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CHG Meridian aims green financing option at channel

SVP of UK sales tells CRN about its 'first of a kind' green financing option and why customers are clamouring for offerings like it

Lifecycle management firm CHG Meridian has launched its first green financing option, allowing customers to make carbon-neutral IT investments.

Germany-headquartered CHG has been in the UK for over two decades and "works closely" with a number of major resellers, said Simon Young, VP of sales for UK&I. It finances IT equipment ad provides lifecycle management services, healthcare and industrial equipment, as well as technology.

Young said that the firm's new carbonZERO green financing product is the "first of its kind" in the market and allows customers to offset their carbon emissions by investing in specialised projects.

"Our portfolio is €7bn at the moment," he explained to CRN.

"We wanted to put something in place to actually commoditise the carbon offsetting to help our customers and to make it easy so that it's all absolutely hassle-free for them.

"For example, say our customer wants 1,000 iPhones. What we'll do is put a very small charge - about a couple of pence a month for each phone - on those devices that will go into our lease rate for the client. That money then goes into various different projects around the world and the customer can see how and where their money has been used."

Carbon offsetting projects that the money can be invested in include forest conservation in Peru, hydroelectric power in Sri Lanka or wind energy in Indonesia.

carbonZERO has so far been launched in 27 countries, including the UK, since the start of this month. However, Young said that it's still in the teething stages in the UK but that he expects to launch the campaign in the next three to six months.

The rationale for the new offering was due to CHG's own internal green policies but also came at the behest of customers, he added.

"The circular economy has always been something that CHG has supported and taken part in, but we want to try and take it to the next level. We want to offer customers the opportunity to offset through us and us to manage it for them," he elaborated.

"A lot of our customers have been talking about it and asking ‘How can you help us with it?' so we saw there was a need."