EPEAT, the leading global ecolabel for Information Technology (IT) products used by public and private sector purchasers in over 43 countries, launched an updated Computer and Displays product category on the EPEAT Registry.
EPEAT is managed by the Green Electronics Council (GEC), a non-profit whose mission is to achieve a world in which only sustainable IT products are designed, manufactured, and purchased. The EPEAT ecolabel currently provides purchasers access to over 4,000 sustainable IT products, more than any other IT ecolabel, in five different IT product categories: computers and displays, imaging equipment, televisions, mobile phones and servers.
The updated EPEAT Computer and Displays product category allows purchasers to search, compare, and select computers, including tablets, according to life cycle environmental and social impacts. All products within the updated Computer and Displays category must meet at least 25 environmental and social performance criteria, including the elimination of toxic substances, use of recycled and recyclable materials, product longevity, energy efficiency, as well as corporate social performance. Products have the choice to meet an additional 36 optional criteria.
“While computers have become more sustainable in the ten years since GEC first launched its first computer product category, the criteria of the updated Computer & Displays category show just how much more is possible. GEC celebrates those manufacturers who aren’t satisfied with the status quo and are actively working to put more sustainable computers and displays in the market,” says Nancy Gillis, GEC’s CEO.
Products from Dell, EIZO, Google LLC, Hewlett Packard (HP), Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung are already available in the updated category, with more brands becoming available over the next several months. The updated EPEAT Computer & Displays category criteria were developed through balanced voluntary consensus processes that emphasizes the involvement of sustainability advocates, manufacturers, purchasing professionals, government representatives, academics, and recycling providers.
Purchasers of updated Computers and Displays receive free environmental benefits calculations that quantify the positive environmental impacts associated with their decision to buy EPEAT registered products and can account for their purchase of updated EPEAT Computers and Displays in their CDP and GRI reporting.
GEC is launching the updated Computer and Displays category on SourceMap, the same platform that powers the Higg Index, which is the leading suite of tools for measuring social and environmental sustainability across the apparel, footwear and textile industries.
