Lenovo today is best known as a global technology company, producing everything from laptops and workstations to servers, data centre solutions and services for customers worldwide.

Behind the solutions, however, sit an equally ambitious sustainability agenda, led by Mary Jacques, Executive Director for Global ESG and Regulatory Compliance at Lenovo. Mary leads a corporate team of subject-matter experts working across ESG issues and regulatory compliance. Her remit spans climate strategy, ESG data and disclosure, target-setting and engagement with rating agencies and investors, all in close partnership with operations, product development and sales.

“We’ve been measuring our climate impact since 2009 and publishing what is now our ESG report for almost two decades,” Mary explains.

Lenovo’s sustainability function is deliberately embedded across the organisation, with specialist teams in supply chain, manufacturing, product engineering and sales all accountable for delivery. “Sustainability truly impacts every part of our business, so it’s not something one team can manage alone,” Mary explains.

She has spent her entire academic and professional career in sustainability-focused roles at technology organisations including IBM and MIT, before joining Lenovo in 2006. That combination of technical grounding and corporate experience now underpins a broad ESG strategy that connects board-level governance to factory floors and customer conversations.

How Lenovo governs sustainability at scale

At the top of Lenovo’s ESG structure sits the board of directors, which has ultimate responsibility for ESG strategy and reporting. Beneath the board, Lenovo operates an ESG Executive Oversight Committee made up of senior leaders from across the company. These executives act both as decision-makers on ESG priorities and as “ambassadors” who champion sustainability within their own business units.

“Working with those bodies and subject-matter experts across the company, we’ve developed KPIs that are really tied to our overall strategy,” Mary says.

Materiality – the process of identifying which ESG topics are most significant to the business and stakeholders – is central to that alignment. Lenovo regularly researches what customers value in product features and corporate performance, and engages investors to understand their expectations. “Having that broad view has helped us focus on where we can make a difference and where it’s important for us to do so,” Mary explains. “It allows us to set meaningful targets and devote resources to making progress, which in turn helps build trust with customers and employees.”

From net zero targets to factory-level data

Lenovo’s environmental priorities are anchored in its net zero commitment, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). “We’re laser-focused on our SBTi net zero targets and we’re proud we were the first PC and smartphone manufacturer with a validated net zero target,” Mary says.

Lenovo has committed to eliminate 90% of its greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 2050, compensating for the remaining 10%. “Our biggest emissions category is Scope 3, specifically supplier emissions and the use of our products in customers’ hands,” Mary explains.

Within operations, Lenovo is investing in renewables and efficiency, including installing on-site solar and purchasing renewable energy for factories and campuses worldwide. The company is also deploying an “ESG Navigator” platform in its smart manufacturing campuses to capture thousands of real-time data points on energy, water, waste and heat. 

“Digitalising our operations helps us be more efficient and productive, and capture ESG data that’s really important to us,” Mary explains.

Supply chain, circularity and customer outcomes

Because Scope 3 emissions dominate Lenovo’s footprint, supplier engagement is a major focus. Lenovo works with suppliers to encourage them to measure and disclose their own emissions and to set science-based targets, often via platforms such as CDP. “We’re encouraging suppliers to come with us on the SBTi journey, to report and set validated targets so we all speak the same language,” Mary says.

Education is part of the offer. Lenovo helps suppliers understand both the technical aspects of climate action and the commercial opportunities of improved ESG performance. 

A recent initiative saw Lenovo bundle its own electricity demand with that of smaller suppliers in a Chinese province to procure renewable energy at scale. Many suppliers would have been too small to access bulk renewable contracts alone, but participation enabled them to cut emissions and costs. Mary explains: “It helped our suppliers lower emissions by accessing zero-carbon energy, and we had much more uptake than expected.”

Similar to its engagement with the supply chain, Lenovo is also leveraging collaboration to accelerate the sustainability journey across its channel ecosystem. The Lenovo 360 Circle is a dedicated community that brings together Lenovo channel partners worldwide to position sustainability as a strategic business driver while unlocking new growth opportunities. The initiative fosters seamless collaboration, aligns shared priorities, and promotes a coordinated approach to sustainability across the value chain. 

On the product side, Lenovo focuses on both energy efficiency and full product carbon footprint, reflecting customers’ increasingly sophisticated requirements. For data centre customers, technologies such as Neptune warm water cooling allow servers to be cooled with warm water rather than energy-intensive chilled air, reducing cooling energy use by around 40%.

Turning regulation into a strategic asset

Lenovo adapts to comply with dynamic regulations around the world, from Europe’s environmental directives to listing rules on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mary leads both ESG and regulatory compliance, reflecting Lenovo’s view that regulation can be a strategic enabler rather than a burden.

“We honestly welcome responsible regulation,” she says. “It provides a framework and we have the structure to respond because we’ve been doing it for a long time."

Lenovo applies the highest standard globally, rather than tailoring its products or supplier expectations to minimum local requirements. Mary acknowledges that uncertainty around evolving regulation and disclosures, can be challenging, but argues that large organisations are well placed to adapt.

She explains: “We’re starting to see sustainability disclosures have the rigour of financial disclosures, and that’s driving more overlap between sustainability, risk and finance teams.” This shift has changed the talent profile within her own organisation, bringing in new skills alongside the traditional scientific expertise.

“Twenty years ago my team was primarily engineers and scientists,” Mary notes. “Now we’ve added climate experts, circular economy experts and people with financial auditing backgrounds.”

Innovation from factories to frameworks

For Lenovo, regulatory complexity and ESG commitments are also catalysts for innovation in products, services and internal systems. “Regulation and new commitments present opportunities for innovation,” she says. “They drive digital transformation to collect ESG data and spur new product and service ideas.”

Behind the scenes, the need for more granular ESG data has pushed manufacturing, digital and IT teams to build tools that capture, process and report information more efficiently.

Externally, rising energy prices and availability concerns are driving innovation in energy-efficient hardware, especially in data centres. Lenovo’s end-of-life services, including asset recovery and responsible recycling, are evolving towards refurbishment and extension of product lifetimes. The goal is to give devices a second life, either within customers’ own operations or through resale to organisations that do not require the latest technology generation.

Mary says: “Some of these initiatives may have their foundations in regulation, but they’re really driving innovation in how we do business and in the services we offer.”

A striking example of bottom-up innovation is the R.E.A.L. framework developed by Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group strategy team. R.E.A.L. stands for responsible design, ethical materials, accountable models and lifecycle intelligence. It aims to embed circularity across Lenovo’s PC business. “It’s a strategic way to frame the way we think so product teams are considering the full life cycle and business model, not just the hardware,” she explains.

The framework builds on Lenovo’s long-standing use of recycled and closed-loop materials in products and innovative packaging at scale. It also encourages business models such as device-as-a-service, where customers pay for access to IT rather than owning hardware outright. That model can offer financial benefits and reduce waste by matching device volumes and computing power more closely to actual need.

Lifecycle intelligence, the “L” in REAL, focuses on gathering data to understand impacts and guide better design and service decisions. Mary says: “It’s a great example of innovation driven by a major business unit and its strategy team, not by the sustainability function.”

ESG as competitive advantage

In a mature technology market, Lenovo regards ESG performance as a core competitive factor. Customers, particularly large enterprises and public bodies, increasingly expect suppliers to demonstrate robust climate strategies, circularity programmes and credible disclosures.

Third-party ratings and eco-labels are also important signals in procurement, especially for customers without the capacity to do full independent assessments. Mary explains that these assessments not only influence customer decisions but also inform Lenovo’s own strategy and priorities.

Internally, evolving expectations have reshaped sustainability leadership itself, demanding new skills and mindsets from ESG heads. Mary believes core leadership attributes, from curiosity and open-mindedness to the ability to focus, are especially vital in sustainability roles.

“I think it’s about listening to stakeholders and understanding what they need, from sales and customers to employees across the world,” she says. “I learn from my team every day. Having people with different backgrounds helps us better integrate sustainability into the business.”

With recognition now coming from ratings agencies, customers and indices, she remains focused on the long-term nature of the work. “These challenges take time to solve, so remaining committed is hugely important,” Mary says.