electronics companies to do more than just clean up their own act.
The 14th quarterly "Guide to Greener Electronics," (PDF) which rates
hardware makers on chemical waste, e-waste, and recycling efforts, now
assesses each company's public efforts on environmental issues.
The report, issued Thursday, considers whether a company actively
lobbies for industrywide laws that would prevent other companies from
using environmentally damaging materials, as part of their corporate
sustainability obligations.
(Credit: Greepeace)
Specifically, Greenpeace said companies should support a new version
of the European Union's RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in
electronics). The update would ban brominated flame retardants (BFRs),
chlorinated flame retardants (CFRs), and PVC vinyl plastic from being
used in the manufacturing of electronics. (The regulation already
restricts how much lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium,
polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ether
(PBDE) flame retardants can be used.)
As far as who's the greenest, Nokia still ranks at No. 1, but
Greenpeace reduced the company's overall score by one point for
"failing to do proactive lobbying" for the RoHS revisions.
The strategy brings an interesting idea to the forefront. With the new
criteria, Greenpeace is essentially attempting to harness consumer
buying-power to press private industry to pressure politicians.
But does this strategy really work? When picking out a new cell phone
or computer, does the average consumer's thought process include a
rundown of whether a company has stopped using BFRs in their products
and has lobbied to prevent other companies from using them too.
Still, if no one can use a cheap-but-polluting manufacturing material,
the playing field is leveled. Lobbying for a revised RoHS could be a
win-win for companies that would like to eliminate the use of certain
substances but fear creating an advantage for their competition.
Greenpeace asserts there's good reason for the change.
"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 of addressing this issue,
Greenpeace has added new energy criteria to encourage electronics
companies to improve their corporate policies and practices,"
Greenpeace said in a statement.
In addition to the ranking chart, Greenpeace issued detailed reports
for each company on the list. Among the more interesting tidbits:
• LG Electronics moved up from 11th place to 6th place. Still,
Greenpeace docked it one point for "backtracking on its commitment" to
make all its products free of PVC vinyl plastic and BFRs by the end of
2010. LG is still committed to that for its cell phones, according to
Greenpeace.
• Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung also received a penalty point each for
failing to eliminate BFRs in products.
• Apple has come a long way in improving its environmental record.
Once chastised by Greenpeace for not doing enough, Apple is now in
fifth place--up from ninth in the last report and up from last place a
few years ago. Except for power cords still awaiting safety approval
in some countries, all Apple products are now free of PVC plastics and
BFRs, according to Greenpeace. Apple was also given credit for
actively lobby EU governments to ban CFRs, BFRs, and PVC vinyl plastic
from electronics manufacturing.
• Microsoft dropped from 15th to 17th in part for failing to show
support for the revised version of RoHS and for failing to use printed
circuit boards free of BFRs. But the company did score points for
managing to use renewable resources for 24 percent of its electricity
and for committing to remove PVC, BFRs, and phthalates from its own
hardware by the end of 2010.
• Nintendo continues to rank in last place for a variety of reasons.
While it now has internal wiring that is PVC-free, it has not
eliminated PVC vinyl plastic or BFRs from its products completely and
offers no time line for doing so, according to Greenpeace. Nintendo
has begun to disclose its emissions but has failed to reduce them,
Greenpeace added.
The full report cards for each of the following companies is available
on the Greenpeace Web site: Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu,
Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motorola,
Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and
Toshiba.