Forum for the Future worked with Telefonica O2 UK to develop the UK's first sustainable rating scheme for mobile phones.
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Forum for the Future worked with Telefónica O2 UK to develop the UK’s first scheme rating mobile phones on their sustainability.
It launched in O2’s UK stores in August 2010 and Telefónica Germany introduced it as Eco Index in May 2011. Telefónica plans to roll it out to further countries.
Eco rating scores handsets out of five according to their environmental impact, how they help people lead more sustainable lives and the ethical performance of the manufacturer. It launched in O2’s UK stores in August 2010 and Telefónica is currently considering how the wider group could adopt it.
The scheme is designed to help customers take sustainability into account when choosing a new mobile, to encourage healthy competition between handset manufacturers to drive up standards, and to help the industry understand the role it can play in creating a sustainable future.
“We know that sustainability is important for many of our customers and for the first time they will have the whole picture from which to make a full and balanced purchasing decision.” Ronan Dunne, O2’s UK Chief Executive
The project started in August 2009 after research by O2 found a demand from customers for information about the sustainability of their handset – the whole picture and not just one or two elements of environmental performance.
Forum and O2, working in close collaboration with handset manufacturers, developed a simple rating system that would make fair comparisons between different types of handset to reward and encourage innovation. Eco rating combines benchmarking of handsets with life cycle thinking, and uses transparent, robust and non-contentious measures to do away with the need for detailed technical data.
Customers see a rainbow label in stores indicating the sustainability rating of all phones participating in the scheme – more than 90% of those stocked by O2. This is the in-store pricing ticket for the highest ranking phone at launch, the Sony Ericsson Elm:
Eco rating looks at the overall impact of the device over its lifespan and consists of a product assessment and a corporate assessment. The scheme examines the raw materials the handset contains; the impacts caused by its manufacture; its packaging; its longevity; and how easy it is to reuse or recycle.
The product assessment includes the functionality of handsets and rewards phones which help people lead more sustainable lives: for example by replacing the need to own a separate camera or music player, or by providing software to plan journeys by public transport or on foot.
The corporate assessment takes into account the sustainability performance of manufacturers: including labour standards in the supply chain, safety and environmental principles, social inclusion and community programmes, and carbon and water management. For further details about the methodology used, please click on the O2 Eco rating brief in Project Downloads on the left hand side.
An important part of the project was the confidential discussions Forum held with major manufacturers to develop the Eco rating methodology: HTC, LG, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Their input into the development of the Eco rating methodology was invaluable. And we believe that our questions and thoughts have helped to further their internal sustainability initiatives.
The Eco rating methodology will continue to develop because as new handsets with new functions come to market, the sustainability issues the industry faces change too. As best practice transfers into ‘business as usual’, what represents sustainability excellence today will no longer represent excellence in 24 months. This is why Telefónica O2 UK has committed to enabling others to adopt the methodology after embedding the methodology further across the group.
For more information contact Ilka Weissbrod or James Taplin.
To download report go to left hand side.
Links
The Guardian, 25 August 2010. Apple blocks iPhones from green ranking scheme
The Telegraph, 25 August 2010. LG tops list of least eco-friendly phones
V3, 25 August 2010. O2 slaps eco ratings on handsets
San Francisco Chronicle Blog, 25 August 2010. iPhone drops the call for environmental ratings
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Comments
Hello, this is a great idea but it doesn't seem to be kept up to date. So if you look at the O2 site now, hardly any of the phones show an eco rating, presumably because so many new handsets have come onto the market.
Great development: the Eco-Index for mobiles. Very appreciated as I´m just looking for a new one to buy. My only question now: Why are SAR values not covered? Doesn´t electromagnetic radiation play an important role in sustainability? Well, at least I want to know and compare, before I buy one. Could you include that in your rating?
Warm regards
Sonja
Hi Sonja,
Thank you for your excellent question - its one that we spent quite a while thinking about ourselves. The decision we reached was that SAR values shouldn't currently be included in this assessment for two reasons:-
The first is because there is currently no scientific evidence or agreed methodology to show that SAR ratings below a critical threshold have x% of difference from one another - and how significant they should be in relation to all of the other sustainability issues being covered. So, there is a maximum allowable safe level of SAR emissions that has been recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection, and which has been adopted by the EU and UK, and all phones for sale in the UK comply with this limit. Since they all therefore meet the suggested safe level it would be misleading (and somewhat subjective) to try to put some value on the degrees of difference below this threshold, especially in light of . . .
. . . The second reason, which is that SAR values, as given, are maximum possible levels, but the day to day reality of actual SAR levels from a device will be very different. This is because the actual SAR levels depend upon how and where the phone is used. Whether you use a headset, for example, alters your exposure to SAR levels, but so does where you are in the network - if you're close to a base station & receiving a strong signal, the power output (& SAR levels) will be much lower than if the phone is struggling with a poor signal. The problem here, therefore, is that SAR levels are not absolute values like the rest of the assessment criteria, which means that they are open to challenge and their inclusion would weaken the assessment as a whole. To be impartial and fair to all devices, eco rating currently has to assess phones as they come out of the box, and so steers clear of variables (like SAR) which depend on the decisions of the user (which will vary infinitely from person to person).
Clearly, SAR is very important to many, and so the SAR ratings of devices can be found if wanted. From a perspective of total sustainability, however, we have currently had to look at the best available evidence - and that suggests that all devices in the UK market are already 'SAR-sustainable' by complying with the maximum allowable safe level.
Its important to note that Eco rating is not a static tool though. It has been developed as it has at the moment to reflect the best available sustainability knowledge, and to be able to transparently and equitably engage all of the handset manufacturers. Going forward, we expect that additional sustainability criteria will be added as the knowledge about them grows and, crucially, as the manufacturer understanding and trust in the tool grows as well. It may well be, therefore, that SAR is more fully incorporated in the future.
James
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