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Electronista: Activist group Greenpeace has released a new edition of its Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks major high-tech corporations in terms of their alleged environmental friendliness.

Among the companies favored by Greenpeace’s press efforts is Apple, which the group notes recently disclosed its carbon emissions.

Apple has risen in rankings from 11th to 9th, aided not by the disclosure but by being the “most progressive” computer maker in terms of removing product toxins.

Greenpeace comments that Apple’s emissions tracking will only affect the next guide, and that the company must actually act on reducing carbon levels.

Despite holding onto 14th place, HP has been commended for the ProBook 5310m, which is said to be the company’s first PC to eliminate PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from everything but the power supply and cabling.

Dell and Lenovo are criticized for postponing toxic phase-outs indefinitely, with the latter shifting in rank to second-last, ahead of Nintendo but below Fujitsu.

LG has slipped in position from 4th to 11th, as a result of dropping plans to eliminate PVC and BFRs from all products by the end of 2010.

Philips has jumped from 7th to 4th through work on recycling policies; Sony is up from 12th to 8th due to changes in waste and chemical handling. Dominating the guide this period is Nokia, followed by Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

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Electronista: Large PC builders are dragging their feet when it comes to environmental promises, claims Greenpeace. The activist group has once again updated its Guide to Greener Electronics, which assigns relative rankings to major high-tech corporations.

Leading the new rankings are Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, whereas the bottom is occupied by console maker Nintendo. Sony itself has fallen precipitously from 5th to 12th place, having lost progress on recycling.

A new development is the assignment of “penalty points” to major PC builders, including HP, Dell and Lenovo. The companies have delayed plans to strip PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from computers, Greenpeace says, and in the case of HP, none of its current systems have reduced toxicity.

The chemicals are not an immediate danger, but can have long-term impact, especially on the people and wildlife near dumpsites in Asia and Africa, where toxins can accumulate in larger quantities.

Greenpeace meanwhile continues to praise Apple, which it says has worked hard to ensure Macs are nearly free of PVC, and entirely free of BFRs. It is “ridiculous” that companies like Dell are challenging Apple advertising, Greenpeace claims, when the latter is performing so well next to its rivals.

The Better Business Bureau has however recommended that Apple stop calling MacBooks the most environmentally-friendly notebooks on the market.

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Electronista: Several companies have shifted positions within Greenpeace’s quarterly tech industry rankings, the latest report from the environmental group states.

One of the notable increases in rank belongs Apple, which has risen four spots in the list to reach 10th place.

All of the company’s major products, barring power cords, are now claimed to be free of PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs); Greenpeace criticizes the company, however, for using “unreasonably high” threshold limits in counting products as free of the chemicals.

Dutch company Philips has made the most dramatic surge, leaping from 15th place to fourth based on a sudden reversal of policies on recycling and product takeback.

Continuing the lead the list is Nokia, which not only has one of the largest takeback policies in the world and has also agreed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent in 2009, and 18 percent in 2010, using 2006 as a reference point.

Greenpeace takes its harshest tack with HP, Lenovo and Dell, which it accuses of betraying commitments to eliminate PVCs and BFRs by the end of 2009. Lenovo has postponed the goal to 2010, while HP and Dell are said to have dropped any form of deadline. Acer has also removed an official deadline, but has managed to keep its rank by stating that it will attempt to meet the goal anyway.

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Register Hardware: Nintendo and Microsoft have once again failed to find favour with eco-watcher Greenpeace, both scoring the lowest marks in the NGO’s latest Guide to Greener Electronics report. But they’re not the only consumer electronics firms criticised for being too slow to get serious about climate change.

The Guide – now on its tenth edition – ranks 18 leading electronics firms according to its own energy, e-waste and chemicals criteria. Only a minority of those companies scrutinised lead the way on energy and climate change, Greenpeace said.

Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Samsung, Nintendo and LG are all “lagging behind”, Greenpeace said, having no plans to cut their operations’ emissions, no support for generic targets and no timelines in place to “avoid catastrophic climate change”. PC manufacturers make up much of the report’s middle ranks.

Nokia took pole position with a score of 6.9, although it’s worth noting that the handset firm’s score dropped from 7.0 in version nine of the report, because it still hasn’t committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The phone giant was praised for its product take-back scheme and for its commitment to removing harmful chemicals from products.

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NetworkWorld: Sony and Sony Ericsson have come out on top of the latest Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, although most companies saw their scores drop due to a new ranking system based on wider criteria.

Specifically, Greenpeace is looking at whether companies show political support for global mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, whether they disclose greenhouse gas emissions and whether they commit to an absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from their operations.

Sony Ericsson, which shared first place overall with Sony, became the first company to score almost top marks in the chemical sector, having removed PVC, antimony, beryllium and phthalates from its products. It missed a perfect score because of “unreasonably high threshold limits for brominated flame retardants in products that are allegedly BFR-free.”

It also scored well on energy efficiency, but scored badly on other issues such as recycling. Sony scored lower on the chemicals criteria because it has fewer models on sale that are free of the substances targeted by Greenpeace.

Nokia was ranked third, and once again would have come first were it not for inconsistencies in its product take-back and recycling program.

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Slashgear: The world (mostly) seems to love Nintendo. Almost every gamer has some kind of fond memories of the company, whether it’s with their shiny new Wii, or the classic NES. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that Nintendo loves the world. Or at least that’s the way Greenpeace sees it.

Greenpeace releases a “Guide to Greener Electronics” guide on a regular basis which tracks how “green” technology companies are on a scale from 0-10. Their latest guide features 18 companies, and Nintendo came in dead last.

Not only did they come in dead last, they scored only a measly 0.3 of 10. Their closest competitor (Philips) scored a full four points higher. There are a total of nine different categories that are taken into account for the score. Apparently the only thing Nintendo managed to do was establish a Green Procurement Standards for Suppliers. They weren’t able to actually provide this information, only mention that they had it. That gave them a “Partially Bad” on Chemicals Management, and “Bad” on everything else.

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Absolute Gadget: Gadgets! We love ‘em but verily they doth cause the ire and great gnashing of teeth among the sandal-wearing, eco-fraternity. Enviro-botherers Greenpeace has taken time off from being blown up by the French secret service to lay into the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, claiming that next generation consoles have more toxic chemicals than your average can of carbonated soft drink.The green group accused Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony of falling behind mobile phone and PC manufacturers when it comes to disposing of nasty chemical used in the production of consoles. The initiative is part of Greenpeace’s thrust to get the industry to be eco-friendly.

“Game console manufacturers are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs who have been reducing the toxic load of the products over the past year,” said Zenia Al Hajj, Greenpeace International’s toxics campaigner. “Game consoles contain many of the same components as PCs so manufacturers can do a lot more.”

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CIO: Greenpeace, the environmental advocacy group, ranks Sony Ericsson as the most environmentally responsible electronics maker while slamming Microsoft and Nintendo for their poor e-waste management efforts as well as for high levels of toxic materials in their electronics products.

On Monday Greenpeace released the sixth edition of its quarterly “Guide to Greener Electronics,” in which it ranks 18 leading electronics manufacturers on their efforts to eliminate toxic substances from their products and other efforts to be environmentally responsible.

The Greenpeace guide considers manufacturers’ efforts to curtail the use of materials such as vinyl plastics (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their products. It also examines the companies’ other efforts, including various product takeback initiatives and discarded product recycling efforts.

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TechDigest: Consumer electronics companies make money from selling; they don’t tend to make money from hugging trees. So when you see a company like Dell announcing plans to become the greenest technology company on Earth, you get a sense of why eco-gadgetry is increasingly seen as a vital business strategy by tech firms.

In Dell’s case that involves reducing the carbon intensity of its global operations, planting trees for every notebook and PC it sells. It’s also offering free recycling for used Dell kit. Many technology firms are taking measures, and those that aren’t are increasingly being held to account by the likes of Greenpeace.

The second half of 2007 will see a lot more publicity around how green (or otherwise) our gadget-makers are. Publications like Greenpeace’s Greener Electronics Guide are helping – it ranks PC and mobile manufacturers on how green they are. The latest edition put Lenovo at the top of the list, followed by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Dell and Samsung. Sony pitches in at 11th spot, while Apple languishes in 14th.

Does this sort of pressure force companies to up their game? It seems so. Lenovo was bottom of Greenpeace’s previous edition of the report just four months before, while in early May, Apple came out and announced plans to phase out the most toxic chemicals used to manufacture its products. That hasn’t stopped Greenpeace from lobbying to ensure the upcoming iPhone handset is as green as possible though.

What’s clear is that in the next six months, us consumers will have far more information on how green our favourite technology firms are.

So, technology companies see the business benefits of going greener, and there’s going to be much more info available for us consumers to assess whether they’re actually doing it.

What remains to be seen is if that really changes our buying habits – will we resist that tempting 60-inch plasma screen when we find out it hoovers up more electricity than a football stadium? If green gadgetry has a future, it’ll be down to us.

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BBC: Chinese computer maker Lenovo has topped a ranking of the world’s most eco-friendly electronics firms. Compiled by Greenpeace, the quarterly report ranks firms by how green their production processes are and what they do to recycle hardware they sell.
In previous reports Lenovo ranked low for eco-friendliness but in 2007 it scooped the top spot over Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Dell, and Samsung.

Apple came last of the 14 firms Greenpeace profiled in the report.

Greenpeace Ranking:
1) Lenovo: 8
2) Nokia: 7.3
3) Sony/Ericsson: 7
3) Dell: 7
5) Samsung: 6.3
5) Motorola: 6.3
7) Fujitsu/Siemens: 6
8) Hewlett-Packard: 5.6
9) Acer: 5.3
10) Toshiba: 4.3
11) Sony: 4
12) LG Electronics: 3.6
12) Panasonic: 3.6
14) Apple: 2.7

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TechDigest: Greenpeace has published its latest “Guide to Greener Electronics” today, indicating a marked improvement in manufacturing processes over the last three months from leading companies. Well, except Apple that is.

Nokia continues to hold the top spot, with progressive policies on both its chemicals policy and disposal of electronic waste. Apple is awarded the last position because the company has made no improvements to its policies or practices since the ranking was first released three months ago.

Motorola has been the fastest mover in the ranking guide – second worst in the first report, it has made strong commitments since. Other positive movers include Lenovo, Fujitsu-Siemens and Acer.

Guide to Greener Electronics – new ranking December 2006 (with score)

1. Nokia (7.3/10)
2. Dell (7/10)
3. Fujitsu-Siemens (6/10)
4. Motorola (6/10)
5. Sony Ericsson (5.7/10)
6. HP (5.7/10)
7. Acer (5.3/10)
8. Lenovo (5.3/10)
9. Sony (5/10)
10. Panasonic (4.3/10)
11. LGE (4/10)
12. Samsung (4/10)
13. Toshiba (3.7/10)
14. Apple (2.7/10)

See: Greenpeace website

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We already analysed the green factor of television sets. Today, we’ll have a look at cell phones.
Greenpeace ranked “leading mobile and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers”.

Nokia scores a solid 7 out of 10. Sony Ericsson comes in second with a modest 5.3, leaving Motorola far behind (1.7).
Read more at Greenpeace.org

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