HP has taken the lead in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, while the scores of former front runners Nokia and Sony Ericsson have dropped.
The Guide to Greener Electronics ranks 15 companies on factors including greenhouse gas emissions, product take-back and elimination of hazardous and unsustainable materials from products and packaging. In this year’s edition, Dell soared into second place, from tenth place last year.
But after three years at the top, Nokia has slipped from first place to third, mainly due to weaker performance on energy criteria. Sony Ericsson drops from second to sixth place.
Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) debuts at the bottom of the table, which Greenpeace says indicates the company’s need to improve the reporting and disclosure of its environmental performance. However, RIM scores well on conflict minerals and sustainable paper policy.
The latest edition sets new criteria, challenging companies to reduce the carbon footprint of their manufacturing, supply chain and product end-of-life. The new criteria also aim to set ambitious goals for renewable energy use, Greenpeace says, and tackle paper sourcing and conflict minerals.
Greenpeace says that in areas where it has seen some progress, it has shifted the criteria to focus on implementation of previous commitments.
The organization said HP takes the top spot because of its commitment to measuring and reducing carbon emissions from its supply chain, reducing its own emissions and advocating for strong climate legislation. Dell scores well for having the most ambitious climate target, with plans to reduce its emissions by 40 per cent by 2020, and a strong policy on sustainable paper sourcing, the non-profit said.
The other rapid risers include Apple, up five places to number four; and Lenovo, up six places to number eight.
Sony Corporation, separately from its Sony Ericsson joint venture, received a penalty point for lobbying against stricter energy efficiency standards in California, even as it received top scores for supporting ambitious climate targets in Europe. Greenpeace warned that all companies in the electronics guide, except for Sony Ericsson, LGE and Acer, risk penalty points in the future because they are members of the trade associations ITI and CEA, which recently fought efficiency regulations in California.
Greenpeace also warned that Sony and LGE should immediately and publicly commit to stop sourcing paper from Asia Pulp and Paper, which the non-profit says is responsible for illegal logging and deforestation in Indonesia, or risk being penalized in future editions of the guide.
APP has been a major Greenpeace target this year, with the non-profit successfully pressuring toymakers Mattel and Lego to either put a hold on purchases from APP or drop the supplier completely.
The guide said that Greenpeace has now lifted penalty points imposed on Toshiba, Samsung, LGE, Dell and Lenovo after the companies made progress in developing products free of PVC and brominated flame retardants. A previous edition of the guide had accused those companies of backtracking on commitments to phase out the substances.