Ecomental

Home > Household, Industry > Greener Electronics - Rankings

Greener Electronics - Rankings

December 19th, 2008

Click the “Version” numbers above to see how different electronics firms have been fairing since 2006 with their move to green.

The Greenpeace organization is helping us all make more informed decisions regarding our electronics purchases - allowing us to make conscious decisions to purchase from ‘greener’ electronics manufacturers, theoretically supporting that firm’s green initiatives.

Greenpeace have published their 10th edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics. As of the 8th edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics, Greenpeace scores electronics brands on a tightened set of chemicals and e-waste criteria, (which include new criteria) and on new energy criteria.

The ranking criteria reflect the demands of the Toxic Tech campaign to electronics companies. Two Greenpeaces demands are that companies should:

(1) clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances; and

(2) take-back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.

The two issues are connected: the use of harmful chemicals in electronic products prevents their safe recycling once the products are discarded.

Given the increasing evidence of climate change and the urgency ofaddressing this issue, Greenpeace has added new energy criteria to encourage electronics companies to:

(3) improve their corporate policies and practices with respect to Climate and Energy

Companies have the opportunity to move towards a greener ranking as the guide will continue to be updated every quarter. However penalty points will be deducted from overall scores if Greenpeace finds a company lying, practicing double standards or other corporate misconduct.

Greenpeace’s ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’ aims to clean up the electronics sector and get manufacturers to take responsibility for the full life cycle of their products, including the electronic waste that their products generate and the energy used by their products and operations.

The guide does not rank companies on labour standards, social responsibility or any other issues, but recognises that these are important in the production and use of electronics products.

The First Edition of the Guide ranked the 14 top manufacturers of personal computers and mobile phones according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.

In the sixth issue of the Guide, Greenpeace added the leading manufacturers of TVs – namely, Philips and Sharp – and the game console producers Nintendo and Microsoft. The other market leaders for TVs and game consoles are already included in the Guide.

In the eighth edition, Greenpeace sharpened some of the existing ranking criteria on toxic chemicals and e-waste and added a criterion on each issue. They also added five new energy criteria.

For the latest version please visit http://greenpeace.org/greenerelectronics