Top 5 Articles for November 24 - 28, 2008

This week there has been a significant focus on e-waste and the environmental impact of manufacturing.  Significant reports on Chinese e-products manufacturing sector and the Greenpeace ranking for electronics manufacturers were released this week.  Across all articles there was a theme of calling for more action from electronics vendors.

1.  "China can reduce its environmental impact with changes to supply chain management" by David Runnals, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

"BEIJING—November 25, 2008—China can "dramatically mitigate" the environmental impact of its expanding economy by developing sustainable global supply chains in the forestry, cotton and e-product sectors, according to new research undertaken by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). [...]

In the case of e-products, Runnalls said the issue is more about what the rest of the world can do to help China deal with e-waste. "E-waste isn't just China's problem. Consumers of e-products need to work with China to develop an action plan for responsible trade and disposal of the waste.""

While the whole report discusses many aspects of sustainability, the report specifically related to e-products can be viewed on-line at Sustainable Electronics and Electrical Equipment for China.

2. "Greener Electronics – Major companies fail to show climate leadership" Greenpeace

"International — The latest edition of our Guide to Greener Electronics has revealed that very few firms are showing true climate leadership. Despite many green claims, major companies like Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Apple are failing to support the necessary levels of global cuts in emissions and make the absolute cuts in their own emissions that are required to tackle climate change.

Of the 18 market-leading companies included in the Guide, only Sharp, Fujitsu Siemens and Philips show full support for the necessary cuts of 30 percent for industrial nations by 2020. Only HP and Philips have made commitments to make substantial cuts in their own emissions. All the other companies in the Guide make vague or essentially meaningless statements about global emissions reductions and have no plans to make absolute emissions cuts themselves. With the need for deep emission cuts becoming ever more urgent it's vital big companies support a global deal and take effective measures now to reduce their overall emissions."

The latest full report can be accessed at The Guide for Greener Electronics.

3. "After the Layoffs: Collecting 52,000 Laptop and Desktop Computers" by Scott Ferguson, eWeek

"The announcement this week that Citigroup will eliminate 52,000 jobs and with other large companies also looking at layoffs, IT departments are going to be forced to deal with hundreds and even thousands of desktops and notebooks that are no longer at use. While the task is daunting, there are several options out there for IT administrators, including recycling older PCs, repurposing desktops and notebooks for those employees who remain, and even donating the unused desktops and laptops."

A succinct summary of the five steps offered by the eWeek article can be found at "How to Deal with E-Waste from Company Layoffs".

4. "'Green' gadgets need better labelling, report says" by Elsa Wenzel, CNet News

"Unclear product labeling prevents many consumers from buying affordable, energy-efficient electronics, and companies making "greener" goods aren't getting proper credit, according to a report released Monday."

An executive summary of the report referred to can be downloaded from the GreenFactor Study website.

5.  "IT Vendors Failing to Capitalize on Low-Carbon Market" Sustainable Life Media

"Nov. 7, 2008 - The global IT industry has been slow to embrace the business opportunities presented by climate change, despite strong market demand for new technologies such as "smart" buildings and remote conferencing, according to a new Gartner/WWF survey."