Greenpeace gores Microsoft in "green chart"

 

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Posted on 27 Nov 2007 at 12:55

Greenpeace has released its quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics, and it makes grim reading for some of the world's leading companies, including Microsoft and Nokia.

While Nintendo anchors the list, Microsoft fares only slightly better and is criticised by the environmental group for setting too long a timeframe on its promise to eliminate toxic chemicals from its products.

"Apple said 2008 [for eliminating toxic chemicals from its products], most of the PC manufacturers: Dell, Acer, Lenovo said 2009, and these companies make a lot of products," comments Iza Kruszweska, a Greenpeace International campaigner.

"Microsoft has two lines, Zune and Xbox, so 2011 is a long time. We acknowledge they've set a date, which is positive, but they score lowly for not being ambitious enough."

However, Kruszweska remains positive that Microsoft will be climbing the guide before long. "It has to be said Microsoft responded very quickly when we informed it about the ranking. It organised a conference call, and wanted to find out what sort of criteria we would be looking at in the guide. It did quite a lot of work on its website, added a list of substances that were banned, and made what changes it could in the timeframe."

"What tends to happen is that the company goes to its supplier and tries to work out a reasonable timeframe to implement the measures. That's the reason we added TVs and games consoles to the list this year. The more companies we have going to their suppliers the more chance we have to move the market," she notes. "My suspicion is the date will change."

Nokia slips down list

The guide also had some bad news for Nokia, which tumbled from the top berth to the middle after being penalised for corporate misbehaviour concerning its takeback program in the Philippines, Thailand, Russia, Argentina and India.

The mobile phone giant claims to offer a voluntary takeback program in these countries, despite a lack of legislation, however Greenpeace found the veracity of these claims questionable.

"What they say on the website is not what they practice in reality. Their staff in these countries knew nothing about the takeback program. We're just asking companies to train their staff, so that they now about these things. Companies shouldn't be under any illusions that we won't check up on their claims of green greatness."

Author: Stuart Turton