Guidelines for Environmental
Sustainability for the ICT
Sector
Sustainable Products
Thomas Okrasinski (Alcatel-Lucent)
Shailendra Mudgal (BIOIS)
Contributors:
Alcatel-Lucent, BIOIS, BT, Climate Associates, Datec,
Dell, Ernst & Young, ETNO, Huawei, Imperial College,
IRCPhoNeT, ITU, MicroPro Computers, Microsoft, PE
International AG, RIM, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
(Pisa), StEP Initiative, Thomson Reuters, UNEP Basel
Convention, UNU, Vodafone Ghana
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Sustainable Products
Best Practices Guidance Standard




Provides technical guidance on environmentally conscious design principles
and best practices as to how ICT companies can provide products that are
more “environmentally conscious” throughout their full life cycle
Initial version focuses on the environment. Future input will need to
encompass social and ethical aspects for sustainable design.
Standard covers 3 main areas:
 ICT network infrastructure equipment (NIE)
 ICT customer premises equipment (CPE)
 ICT life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies, standards, life-cycle
thinking approaches, estimators, tools, databases
Key criteria used to select the guidance principles and best practices:
 Designer-based: the principle / practice is within the scope of a
product designer
 Actionable: the principle / practice proposes a means for improving the
design
 Broad-ranged: the principle / practice applies to a broad range of
products within the ICT sector
 Best-in-Class: the principle / practice focuses on creating the best
solution possible
November 2011
Committed to Connecting the World
Sustainable Products
Best Practices Guidance Standard
November 2011
Committed to Connecting the World
Sustainable Products
Best Practices Guidance Standard
Document layout:
Scope
General References to Other Standards / Work Streams
Best Environmental Practices
General Principles and Guidance
Specific Guidance
Product Value / Lifetime Extension
Energy Efficiency
Substances and Materials
Emissions
Batteries
Product Packaging / Packing
Designing for End-of-Life Treatment
Checklists
Metrics
November 2011
Committed to Connecting the World
Sustainable Products
Best Practices Guidance Standard
International Standards:
 ECMA-341 (4th Edition, December 2010) - Environmental Design Considerations for ICT
and CE Products
 ETSI – Environmental Engineering (EE); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of ICT equipment,
networks and services: General methodology and common requirements (finalized on 7
October 2011).
 IEC TC-111 – “Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and
systems”.
 ISO 14044:2006 - Environmental management - Life cycle assessment – Requirements
and Guidelines
 ISO 14062:2002 - Environmental management - Integrating environmental aspects into
product design and development
 ISO 14067 – Greenhouse gases – Carbon footprint of products (under development). The
standard will consist of two parts: Part 1 for quantification of carbon footprint; and Part 2
for harmonization of methodologies for communicating the carbon footprint information.
 ITU L1410: Methodology for environmental impacts assessment of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) goods, networks, and services (pending finalization in
late 2011).
 ITU L1420: Methodology for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions impact
assessment of Information and Communication Technologies in organizations (pending
finalization in late 2011).
November 2011
Committed to Connecting the World
Sustainable Products
Best Practices Guidance Standard
General guidance:
 Ensure inputs and outputs in the product life cycle do not cause environmental
degradation or adversely affect human health by:
 specifying the cleanest source of energy
 specifying non-hazardous and otherwise environmentally “clean” substances,
especially in regards to user health
 specifying clean production processes for the product and in selection of
components
 installing protection against release of pollutants and hazardous substances
 ensuring that wastes are water-based and biodegradable
Specific guidance:
 Product Value / Lifetime Extension: improve durability of the product and components
by:
 improving aesthetics and functionality to ensure the aesthetic life is equal to the
technical life
 ensuring minimal maintenance and minimizing failure modes in the product and
its components
 specifying better materials, surface treatments, or structural arrangements to protect
products from dirt, corrosion, and wear
November 2011
Committed to Connecting the World
Sustainable Products
Best Practices Guidance Standard
General Energy Efficiency Measures:
 Be aware of the product life cycle phase that will consume the most energy.
The intended use patterns of the product, including its typical system
interactions, need to be considered. Where possible, the designer should strive
for improving the overall system performance with respect to energy efficiency.

The designer should enable the most energy efficient “on-modes” and
transitions to “energy saving- modes” as the default modes. The end-user
should be made aware of this and instructions on proper use of available energy
saving controls and/or settings should be provided to the end-user.

Software is highly relevant for the overall energy efficiency of a system. The
designer should balance the flexibility of software running on
multipurpose devices and the energy efficiency of special purpose
hardware. Consider power saving modes and peak energy shaving
opportunities. The key will be to make sure that service and/or functionality is
not adversely affected when the system goes into and later recovers from sleep
or peak-shave mode.
November 2011
Committed to Connecting the World
More information
 Additional partners and contributors are needed and
encouraged to become part of the project
 Contact: Cristina Bueti (cristina.bueti@itu.int)
 http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/ess/index.html
November 2011