Next Generation TCO Certified – draft criteria released

The organization behind TCO Certified, TCO Development, publishes a new generation of criteria and verification methods every three years. The upcoming release is the most ambitious to date, focusing on improvements in the product life cycle phases where the criteria can have the most impact. The aim is to engage the IT industry in taking yet another step forward in a sustainable direction.

“We see a trend where design is prioritized higher than durability and function which lead to a shorter life span for IT products. E-waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream today. It’s more important than ever to handle the sustainability risks that IT products bring”, says Andreas Rehn, Certification Manager at TCO Development.

“However, there is a positive development in that brand owners increasingly take responsibility for sustainability issues. Being able to offer certified products that are independently verified to meet sustainability criteria is a competitive advantage. Many organizations procuring IT products want to be environmentally and socially responsible and meet national and international sustainability goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals”, in a way that they can stand behind.”

TCO Certified is a global sustainability certification for IT products. Certified products are independently verified to meet comprehensive environmental and social criteria throughout the life cycle. The certification is available for eight product categories: displays, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, desktops, all-in-one PCs, projectors and headsets.

With the new generation of TCO Certified, changes have been made to the criteria documents, making them easier to read, and easier to apply for certification.

“When we develop new criteria, our ambition is to make them applicable to as many product categories as possible. In the draft for generation 8, the majority of the criteria are the same for all product categories, which makes it easier for brand owners that want to certify more than one product type”, Andreas Rehn says.

Industry and other interested stakeholders have until May 31 to comment on the proposed new and updated criteria. The draft will be presented in webinars on April 11-12. Between 9 – 19 April, we will conduct a series of workshops in Taipei, Shanghai and Shenzhen (China) and Yokohama (Japan) where participants have the opportunity to learn at first hand about the draft and ask questions. We will also be available for one-on-one meetings on request, in connection to the workshops.