25
June 2008 - With expanded and tougher criteria
on toxic chemicals, electronic waste and
new criteria on climate change only Sony
and Sony Ericsson score more than 5/10 in
our latest Guide to Greener Electronics.
Nintendo and Microsoft remain rooted to
the bottom of the Guide.
The Greener Electronics
Guide is our way of getting the electronics
industry to face up to the problem of e-waste.
We want manufacturers to get rid of harmful
chemicals in their products. We want to
see an end to the stories of unprotected
child labourers scavenging mountains of
cast-off gadgets created by society's gizmo-loving
ways.
First launched in August
2006 the Guide is now on its 8th edition.
It ranks the top market leaders of the mobile
phone, computer, TV and games console markets
according to their policies and practices
on toxic chemicals and take-back. It has
been a key driving force in getting many
of the companies to make significant improvements
to their environmental policies. New to
this edition are criteria to assess the
performance of electronics companies on
tackling climate change.
Companies are scored
on disclosure of their greenhouse gas emissions,
commitment for absolute cuts in their own
emissions and support for the mandatory
global emissions reductions that are needed
to tackle climate change. On energy efficiency,
a selection of each company’s product range
is assessed to see how far they exceed the
current de-facto global standard, the US
Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy
Star. Energy Star sets minimum standards
for energy efficiency for many types of
electronic products. The overall percentage
of renewable energy in a companies total
energy use is also assessed.
The Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) sector currently
accounts for two percent of global greenhouse
gas emissions, equal to the aviation industry.
As one of the most innovative and fastest
growing industries, the biggest electronics
companies must show leadership in tackling
climate change by reducing both their direct
and indirect climate change footprint.
Our international toxics
campaigner Iza Kruszewska has noticed stark
contrasts while compiling the Guide: “Electronics
giants pay attention to environmental performance
on certain issues, while ignoring others
that are just as important. Philips, for
example, scores well on chemicals and energy
criteria, but scores a zero on e-waste since
it has no global take-back polices. Philips
would score higher if it took responsibility
for its own branded e-waste and established
equitable global take-back schemes.”
Many companies score well on energy efficiency
as their products comply and exceed Energy
Star standards. The best performers on energy
efficiency are Sony Ericsson and Apple,
with all of their models meeting, and many
exceeding, Energy Star requirements. Sony
Ericsson stands out as the first company
to score almost top marks on all of the
chemicals criteria. With all new Sony Ericsson
models being PVC-free, the company has also
met the new chemicals criterion in the ranking,
having already banned antimony, beryllium
and phthalates from models launched since
January 2008.
Apple missed a big chance
to advance its score by not improving the
environmental performance of the new version
of the iPhone.
Some companies that
promote their ‘green’ policies come up short
when measured against global standards of
measuring impacts on climate change. Dell
scores relatively poorly while Toshiba,
Samsung and LGE score close to, or zero,
on climate change criteria.
Among the games console
makers, Microsoft drops to second bottom
of the Guide with a low score on climate
criteria. Nintendo’s score increases slightly
with some improvement on toxic chemicals
and climate policy. However, even Nintendo’s
relatively energy efficient Wii console
does not meet Energy Star standards that
cover minimum energy efficiency standards
for PCs and consoles.
Real green leaders?
With most companies
now scoring less than 5/10, only a company
that rises to the challenge of phasing out
toxic chemicals, increasing the recycling
rate of e-waste, using recycled materials
in new products and reducing their impact
on climate change can seriously hope to
make the claim of being green.
+ More
TravellingAlberta.com
offers one-of-a-kind oil sands vacation
packages
27 June 2008 - Edmonton,
Canada — As the Canadian Association of
Petroleum Producers embarks on a synchronized
propaganda campaign aligned with Alberta's
"rebranding" of its oil-extracting
tar sands project, Greenpeace has launched
its own website to paint the greenwash in
its true colour: a deep, oily black.
TravellingAlberta.com is a tongue-in-cheek
travel site that uses humour to communicate
a very serious issue to Canadian and international
audiences about the destructive nature of
the world's largest industrial development.
The website showcases some of the unique
attractions that await travelers to Alberta:
Black sand beaches, toxic lakes and clearcut
forests. Until now, this kind of vacation
destination was merely the stuff of science
fiction; but now, it can be experienced
first-hand.
"We thought we'd
help the province and the Canadian Association
of Petroleum Producers with their "rebranding"
campaign by bringing Alberta's newest tourist
attractions to the world's doorstep. Any
visitor to the Alberta tar sands can see
the pollution, smell the sulfur, taste the
toxins and hear the air cannons — we're
saving them the trip," says Mike Hudema,
a tar sands campaigner with Greenpeace.
"Premier Ed Stelmach
and theCanadian Association of Petroleum
Producers can spend 25 million dollars of
tax payers' money trying to cleanup the
image of the tar sands, but this development
is still dirty, ugly and foul. That money
would be much better spent cleaning up the
tar sands themselves, rather than just the
global image."
But while a real cleanup
of the area is still a way off, the current
state of northern Alberta offers a rare
treat for the seasoned globetrotter who
is craving something new. A seemingly endless
expanse of bitumen-laden sands — coupled
with the powerful scent of oil from refineries
wafting through the hazy air — makes Northern
Alberta a truly one-of-a-kind destination.
As families make their vacation plans, TravellingAlberta.com
offers these adventure tips:
• Diversion surfing:
Catch a wave, Alberta-style, and join Big
Oil in taking advantage of the nearly 92
billion gallons of water diverted from provincial
rivers each year!
• Animal sightings: Moose playing in tailings
ponds, loons drenched in tar and ducks sinking
in oil: it's not everywhere that you can
see some of Canada's most prized wildlife
in these unique settings. Hurry though!
They're going fast!
• Tailings sailing: Come enjoy the vast
lakes of toxic water, so big they're visible
to the naked eye from space! Chase that
horizon, but be careful not to capsize!
• Fun in the sun: Forget Cancun, Alberta
is sizzling! Boasting more greenhouse gas
emissions than Canada's three other most
populous provinces combined, it's really
heating up out here!
Greenpeace will promote the website internationally,
calling on visitors to share the site with
friends and to write Premier Ed Stelmach,
Travel Minister Cindy Ady and Prime Minister
Stephen Harper to demand they put the brakes
on tar sand development.
