New lifecycle assessment (LCA) analysis from Lenovo suggests that refurbished devices have a lower carbon footprint than new ones, says James Pennington, Director of Global Sustainability Services.
Refurbished technology has long been recognised as an important part of a more circular economy, yet for many organisations it has remained a difficult choice to make at scale. Questions around both reliability and support have gradually been addressed through enterprise refurbishment programmes, but one challenge has persisted: proving the environmental value of refurbished devices with the same level of confidence as new technology.
That is beginning to change. Advances in lifecycle assessment (LCA) methodology are giving organisations access to robust, product-level carbon data that removes much of the uncertainty from procurement decisions.
Lenovo’s latest LCAs, for example, show that Certified Refurbished ThinkPads are approximately 50% less carbon-intensive over their assessed lifecycle than comparable newly manufactured devices, providing organisations with stronger evidence of the carbon savings circular IT can deliver.
As sustainability expectations continue to grow, overcoming these barriers will be just as important as the carbon savings themselves. Organisations need confidence that refurbished devices can meet enterprise requirements while also supporting increasingly robust sustainability reporting.
Organisations need greater confidence in carbon reporting
As reporting requirements become more demanding, organisations are finding that security relies on quality data. We’ve seen carbon reporting evolve rapidly over the past few years.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is raising these expectations around ‘environmental disclosures’ across Europe, and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is pushing for more consistent reporting globally.
At the same time, organisations working towards Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi v2) commitments are concentrating on reducing value chain emissions, particularly Scope 3 emissions, which often account for the largest share of an organisation’s carbon footprint.
With all these systemic changes across the globe, it’s safe to say that estimates are no longer enough. As sustainability reporting matures and assurance requirements increase, credible lifecycle data is becoming an essential.
Meeting these expectations means giving organisations the evidence they need to support sustainability claims with confidence rather than estimates.
Overcoming the data challenge
Product-level lifecycle assessments are helping to close that gap by replacing broad assumptions with measurable emissions data. Many organisations still estimate emissions using spend-based methodologies. They provide a useful starting point, but price doesn’t always reflect environmental impact.
In fact, this approach often skews towards conservative, worst-case figures and higher purchase prices can be misconstrued to represent higher emissions, even for more durable and energy-efficient products.
Two devices may have very different purchase costs yet similar carbon footprints, or the more expensive product may actually generate fewer emissions over its lifetime because it’s built to last longer.
It’s also true that, when it comes to refurbished devices, the price is typically lower than a new device – yet the carbon savings could be even greater.
By measuring emissions across the entire second life of our devices including our remanufacturing process, as a sector we can now understand where emissions occur and compare products on a consistent basis.
This is the approach Lenovo has taken with our latest PCFs. More than 100 Lenovo Certified Refurbished ThinkPad models now have individual PCFs, specific to the device and the geography in which it is used. We’ve now secured third-party assurance for our compliance with ISO 14067, and we are providing organisations with data that can support sustainability reporting as well as procurement decisions.
This will be particularly important for reporting on Scope 3 emissions, which are among the hardest to measure because they extend across complex global supply chains.
While no single dataset will eliminate every reporting challenge, more accurate product-level carbon data removes one of the biggest barriers to adopting refurbished technology with confidence.
Building confidence in refurbished technology
Data, however, is only one part of the equation. Organisations also need confidence that refurbished devices will perform to enterprise standards throughout their lifecycle. That means enterprise-grade refurbishment cannot simply be about extending a product’s life. It must deliver the same confidence in security, reliability, performance, and support that IT leaders expect from any strategic technology investment.
This highlights the importance of rigorous remanufacturing standards. Secure data sanitisation, comprehensive inspection, component replacement where required, functional testing, and enterprise warranties are not value-adds – they are the baseline requirements that enable circular procurement to scale.
Without them, refurbished devices risk being viewed as a compromise. With them, they become a lower-carbon alternative that can be deployed confidently across an organisation.
When trusted refurbishment standards are combined with transparent carbon data, many of the traditional barriers to circular IT begin to disappear.
From opportunity to mainstream adoption
The challenge for circular IT has always been giving organisations the confidence to adopt refurbished technology at scale. However, as lifecycle assessments become more sophisticated and initiatives such as digital product passports increase transparency, organisations will be better equipped to understand the environmental impact of every technology decision they make.
Refurbished devices with verified carbon data mean that IT can go from being a blocker to a reliable source of decarbonisation that can be actioned on the way to 2030. Companies that set clear KPIs such as reaching 20% refurbished devices by 2030 and then work closely with their Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)s to achieve it, would create a 10% saving in IT emissions while also cutting IT procurement costs.
Circular IT is becoming easier to adopt not simply because the environmental benefits are well understood, but because the evidence behind those benefits is becoming stronger. As those remaining barriers continue to fall, refurbished technology has the potential to become a far more mainstream part of enterprise IT procurement.
