Lenovo has outlined its commitment to become net-zero by 2050 and pledged to positively impacting 15 million lives through philanthropic programmes and partnerships by 2025.

Region-wide, visionary governments have instilled various initiatives as they work towards a more sustainable future. The UAE has a number of federal and municipal policies in place that establish clear goals for the country to shape its future in a more sustainable way. Among the UAE's environmental projects include the UAE Vision 2021, the UAE Centennial 2071, and the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, which sets a 50% clean energy objective for the country. Several sustainable development goals have already been defined in the UAE, and they act as a guiding concept for most new initiatives including Lenovo’s expansion of the CO2 Offset Service.

Mohammed Hilili, General Manager, Gulf, Lenovo, said: “Lenovo recognizes the importance of the global effort to mitigate climate change, having set our own science-based emissions reduction objectives. The launch of our CO2 Offset Service was always meant to assist our customers in their own sustainability efforts, and we're proud to now be able to offer that assistance to our customers. Recent developments in the UAE include the launch of four pioneering national initiatives to ensure the sustainability of water resources, a program to attract young people to be part of local and global green initiatives and, financing clean energy projects and becoming the first Gulf nation to commit to net zero emissions by 2050.”

The carbon offsets from the Lenovo CO2 Offset Service will help bring sustainable development benefits to communities in the Middle East and around the world, such as improving air and water quality, reducing energy consumption, and supporting safe waste disposal. To date, Lenovo’s business customers globally have offset more than 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide across their purchases of Think PCs (desktops, workstations, laptops). That’s the equivalent of the amount of GHG emitted from more than 100,000 passenger vehicles driven over the course of one year.[1]

Lenovo has revealed how customers are ushering in a green revolution in commerce by opting to offset the carbon emissions of new Think, Legion and Yoga products at the point of purchase as part of the company’s new CO2 Offset Services initiative.

Offsetting an entire product lifecycle

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 works by factoring in emissions produced from the manufacture and shipping of each individual product, as well as those for up to 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 and ClimeCo, one of the largest producers of U.S. voluntary carbon credits under the Climate Action Reserve.

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[1] According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator