By Sustainability team
24th April 2012.
13:44
Tag Archives: Environment
From the very beginning when we launched the C901™ GreenHeart™ in 2009, our intention has always been to broaden GreenHeart™ across the portfolio. For us GreenHeart™ is not simply a competition to produce the greenest products, it is an initiative to improve the green credentials of our entire portfolio. We want to ensure that every phone and accessory we create includes GreenHeart™ credentials and step-by-step we are working towards this goal.
This is one of the things that you can read about in our brand new 2011 Sustainability report just published on our website. In the report you will find more information about our GreenHeart™ credentials, how we work with critical substances, our carbon footprint, Lifecycle Analysis, Community Engagement activities and much more.
Two weeks ago UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) hosted a SAICM*-meeting in the historic city of Belgrade, Serbia. SAICM stands for Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management and is part of UNEP. The meeting was held in preparation for next year’s International Conference of Chemicals Management (ICCM-3) which will address toxic substances. (more…)
Today Greenpeace released the 17th version of its Guide to Greener Electronics. In the guide they have ranked 15 manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones and TVs according to the following categories; Energy and Climate, Greener Products and Sustainable Operations. Sony Ericsson was ranked 6th place, scoring 4.2 out of 10, placing us at the top amongst the Android™ smartphone players.
In this edition, Greenpeace has changed the scoring system, introduced tougher requirements and updated many criteria. New criteria were also added, raising the bar for the manufacturers. Overall, the new ranking has stronger focus on energy and climate issues. (more…)
Had the pleasure to participate in the presentation of the O2 report “tomorrows workspace” in the House of Commons this morning. My key take out was that by working with people and attitudes O2 managed to show that telecom and IT can improve the work environment, reduce environmental impact and improve work life balance for the people embracing flexible working.
Get inspired by the report and start to influence your own company to become a true 21st century office. Interesting enough on this web page (not linked to O2) there is a community where you can download an app to measure your own work impact, share results and good ideas.
Sony Ericsson in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Netherlands is currently running (October 11 – 18) a “GreenHeart Week” on Facebook and Twitter to coincide with the launch of Cedar in the countries (for anyone understanding German language). The activity includes tips and tricks on ecological topics as well as the GreenHeart application.
The GreenHeart week is hosted on Facebook and Twitter in German speaking countries. Users can click on our Green Heart and, during GreenHeart Week for each click we will donate €1.00 to Plant for the Planet. Founded by nine year old German Felix Finkbeiner in 2007, Plant for the Planet has the goal “Let’s plant million trees worldwide – a million in each country!” Felix has recently become a United Nations Environment Programme junior board member and the program has been rolled out all over the world with great success.
Smartphones are not “green” and it is a very relevant topic at busniessgreen.com.
Not Green but they may well be sustainable and some are definitely more green than others. There will always be an intrinsic environmental impact from all products but human society can become sustainable and IT and Telecom needs to be key enablers for us to achieve that.
James says “But these environmental benefits will only be realised if people really do use their smartphone for everything and stop buying other gadgets…” and continue “Otherwise, smartphones have simply been awarded extra points in the new O2 rating system that they do not really deserve” This is very true but on the other hand if the functionality is not there then it cannot be used either.
At the end James claims that you may question rating system based on “… that green rating systems that edge away from the physical characteristics of a device….”. I think this is not the case in the O2 system. It takes all the things James ask for into consideration but balance it with functionality relevant for a more sustainable life style.
I truly believe that there are electronic solutions that – if we use them right – they will develop society and make it more sustainable. However, the substitution will not happen automatically. I discuss this in the previous post on this blog.
Related to the post below, I think the O2 eco-rating is the best available rating on sustainability so far.
There are three main reasons for this. The first being that the eco-rating address positive potential for a product to contribute to a more sustainable life of the consumer and this is the first structured attempt to do this. Secondly the information gathered on the product is well balanced focusing on the relevant parameters from a life cycle perspective while many other attempts are too superficial alternatively dig very deep into things that makes no difference what so ever on the total product impact. Thirdly that that it takes the wider sustainability scope looking at company performance and not only a product “carbon footprint” potentially with some added environmental aspects.
Many skeptics claim that mobile phones does not replace anything. I believe this to be wrong. Let me give you one example. When I went to some interviews yesterday on the launch of Eco-rating I passed by London Eye. Then I noticed that there are almost no disposable cameras for sale in the small shops anymore. I realized that some years ago there would be hundreds. They are now replaced by the high quality camera in the mobile phone (for people that forgot their regular camera at home). Think about all the plastic and film and chemistry saved. Not to mention all the bad photo paper wasted on pictures that I remeber throwing away after they where taken with these inferior devices. Now, almost all people that forget their camera use their mobile phone (most people remeber to bring that) and if they print something then it is only the good pictures not every single frame.
I believe that if the functionality meets the customer requirement and expectation in a way that is easy and intuitive to use then the consumer will be very happy to replace a gadget or an activity. I remember the exact same discussion some years ago when e-mail was new. “E-mail does not save any paper, people print to read anyway”. Now, with better screens and improved user experience, I do not se anyone printing e-mails just to read. Yes, sometimes to file or bring directions on a trip but never just to read.
I read an interesting article at Good about the difficulty of labeling also trying to educate on how to interpret labels. If it is difficult to understand a label on a “simple” product like skin lotion then how difficult would it not be to have it on a mobile phone?
We get the question why can you not have a label on the mobile phone for carbon footprint, or substances or why not Fairtrade. The complexity of electronic products and their supply chain makes it virtually impossible to have 100% control of the situation and status of all suppliers and their sub suppliers. To compare products based on a label without the possibility to provide full guarantees neither from the manufacturer nor from the one issuing the label creates great risks. The difficulty to get comparable data has been described on this blog before.
If we can get credible comparable data then we have the second question. What is most important energy or unwanted substances or is it the working conditions in the factory?
There are attempts to create labels for mobile phones and I hope the challenges will be possible to overcome. It is not easy to be a consumer but if we create more labels will it become easier or more difficult…..
“Interest in green products is growing, as revealed by many consumer studies in the past two years, and there are several instances of manufacturers of green products receiving favorable treatment from governments.” according to a post on The Green Channel by Annette Zimmermann referring to Gartner research. As usual when Annette writes it is balanced and well informed.
The text also includes slap on the fingers “the effect of solar panels in high-end feature or smartphones is highly debatable and these devices should not, therefore, be marketed as environmentally-friendly products.”
But the highlight comes at the end “…the mobile phone can be an important “can’t live without it” tool to enhance and push environmental education. It has the potential to become the energy metering and management device for consumers. Gartner believes the value to the consumer of the mobile device as a personal sustainability monitoring tool is as high as the value of the advanced meter reader is to the smart grid.”
I couldn’t agree more on the opportunities of mobile devices.