According to Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, Sony ranked number one amongst the console manufacturers, scoring a 5.5 out of 10. They were able to move up two spaces to Rank #5, with Greenpeace citing Sony as having good chemicals management. Microsoft and Nintendo ranked behind in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, amongst the console manufacturers. Nokia ranked #1 overall.
Here’s the quote from the Greenpeace document, which can be downloaded as a PDF here.
“[Sony] gains points on the energy efficiency of its products by reporting that all new models of TVs released in 2008 meet the latest ES requirements, and 45% of new models of “VAIO” PCs launched July 2007 to November 2008 meet the ES requirements for PCs. Sony still has room for improvement on the other energy criteria; it scores points for disclosing externally-verified greenhouse gas emissions for over 200 sites and committing to absolute cuts in GHG emissions; it needs to set a target and timeline for increasing its use of renewable energy globally.
Sony does relatively well on chemicals, its score boosted by having models on the market that are partially free of PVC and BFRs, including three models of video recorders and many models of the VAIO PC, “WALKMAN”, camcorder and digital camera. It still needs to set a timeline for eliminating all phthalates, beryllium copper and antimony and its compounds.
On waste issues, Sony scores relatively well for its voluntary take-back and recycling of the e-waste generated by its branded products, although not much in non-OECD countries. It reports a recycling rate of 54% based on past sales of TVs and PCs, but this information is only for Japan and separate data need to be reported for TVs and PCs.”
