Electronics companies must get greener

Meanwhile, the overall score of ranked companies has plummeted following Greenpeace’s tightening of its requirements on electronic waste and toxic chemicals. It has also added new requirements for evaluating impact on climate change. “Electronics giants pay attention to environmental performance on certain issues, while ignoring others that are just as important. Philips, for example, scores well on chemicals and energy criteria, but scores a zero on e-waste, since it has no global take back polices,” said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner. “Philips would score higher if it took responsibility for its own branded e-waste and established equitable global take back schemes.” According to Greenpeace, many companies score well on energy efficiency as their products comply and exceed Energy Star standards. 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, meanwhile, stood 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 20 January 2008.