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SHIFTING
its focus from products to company practices, Greenpeace
ranked the world’s biggest manufacturers of consumer
Electronics on energy efficiency.
In the
8th edition of Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics,
the environmental group evaluated 18 electronics
companies of which only two—Sony Ericsson and
Sony—scored well above 5/10 in a scale one to 10, with
10 as the highest rank.
The
ranking, Greenpeace said, indicates, which electronics
firm is “the first to go green” in terms of
manufacturing practices.
But,
Greenpeace said, the overall score of the ranked
companies plummeted as it tightened its requirements on
electronic waste (e-waste) and toxic chemicals.
The
group also added an energy criterion, which requires
companies to “show their political support for global
mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the
post Kyoto political process,” Greenpeace toxics
campaigner Beau Baconguis said at a press briefing in
Makati City Thursday.
Under
this new criterion, “companies must also commit to
absolute reductions in GHG emissions from their own
operations,” Baconguis said. “Most companies take a
limited view of this by only focusing on the energy
efficiency of their products rather than including the
production process in the equation.”
“The
information and communications technology (ICT) sector
currently accounts for 2 percent of global GHG
emissions—[consumption that is] equal to the aviation
industry.
As one
of the most innovative and fastest growing industries,
Greenpeace expects the sector to take leadership in
tackling climate change by reducing both their direct
and indirect climate carbon footprint,” Baconguis said.
Many
companies scored well on Greenpeace’s energy-efficiency
requirement, as their products comply with and exceed
Energy Star standards, she said. “The best performers on
energy efficiency are Sony Ericsson and Apple, with all
of their product models meeting—and many
exceeding—Energy Star requirements.”
She
said, “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.”
However,
Baconguis also said that “while electronics giants pay
attention to environmental performance on certain
issues, they tend to ignore others that are just as
important.”
The
Greenpeace guide’s latest edition shows that Philips
scores well on chemicals and energy criteria, but zero
on e-waste because 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,” Baconguis said. |
