Letter From Lenovo’s Chief Legal & Corporate Responsibility Officer: Driving ESG With Innovation, Diversity, and Accountability
Originally published in Lenovo's 2023/24 ESG Report
As Senior Vice President and Chief Legal & Corporate Responsibility Officer, it is a pleasure to share our 18th annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report for FY 2023/24. I write this letter with the knowledge that our world is at a critical juncture across all elements of ESG. This past year was measured as the hottest year on Earth in recorded history, economic uncertainty and division remains for many around the world, and artificial intelligence has proven itself as a powerful tool that must be used thoughtfully. It’s more important than ever to take action credibly, collaboratively, and with full accountability.
With these values in mind, Lenovo was proud to fortify our participation as a member of the United Nations Global Compact by joining the Forward Faster initiative in 2023. Through this initiative, Lenovo has committed to accelerating impact for the UN Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to climate action and water resilience. After announcing the validation of our net-zero targets by the Science Based Targets initiative in January 2023, joining the Forward Faster initiative further demonstrates our commitment to credible action through collaboration with others who are serious about mitigating climate change and conserving our planet’s resources.
While we are on track to meet our near-term 2030 emissions reduction goals – the first milestone in our journey to net-zero by 2050 – we know that innovation is perhaps the most critical strength for our journey. Our people are core to our ability to innovate and it’s important that our teams are composed of diverse perspectives to ensure we’re getting the best ideas from a wide range of viewpoints. Workforce diversity not only supports stronger solutions to problems, but it helps us better meet the needs of our diverse, global customer base.
To better understand the diversity of our employee base, we launched a Self-ID Campaign in 2023. The Self-ID Campaign gives employees the opportunity to voluntarily provide information on their gender identity, disability status, and racial or ethnic background. With alignment from local leadership, it has rolled out in the US, the European Union, and he United Kingdom. We look forward to extending it to key markets in the Asia Pacific region in the months to come. This campaign and the aggregate workforce data it provides is critical to ensuring the safety and well-being of employees by increasing awareness of external dynamics and helping to support the development of stronger internal policies. It also provides insights for our employee resource groups, as they work to foster a sense of belonging in our workforce across seven diversity segments, many intersections, and many interest groups. Our Product Diversity Office can also leverage this data for awareness of internal stakeholders as they review new products and solutions and ensure our smarter technology is truly for all.
Lenovo is an industry leader in the inclusion of women in the workforce and representation of women in our technical teams. We remain focused on our executive representation goals for FY 2025/26, working to reach 27% female executive representation around the world and 35% representation of executives from historically excluded backgrounds in the US. To bolster this work, we’ve focused on our diverse talent pipeline. We continue to see success from our Women’s Leadership Development Program (for Director-level women around the world) and Mosaic Leadership Development Program (for Directors from historically excluded backgrounds in the US). Recently Lenovo has added the Courageous Leadership Development Program to better retain and grow managers who are from historically excluded backgrounds in the US and not yet at the Director level.
In FY 2023/24, we were proud to receive the highest-ever engagement score on our Annual Lenovo Listens employee survey. We see this reflected in our employees’ energy for our global philanthropy efforts. In 2023, employees grew our grassroots-driven Love on Month of Service for the seventh consecutive year, tracking more hours volunteered than ever before. Employees in Colombia, Brazil, the US and India gave back with our charitable partner Wine To Water to help provide access to clean water for local communities. Additionally, employees engaged with our Work for Humankind initiative in India, helping rural farmers in the Kanthaloor state revitalize cultivation of the ancient millet grain.
As we continue our sustainability journey, we are proud of recognitions that signal progress. In the past year we were proud to be recognized as one of Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Companies. We were also named a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion by the Disability:IN, maintained our placement on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ+ inclusion, and received our highest score to date on Workplace Pride’s Global Benchmark Score. Our customers and partners are recognizing our efforts, as Lenovo was honored with the Canalys Sustainability Champion Award in 2023. We know that these accolades are the result of strong governance that we will persistently reinforce through our policies, decisions, behaviors, and the workplace culture they create.
As a global technology company, we continue to navigate new challenges. However, we know that our persistent commitments to collaboration, credibility, and accountability will continue to power us forward on our sustainability journey.
Laura Quatela
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal & Corporate Responsibility Officer
Lenovo Group Limited
