A sustainable IT certification body has called for the channel’s help in scotching the myth that the energy efficiency of products reigns supreme when it comes to sustainability.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, TCO Development Director Clare Hobby said too many IT buyers are focused on the energy IT products consume, rather than their lifespan or associated supply chain emissions.
“We need the channel to be smart on sustainability,” she said.
“We get so many buyers thinking the most sustainable thing they can do is buy the most energy-efficient product.
“We need the channel to advise them that there’s not a whole lot of difference [in energy efficiency], and that they really need to plan to use the products for a longer period of time and say ‘here are some certified products that are going to enable you to do that in a secure and high-performance way’.
Stricter criteria
Stockholm-based TCO Development is the organisation behind TCO Certified, a sustainability certification for IT products (with around 3,500 products currently certified). Its criteria target issues in the four key areas of climate, substances, circularity and the supply chain, with certified products required to meet all criteria.
Hobby’s plea came after TCO Certified tightened its certification criteria in areas including supply chain (for instance around use of renewable energy in manufacturing) and product lifespan.
“Laptops are designed to last,” Hobby said of the latter.
“The problem is that there’s still a lot of planned obsolescence in the software and security updates, so we’ve put in criteria for those supported lifetime software and security updates to be a minimum of five years, and a minimum of five-year warrantees available on those products.”
At the same time, TCO Certified has widened the range of IT products it certifies to include more tech including speakers, keyboards and webcams (adding to the pre-existing categories of displays, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, desktops, all-in-one PCs, projectors, and headsets).
The first IT products from the likes of Asus, Dell, Eizo, HP, Lenovo, Philips and Samsung have now achieved certification under these stricter criteria.
“We’re really enabling the user and the channel to push for extended life, keeping the products out of landfill and making real change for the climate,” Hobby said.
“People are very focused on product carbon footprint. But really what we need to do is drive actions to get those greenhouse gas emissions down in the supply chain where they happen.
“We need the channel to step up here, and advocate for the more sustainable choices that are right in front of them.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
