Microsoft also less than green

Jan 8, 2010 08:46 GMT  ·  By

Greenpeace, the organization that fights against hazardous practices when it comes to the relation between companies and the environment, has issued another edition of its “Guide to Greener Electronics” and the news for videogame-related companies is not too good.

In an age when concern for the state of the planet is becoming more and more important for customers, Nintendo still has the rather dubious honor of being the least environmentally friendly electronics maker with rival Microsoft also dropping two places to become the second worst company this year.

Greenpeace uses a wide variety of elements to judge where a company is placed, including how chemicals are managed, the use of PVC, how the companies talk about their carbon footprint, the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency and how recycling is handled. While Microsoft and Nintendo are near the bottom of the chart, Sony is placed rather well, sitting in seventh place in the Greenpeace study, two places behind Apple.

Casey Harrell, who is a spokesperson for Greenpeace, said that “It’s time for a little less conversation and a lot more action on removing toxic chemicals. Apple is leading and HP is playing catch up, but the lack of action from other companies is ensuring that customers and the environment are still losing out.” Actually, the greenest company when it comes to electronics is Nokia, the cell phone manufacturer. Too bad it is not also working on a videogame console.

As time goes on and as the desire for green products extends beyond food and transportation, companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will be forced to adapt and make sure that they deliver consoles that are well rated by entities like Greenpeace or risk being singled out by critics and shunned by consumers. It might not be long before we see the launch of a Green Console movement putting even more pressure on the manufacturers.