Dell aims to become the greenest technology company on Earth for the long-term.

The new Zero Carbon Initiative will continue to maximize the energy efficiency of Dell products and over time offset their carbon impact. The initiative includes the efforts of Dell, its employees and its suppliers and will reflect the direct feedback of its customers. The zero-carbon initiative will include IT lifecycle assessments, management of Dell’s direct and indirect climate impacts, reduction of the company’s carbon intensity and partnership with customers.

The company also committed to reduce the carbon intensity of its global operations by 15 percent by 2012 and extended its ” Plant a Tree for Me” program to Europe, allowing computer users to offset the emissions associated with the electricity their computers use.

Michael Dell, Dell Chairman and CEO, announced that Dell is asking customers for their ideas in building the ” greenest PC on the planet.”

The efforts are a part of Dell’s drive to reduce complexity for customers and partner with them to protect the environment. Dell will undertake a lifecycle assessment of the carbon impact of an IT product through its supply chain and with input from environmental stakeholders.

Dell’s “Plant a Tree for Me” program is now available in Europe. For £1 per notebook or £3 per desktop (€1.50 and €4.50 respectively), customers can offset the emissions associated with the electricity that their computers use. One hundred percent of those funds will be donated to plant trees in professionally managed reforestation projects. Dell launched the U.S. version of the Plant a Tree program in January.

Dell has requested that its primary suppliers begin reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data. Suppliers risk having their overall scores reduced during Dell quarterly business reviews for not identifying and publicly reporting GHG emissions. A supplier’s volume of Dell business can be affected by the scores earned on reviews. Dell will work with suppliers on emissions reduction strategies once data is collected.

Dell’s strategy is to deliver products that provide the maximum performance at the least amount of power required. Dell has introduced products with Energy Smart configurations across server, desktop and notebook product lines and introduced products meeting the latest Energy Star 4.0 requirements. Dell is also advising customers on data center design to help reduce power requirements. Teh company completed a power-management pilot on more than 50,000 computers on the company’s internal network. The pilot resulted in the savings of about 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity, equivalent to avoidance of 8,500 tons of CO2 and savings of $1.8 million annually.