Eco Rating
ECO rating — At Vodafone, we aim to build a digital society that enhances socio-economic progress, embraces everyone and does not come at the cost of our planet. To empower our customers to make more environmentally conscious choices together with other operators in Europe we are introducing Eco Rating, a harmonized scoring system for mobile devices, when shopping online or in store. Eco rating evaluates the impact smartphones and featurephones make on our environment throughout the entire lifecycle of the device. There will be an overall score that is easily accessible and shows the impact the device has
on the environment and society. Products with the highest score (from 1-100) are particularly sustainable and environmental friendly.
Beside the overall score meaningful sub-scores are shown that are in particular interest for the customer. These include but not limited to durability, reparability and climate efficiency that are evaluated during the eco rating process. Here the durability aspects indicate the expected guaranteed lifetime of the device and the components, the battery life as well as the device robustness. The possibility of simple repairs (due to modularity/building block principle) as well as the time span for software updates from the manufacturer are captured in the reparability sub-score. The climate efficiency comprises many factors such as
raw material extraction, the production of the device including the use of recycled plastics, minerals and metals and the avoidance of unnecessary parts (e.g. plastic,charger) in the box.
Scoring system
Eco Rating is a harmonized environmental scoring system for smartphones.
This environmental and sustainability impact is evaluated during the entire process of material extraction, production, transport, use and disposal of your mobile phone.
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Durability
The robustness of the device, the battery life and the guarantee period for the device and its components.
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Repairability
The ease with which the device can be repaired. The higher the score, the lower the typical repair cost.
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Recyclability
How well the device components can be recovered and disassembled, the provided information to allow it, and how well materials can be recycled.
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Resource efficiency
Assesses the amount of scarce raw materials required - for example, gold for the manufacturing of electronic components. Lower quantities of materials used for the device result in a higher score.
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Climate efficiency
The greenhouse gas emissions of the device during its whole lifecycle. Devices that are more efficient on the electronics design score more highly.
The Eco Rating methodology
The Eco Rating tool uses the input information provided by manufacturers about the cell phones they design and produce, to evaluate the life cycle performance of the device. The evaluation is made combining 13 different environmental indicators and 6 different material efficiency criteria to obtain just one single score for each device being analyzed.
We have developed our methodology building upon knowledge and best practices gathered through previous environmental labeling systems, relevant standards and guidelines, such as EU guidelines, ITU-T, ETSI and ISO standards and introduced new parameters where appropriate.
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Raw materialsThis is the first stage that contains the implications of the recourses being extracted, e.g. in mines. Examples are gold needed for connectors, lithium needed for the battery, minerals needed for the cover, silicon for the integrated circuit and rare materials needed for the display. The more recycled materials and the lesser the amount of scarce resources used, the better the Eco Rating would be.
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ManufacturingManufacturing is the stage in which the different components of the mobile phone are produced and put together to become the finished product. This includes the packaging (plastic) and accessories (charger, cable). The main produced components of a mobile phone are the electronic board, battery, display, touch-panel, antenna, camera(s) and cover. The Eco Rating will verify the impaction of that stage for C02 emission, energy consumption and many other environmental categories.
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TransportOnce the device assembly is finished, the product is shipped from “somewhere” in the world to your local country. The distance and the transportation types (ship or plane) are considered and its implication (e.g. C02 emission) are carefully evaluated.
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Usage and Spare partsDuring this stage, you hold the device in your hand and use it for many years. Here we assess the positive environmental capabilities of its device such as durability, upgradability and reparability but also its implication such as energy consumptions/charging.
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End of lifeThis last stage looks after the environmental aspects when you decided to “throw away” the device in the recycling bin. This includes if the devices can be easily refurbished or if its metals and the plastics can recycled.