Environmental Leader

In the 8th edition of “Guide to Greener Electronics” published by Greenpeace, only Sony and Sony Ericsson score more than 50 percent in the organization’s rankings of companies based on their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and take-back, Greenpeace reports. Nintendo and Microsoft are on the fast track to summer school after taking home this report card.

New to this edition are criteria to assess the impact of electronics companies on climate change.

Apple did not advance its score because Greenpeace says it did not improve the environmental performance of its iPhone. Dell scored poorly while Toshiba, Samsung and LGE scored zero, or close to zero on climate change criteria.

Among game console makers, Microsoft dropped to the second lowest ranking in the guide with a low score on climate criteria. Nintendo’s score increased even its relatively energy efficient Wii console doesn’t meet Energy Star minimum energy efficiency standards for PCs and consoles.

Companies ranked in the report include Nintendo with the lowest ranking of 0.8/10, Microsoft (2.2), LG Electronics (3.3), Fujitsu-Siemens (3.7), Philips (3.7), Lenovo (3.9), Sharp (3.9), Apple (4.1), HP (4.3), Motorola (4.3), Panasonic (4.3), Acer 4.3), Toshiba (4.3), Dell (4.5), Samsung (4.5), Nokia (4.8) and Sony Ericsson (5.1).

In its May report “Playing Dirty” (PDF), Greenpeace said scientific analyses carried out in its own labs detected hazardous chemicals in Wii, Sony’s PlayStation 3 Elite and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.