Organizations using TCO Certified to procure IT products now have a new way to measure their sustainability impact. Report Generator is a web-based reporting tool that presents verified data and claims about certified products.
The tool is currently a beta version. The data is correct, but functions and user interface will be further developed in the coming months.
Reports compiled by Report Generator cover three areas: carbon emissions, material use, and socially responsible manufacturing. Using Report Generator helps your organization measure and communicate your progress toward key sustainability targets such as reduced climate impact, waste reduction, and worker protection in the supply chain.
The tool is designed to support regular measurement and reporting processes. Data is presented year-on-year, which helps you monitor progress over time. For improved accuracy, reports are customized to your organization in terms of purchased products, quantities, expected service life, and region.
Report Generator is free to use. Contact our purchaser support team if you have questions about the tool or want to know how TCO Certified can help you purchase more sustainable IT products.
Measurements of product carbon footprints has been a difficult topic to address in sustainability reporting. The scope 3 carbon emissions which is the emissions happening outside your own organization is the most difficult part to calculate, and for a typical notebook computer this makes up more than 80 percent of the total footprint. The reason it’s difficult to calculate scope 3 emissions is that the supply chains of most IT products are very complex making it both difficult to know the supply chains as well as getting specific data from the parts you know.
Currently there is no standardized way of doing the product carbon footprint calculations, leading to that the same product will get completely different results depending on the tool and method used for the calculation. To avoid this problem the Report Generator builds on average scope 3 calculations for different product types which has been calculated by researcher Justin Sutton-Parker. The method used for the calculation is described in his research article “Is sufficient carbon footprint information available to make sustainability focused computer procurement strategies meaningful?”.
The scope 2 emissions in Report Generator are calculated based on tested Energy Star Typical Energy Consumption (TEC) parameters in combination with the energy mix data from Electricity Maps in the country where the products are used.
Since most of the carbon footprint of IT products generally takes place in the manufacturing and supply chains, the most important action for purchasing organizations who want to lower their carbon footprint is to find different ways of prolonging the life length of the IT products they use. This can be done by increasing the use time of the first user or finding a second user in the same organization. Report Generator calculates the yearly carbon footprint based on the chosen scenarios.
