Dell Pledges Carbon Neutrality by 2008

By Greg McNevin

October 1, 2007: Keeping up with its philosophy of curbing the environmental impact of its operations, Dell has become the first major computer manufacturer to commit to making its worldwide operations carbon neutral by the end of 2008.

Significantly extending its “Plant a Tree for Me” program with the new “Plant a Forest for Me” program, the company is encouraging companies around the globe to join it to share best practices and facilitate the planting of millions of trees in managed reforestation projects.

ABN AMRO, AMD, Ask.com, Salesforce.com and WellPoint have joined dell to found the program, with each company committing to offset part of their carbon output by purchasing trees. Dell has partnered with the non-profit organisations The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org to get tree planting underway.

While other founding members are offsetting part of their carbon emissions via the program, Dell claims it will be pursuing an aggressive strategy of energy efficiency such as instigating new PC power-down policies to curb power use, maximizing the purchase of renewable power and offsetting any remaining impact to meet its carbon-neutral commitment.

The company has also issued a challenge to its peers, calling them to commit to carbon neutral operations as well.

“Never before in the history of business have we seen such a critical need to build a worldwide community dedicated to improving the environment,” said Michael Dell, the company’s chairman and CEO. “Leadership starts at home, which is why we are going carbon-neutral, but this should only be the beginning of building long-term partnerships with customers, stakeholders and suppliers of all sizes to team up and make a difference for the Earth we all share.”

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