By Luca Rossi, President of Intelligent Devices Group, Lenovo
I remember the moment clearly. It was about a decade ago, and my washer-dryer had just broken after the warranty expired. The issue was a cracked drum bearing. Fixing it meant replacing the entire drum assembly. The part alone cost nearly as much as a new unit, and the labor would have doubled that. It was wasteful, expensive, and frankly, frustrating. What bothered me most was knowing the entire machine would be discarded over a single failed part. That’s bad for the wallet and worse for the environment.
That experience stayed with me. It wasn’t just the inconvenience, though that mattered at the time. It revealed something deeper about short-sighted design.
In product design, we often focus on performance and aesthetics. But under the surface, designing for sustainability can reshape how we build and even prevent frustrating experiences like the one I’ve shared. That’s why I’ve pushed for making repairability and longevity a design priority, not an afterthought.
And that starts with understanding a product’s entire life cycle. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) gives us and our customers the data to see where the hotspots contributing to higher product carbon footprint are, literally and environmentally, and helps us design for durability, serviceability, and smarter resource use from the beginning.
Smarter sustainability, powered by Life Cycle Assessment
At Lenovo, we’re designing future products with help from a powerful tool: AI-enabled LCA.
Through a partnership with a third-party provider, we’re giving our product designers detailed environmental insights, down to the component level, so they can make smarter design decisions from the start.
This means we can now use technology to generate customized Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) within seconds across our portfolio and across sustainability reporting requirements for customers. It translates into real data that reflects how different materials, parts, and production processes contribute to a device’s carbon impact throughout its life cycle. Customers will be able to make informed decisions and choose their own shipping options and power sources, among other hotspots that contribute most to PCF. Lenovo will enable LCA across the ThinkPad line-up starting in 2nd quarter of our fiscal year, with a goal to expand to more product lines.
So what does that actually mean?
The way we design devices is becoming more transparent and accountable, with sustainability treated as a measurable part of product performance. Through component-level insights and detailed environmental data, we can help our designers make more informed choices. Whether you’re purchasing a single laptop or managing an enterprise fleet, understanding the carbon footprint of your configuration will become as accessible as checking screen size or battery life.
It also means we are embedding sustainability where it matters most: at the design phase. With clearer data and better tools, our teams can make smarter decisions about materials, sourcing, and long-term use. The result is fewer trade-offs between performance and impact, and a more direct path to reducing emissions across the product life cycle.
The circular economy in action
Designing for sustainability doesn’t stop at carbon measurement. It’s about creating products that stay useful longer and can be reused, repaired, or returned when they’ve reached end of life.
That’s why Lenovo has committed to a circular economy model built around reuse first, recycling second. Here’s how we’re putting that into practice at Lenovo:
Our R.E.A.L. approach
We’ve built our circular economy strategy around a simple principle: make sustainability R.E.A.L. The R.E.A.L. framework is our approach to turning ideas into measurable action through responsible design, ethical materials, accountable models, and life cycle intelligence.
Responsible design
We design with longevity and repairability in mind, so devices can stay in service longer and perform better over their entire life cycle. By 2025, for instance, 84% of Lenovo PC repairs will be possible without having to send products to a repair center – keeping more devices in use and fewer in transit. We’re also pushing for higher energy efficiency and better end-of-life outcomes, so products can be repaired, reused, or recycled rather than discarded.
Ethical materials
We’ve committed to using more sustainable materials and cutting down on waste from the start. In 2024, we launched the first UL-certified closed-loop plastics program. That is, reclaiming plastics from retired Lenovo devices, recycling them, and turning them into new components, within a domestic supply loop.
What began with mice and keyboards is now expanding across laptops, desktops, and even smartphones. Our new ThinkVision P Series Gen 40 monitors are a showcase: 95% post-consumer recycled ABS in the casing, 20% recycled glass, and 50% recycled steel in the structure.
Accountable models
We’re also rethinking ownership to keep products circulating longer. From our Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings to Lenovo Certified Refurbished systems, we’re giving technology a second life. Each reuse extends the value of the original materials and reduces the need for new resources, making our business model part of the sustainability solution.
Life Cycle Intelligence
Good design starts with good data. That’s why we’re embedding AI-enabled LCA into our design process, giving our teams and customers clear insight into the carbon footprint of a product, down to the component level, within seconds. It comes down to smarter material choices, more sustainable sourcing, and greater transparency for customers who want to align their purchases with their values.
And it’s a continuous loop: design for longer life, choose better materials, create models that prioritize reuse, and track it all with precise, actionable data. Already, we’ve used over 300 million pounds of recycled plastics, and we’re on track to include post-consumer recycled content in 100% of our PC products by our 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Why life cycle thinking matters now
At the end of the day, customers expect sustainability to be built in, rather than bolted on.
Life cycle thinking makes that possible by shaping smarter decisions early in the design process, offering carbon data that customers can trust, and extending the usable life of devices through better repairability and reuse. It also helps organizations meet their ESG goals with transparent, measurable metrics.
For everyday users, it can translate to fewer dead-end repairs, more affordable servicing, and products that stay useful longer, avoiding the kind of waste and frustration I experienced firsthand.
We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we’re investing in the tools, processes, and partnerships needed to turn good intentions into meaningful results. And if more of us build with this mindset, the entire industry moves forward, helping to create better outcomes for both the planet and the people who depend on our products.
Looking ahead
In today’s climate, some companies may be tempted to soft-pedal their sustainability efforts. But the reality is clear: Sustainability is now measured alongside performance, embedded in brand reputation, and demanded by customers who are paying attention.
We’ve made major strides by embedding sustainability earlier in the design process, from repairability goals to closed-loop materials and component-level environmental insights powered by AI. Tools like AI-enabled LCA are helping us move faster and with greater precision, guiding smarter decisions before a product ever reaches the factory floor.
For other manufacturers, the first step is to start asking deeper questions. Where are the greatest environmental impacts across a product’s life cycle? Which materials or components carry the highest cost to the planet? And how can AI help uncover those insights with speed and scale?
When sustainability is considered from the very beginning, not added at the end, it leads to better outcomes for the business, the customer, and the planet.
And ideally, fewer washer-dryers heading from the curb to the landfill.
