Dell has met its carbon neutral goal ahead of schedule, achieving a major milestone in its commitment to be the ‘greenest’ technology company on the planet and fulfilling a pledge to operate efficiently, maximize investment in green power and responsibly offset remaining impacts.

Dell met its goal early by implementing an aggressive global energy-efficiency campaign and increasing purchases of green power, verified emission reductions and renewable energy certificates. Since 2004, the company’s annual investment in green electricity from utility providers, including wind, solar and methane-gas capture, has grown from 12 million kWh to 116 million kWh, an increase of nearly 870 percent. Earlier this year, the company announced that its global headquarters campus is powered by 100 percent green energy.

Dell is making additional investments in wind power in the U.S., China and India. Combined with green electricity purchases from utility providers, this equates to 645 million kWh and the avoidance of more than 400,000 metric tons of CO2e.

The company is already saving more than $3 million annually and avoiding nearly 20,000 tons of CO2 through facilities improvements and a global power-management initiative.

Dell is also partnering with Conservation International on a habitat and forest preservation initiative in the Republic of Madagascar. The company will help protect more than 591,000 acres of tropical forestland threatened with destruction, preventing more than 500,000 tons of CO2 from going into the atmosphere over the next five years.

Dell currently ranks ahead of HP, IBM and Apple in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership Fortune 500 registry and is working alongside utility and government partners to encourage greater supply of green energy.

Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future

In September of 2007, Dell announced its carbon neutral goal and a commitment to achieve that goal by the end of 2008. Today’s announcement marks the achievement of that goal five months ahead of schedule.

The company is also setting a new industry standard by helping customers and suppliers achieve their own environmental goals. In June 2007, the company announced that it would require primary suppliers to report CO2 emissions data during quarterly business reviews. Dell was the first IT company to join the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Supply Chain Leadership Coalition to help suppliers with emissions reporting.

Earlier this year, Dell became the first major computer manufacturer to list an 80 PLUS Gold power supply for servers. Dell’s new 80 PLUS Gold power supply meets July 2009 Climate Savers targets for servers more than a year ahead of schedule, which require 92 percent minimum efficiency for the power supply unit at 50 percent of rated output. The company was also the first major computer manufacturer to list an 80 PLUS Silver-certified power supply for desktops. Last month, Dell launched its first “hybrid” PC.

Based on worldwide unit sales beginning in 2005 with power-management features enabled, Dell estimates that OptiPlex desktop systems alone have helped customers save more than $2.7 billion and avoid approximately 26 million tons of CO2.

In September 2007, Dell announced “Plant a Forest for Me,” a program enabling organizations worldwide to share best practices and, as partners, facilitate the planting of trees in sustainably managed reforestation projects.

For more information on Dell’s energy and environmental initiatives, visit www.dell.com/earth. To join with the company and thousands of others in lending a voice and saving the planet, visit www.regeneration.org.