Eco rating ranks mobiles’ green credentials

Ilka Weissbrod reports on a new eco rating scheme for mobiles.

Whatever it may be – your calendar, camera, road map, sports watch, portable stereo or news portal – it's unlikely to be just your phone. As more of us look to our mobiles for information, entertainment and advice, choosing the right handset gets trickier. Alongside something stylish, user-friendly and at the cutting edge of smart technology, we want something to fit our values and priorities.

Now British buyers can add green credentials to their handset checklist. Forum for the Future has partnered with Telefónica O2 UK to develop the country's first sustainable rating scheme for mobile phones.

'Eco rating' was launched this summer in O2 stores across the UK, and Telefónica is working on plans for roll out across the group. It scores handsets on a scale of one to five, according to three criteria:

• environmental impact throughout the whole life cycle
• how the handset can encourage sustainable behaviour
• the ethical performance of the manufacturer.

With over a billion handsets sold worldwide each year, the phone industry is rife with creative competition. Eco rating will, its developers hope, drive up standards in design and manufacture, encouraging the industry to see itself as a creator of sustainable solutions. It's a great example of how a robust measurement approach can promote the development of more sustainable products and services.

Sony Ericsson's Elm tops the rankings, with a score of 4.3; a further nine handsets score above four. But none have yet merited a full five points. "It's an honest reflection of the fact that there is no truly sustainable handset on the market," says James Taplin, Forum for the Future's telecommunications expert. "Despite the technology and know-how we have today, creating the first sustainable phone remains a challenge. Hopefully, the prospect of achieving the highest Eco rating will spur developers to up their game."

Smart phones are credited with facilitating sustainable lifestyle choices – encouraging the user to walk more, for example, with GPS to guard against the stress of getting lost. But whether such applications can outweigh the environmental impact of the handset, from manufacture through consumer use to disposal, is up for debate. Eco rating is the first industry-wide initiative to reflect this trade-off.

O2 is already looking ahead to the 2011 assessment process, preparing to convene an advisory panel. And future rounds of Eco rating are expected to reach across a wider product range. Research in Motion (RIM) – the Blackberry manufacturer – didn't feel ready to participate in the first launch of Eco rating, but is fully committed to doing so in the future. O2 is keen to support RIM to make this happen, an example of how sustainability schemes like Eco rating can instigate closer working relationships between industry players.

Ilka Weissbrod leads Forum for the Future's engagement in the Eco rating project.

Image credit: fishwork / istock