2022 December 12

Opportunity to Comment on Eco-Label Criteria for Corporate ESG Performance

In June Electronics Watch released ‘State of Sustainability Research for Corporate ESG Performance: The Electronics Industry'. The report supports the Global Electronics Council to revise the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) criteria for corporate ESG performance. EPEAT is a global ecolabel for the IT sector. The GEC has now released its draft Corporate ESG Performance criteria for public comment.

Comments must be submitted before 11:59pm ET on Monday, January 9 2023. We encourage all stakeholders, including public buyers, trade unions, and other civil society organizations, to submit comments. Comments will be reviewed by a committee which includes two members of the Electronics Watch Board of Trustees.

The Electronics Watch research identified six key areas for criteria development: (1) supply chain transparency, (2) monitoring and reporting, (3) remedy and remediation, (4) freedom of association, (5) living wage, and (6) occupational health and safety. In each area, we identified best practices by public buyers, companies, and other ecolabels.

EPEAT certified products must meet a set of required criteria. Products are rated Bronze, Silver or Gold based on the number of additional optional criteria they meet. Depending on the content of this set of optional criteria, public buyers can potentially help raise the bar for ESG performance by requiring highly rated EPEAT products.