Lenovo turns refurbished PC carbon data into a bid advantage

By Grace Kim

Lenovo ranks as the global unit-sales leader in both new and refurbished notebook computers and personal computers, with estimated market shares of 27 percent and 18 percent, respectively. The company launched its certified refurbished device initiative in March 2024 and added greenhouse-gas footprint assessments in July, starting with 100 ThinkPad notebook models.

Lenovo created a methodology showing that its certified refurbished models often carry a product carbon footprint half as intensive as new editions. Anthesis Group independently assured those claims using ISO 14067 guidelines for calculating greenhouse-gas emissions associated with used products.

Corporate customers buying significant volumes of IT equipment now have more than a lower price tag to weigh. Lenovo says its carbon data has become a differentiator for buyers that also operate emissions-reduction goals.

James Pennington, Lenovo’s director of global sustainability services, said: “Being able to put numbers like this in front of customers really pushed the cost-of-carbon side of the argument.” The company is applying that evidence directly to enterprise sales, where emissions figures can accompany used-device offers alongside price.

What does this change for corporate IT buyers?

It changes refurbished hardware from a lower-cost category into one that procurement teams can compare with new equipment on carbon performance. The scores also let enterprises place refurbished purchases inside their own greenhouse-gas estimates, turning the footprint data into a bid input rather than a separate sustainability exercise.

Corporate IT procurement teams increasingly request emissions information for used and new models when bidding on large deals. Lenovo already supplied carbon information for new products so enterprise customers could incorporate it into their greenhouse-gas estimates.

“We wanted to have the same depth of data on the carbon side of the ledger as we did on the cost side,” Pennington said. To build the equivalent measurement for refurbished devices, Lenovo turned to the Global Circularity Protocol.

Developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the One Planet Network, the protocol organizes the calculation around the physical and use stages of a refurbished computer. Lenovo’s methodology considers:

• Transportation from the collection facility to the refurbishing location
• Inspection, parts replacement, data wiping and quality checks
• The footprint of spare parts
• Average use scenarios, including the region or electricity grid where the computer will most often be used

Together, those factors connect the returned device to the electricity system in which it will operate. They make the calculation a chain of collection, transport, refurbishment work, spare parts and use, rather than a claim attached only to the refurbished label.

In one simulated scenario, Lenovo examined the potential impact of replacing 30 percent of a consulting firm’s notebook computers with certified refurbished models. Lenovo’s calculations projected an 8 percent reduction in IT costs and a 15 percent reduction in IT-related emissions.

The scenario paired a procurement change with a modeled emissions result, rather than documenting a completed rollout. Lenovo presented the figures as a simulation, so the 15 percent reduction establishes a case for substitution, not an operating performance record.

Lenovo plans to review the methodology every year so it can include the most recent emissions factors. The company also intends to release additional footprint scores each quarter as new products enter the rollout.

Each product carbon footprint will also undergo annual review and recalculation. Together, those updates create a rolling disclosure cycle for buyers evaluating certified refurbished hardware.

The next market milestone is whether corporate buyers move from requesting emissions data to weighting Lenovo’s scores when they award large IT contracts. Quarterly releases and annual recalculations will keep the comparison current; the decisive test is whether buyers use those revisions in award decisions.