16 September 2008 -
Company scores plummeted in the previous
edition of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener
Electronics, when new criteria on climate
change were introduced.
However, leading brands like Nokia and Samsung
are now making significant progress in greening
their electronics products, with improved
environmental policies responding not only
to these new energy criteria, but also to
the more stringent chemical and e-waste
criteria.
The Greener Electronics
Guide is our way of getting the electronics
industry to take responsibility for the
entire lifecycle of their products. We want
them to face up to the problem of e-waste
and take on the challenge of tackling climate
change.
First launched in August
2006 and now in its 9th edition, the Guide
ranks the leaders of the mobile phone, computer,
TV and games console markets according to
their policies and practices on toxic chemicals,
recycling and energy.
The Guide has been a
key driving force in getting many companies
to make significant improvements to their
environmental policies, and it continues
to provoke significant change in the industry.
Intel recently announced that its new Xeon
5400 processors use transistors made from
hafnium, thus avoiding the use of toxic
Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs). Last
week, we also saw the announcement by Apple
that its new line of iPods would be free
of BFRs, PVC and mercury.
Who's in the lead, and
who's in need?
Scoring seven points
out of ten, Nokia has regained the lead,
due largely to its improved take-back practice
in India. Samsung, a top scorer on the energy-efficiency
of its products, takes second place with
5.9 points. Fujitsu Siemens Computers jumps
to third place with 5.5 points, having finally
set late 2010 as its deadline for eliminating
toxic PVC plastic and all BFRs from across
its product range. Although Sony Ericsson
and Sony - who enjoyed the top two positions
in the previous edition - rank fourth and
fifth respectively this time around, they
remain in the top half of the ranking with
scores of 5.3 each.
Languishing at the bottom
of the ranking is Sharp with 3.1, Microsoft
with 2.2 points and Nintendo, with only
0.8.
Greener Electronics:
Toxic-free
We want manufacturers to eliminate harmful
chemicals in their product design. While
no company has, so far, released a computer
completely free of BFRs and PVC, several
have recently launched products with restricted
amounts of toxic BFRs and PVC. Sony Ericsson
stands out, having banned hazardous chemicals
such as antimony, beryllium and phthalates
since the beginning of the year. All of
its new models are PVC-free. Following the
lead set by companies like Sony Ericsson,
and Nokia, Apple has also announced that
its new line of iPods will be free of BFRs,
PVC and mercury.
This is a first step
towards Apple putting its money where its
mouth is: Apple committed to a complete
phase-out of PVC and BFRs from all of its
products by the end of 2008. With the new
iPods being the cheapest models yet, this
is clear proof that high-performing electronics
products can be affordable, popular and
effective without using toxic chemicals.
A downside to Apple's new iPod is its built-in
obsolescence; because of the high costs
to replace the battery, new product purchase
is encouraged.
Apple has positioned
itself among the leaders on PVC and BFR
phase-out, but the iPod alone is not enough
to increase its overall score. A complete
phase out of all toxic chemicals across
its entire product range would improve Apple's
ranking, and the company needs to improve
its record on recycling and climate policy.
We're urging Apple to introduce a free,
global recycling scheme like rivals such
as Dell.
Greener Electronics:
Energy-efficient
Since the 8th edition of the Guide criteria
to assess the companies' performance in
tackling climate change have been introduced.
The global Information and Communication
Technology industry is estimated to be responsible
for approximately 2 percent of global carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions, and the rapid proliferation
of energy-hungry electronic gadgets is part
of this. It's vital that the electronics
industry plays a leading role in producing
more energy-efficient products. Aside from
assessing the efficiency of their products,
we also score companies according to how
much renewable energy they use and the level
of their commitment to significantly reducing
emissions.
Top scorers on energy-efficiency
of individual products are Apple, Nokia,
Sony Ericsson and Samsung, with Toshiba
providing a further example of a company
that is improving its climate policy.
Greener Electronics:
Responsibly recycled
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. The latest place where
we have discovered high-tech toxic trash
causing horrendous pollution is in Ghana.
Our recent investigation into e-waste dumping
in Ghana revealed major companies' products
being torn apart in almost mediaeval conditions,
exposing people to alarming levels of toxic
contamination.
Philips stands out as
the company with the worst position on e-waste
and recycling. It ranks 12th with 4.3 points,
retaining its penalty point for negative
lobbying on Individual Producer Responsibility
in the EU. Put simply, this means that companies
like Philips believe that the costs for
responsible recycling of their obsolete
and end-of-life products should be met by
governments and consumers (and that means
you!).
Philips has a bad history
of holding this negative stance on recycling.
Together with Sharp and Sanyo, Philips was
a member of the Electronic Manufacturers'
Coalition for Responsible Recycling, a coalition
of TV producers in the US that lobbied against
producer responsibility for financing e-waste
recycling and instead putting this responsibility
- and expense - on governments and the buyers
of its products (that means you!). Many
companies left this coalition after being
either penalised or threatened with a penalty
in earlier editions of our Greener Electronics
Guide, and the coalition was finally dissolved
in August.
Switching to Green Electronics
With more companies now scoring higher than
5 out of 10 - the halfway mark in the ranking
- 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 its
impact on climate change could soon find
itself winning the race to produce the world's
first truly green electronics.
