Eco-awareness: Greenpeace says IT industry still not doing enough for the environment
OpinionWire by Butler Group -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 2/19/2008 3:00:00 PM
While the IT industry appears to be making an effort to go green, the environmental group Greenpeace does not think it is progressing quickly enough, and has published material designed to pressure IT vendors into improving their sustainable performance.
Published at the end of 2007, the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics ranks manufacturers of electronic equipment according to their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and recycling. Sony Ericsson and Samsung lead the rankings, closely followed by Sony, Dell, and Lenovo. New entrants to the guide (such as Microsoft, Philips, Sharp, and Nintendo) fared particularly badly, being placed at the bottom.
Although companies are now competing to become the first to go green by eliminating hazardous substances, along with taking back and recycling products responsibly, Greenpeace is still waiting for them to act on their promises to produce a computer completely free of the worst toxic chemicals. However, the pressure seems to be working. Apple has responded to criticism from environmental groups by starting to remove toxic chemicals from its products, as well as increasing its recycling of redundant products. The new MacBook Air contains no mercury or arsenic, as well as exceeding restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) directive requirements. Apple is by no means the only computer company to be improving its environmental credentials, but the adoption of a green strategy by CEO Steve Jobs is significant, given the company's focus on industry-leading design and the attention given to Apple. It is important to be aware of the various industry schemes so that ideas, metrics, and proven practices can be deployed to improve the sustainability of the IT environment. The launching of various initiatives, which measure environmental resource usage, is further evidence that vendors (and others) are recognizing the fact that these issues have hit the mainstream. It also reflects the need to embrace transparency and traceability to meet the demands of today's more discerning stakeholders. Unfortunately, many of the initiatives are focused solely on reducing the energy usage and toxic content of IT equipment. In order to be effective, there needs to be initiatives and measures which encompass the three main areas of not just IT infrastructure, but also building and software design.
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