How do electronic companies tackle climate change?

The newly-added energy criteria(1) require companies to show their  political support for global mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG)  emissions in the post Kyoto political process. Companies must also  commit to absolute reductions in GHG emissions from their own  operations. Most companies take a limited view of this by only focusing  on the energy efficiency of their products (2) rather than including the  production process.

"œThe Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector currently  accounts for 2% of global GHG emissions (3), 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," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Beau  Baconguis.

Many companies score well on energy efficiency as their products comply and exceed Energy Star standards (4). 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 (5). 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.

Still, while electronics giants pay attention to environmental performance on certain issues, they tend to ignore others that are just as important. For example, the Guide shows that Philips 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.

"œGreenpeace aims to show which companies are serious about becoming environmental leaders. We want them to race towards meeting the new criteria: phasing out other toxic chemicals, increasing the recycling rate of e-waste, using recycled materials in new products and reducing  their impact on climate change," concluded Baconguis.

Greenpeace is an independent, global campaigning organization that acts  to change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the  environment, and to promote peace.