EPEAT® 2.0
Transformative Impact. Future Ready.
EPEAT 2.0 represents the next generation of leadership by deepening impact across supply chains, strengthening environmental and social performance, and setting a higher standard for transparency and accountability across the electronics industry.
EPEAT 2.0 criteria strengthen the foundation of credibility and impact established over nearly two decades while expanding impact across the full electronics value chain.
EPEAT 2.0 criteria currently apply to the following product categories: Computers & Displays, Imaging Equipment, Mobile Phones, Servers, and Televisions. Additional product categories may be transitioned to EPEAT 2.0 criteria later.
More Sustainable Products, Companies & Supply Chains.
EPEAT 2.0 criteria are designed to identify more sustainable products, built by sustainability-conscious companies with responsibly managed supply chains. We achieve this by establishing requirements not only for products, but also for the companies that make them, to drive requirements deep into the value chain and across supplier facilities. EPEAT criteria apply more broadly than to only final assembly factories.
EPEAT criteria address four key impact areas – climate change mitigation, sustainable use of resources (circularity), chemicals of concern, and responsible supply chains – across the life cycle of the product, from mining and manufacturing, to use, reuse and disposal.
Today, stakeholders are demanding more than just sustainability commitments and reporting against ESG metrics. They expect sustainability initiatives to drive measurable and strategic impact. EPEAT 2.0 helps both electronics brands and purchasers deliver on this. EPEAT 2.0 creates an incentive for more immediate action by companies making electronics as well as procurement professionals, investors, policy makers and other stakeholders.
Universal Modular Criteria
EPEAT 2.0 introduces a unified set of sustainability criteria that can be applied horizontally across multiple product categories, in addition to addressing those impacts that are unique to a specific product category. This modular approach increases agility, enabling EPEAT to address new technologies, emerging sustainability issues and purchaser demands more rapidly.
Deeper Value Chain Accountability
Over 40% of EPEAT 2.0 criteria now extend beyond final assembly to upstream supplier facilities, driving environmental and social performance improvements throughout the value chain.
Expanded Sustainability Scope
EPEAT 2.0 incorporates criteria on critical issues at the forefront of sustainability such as living wages, water stewardship, and the elimination of “forever chemicals” (called PFAS), alongside long-standing focus areas like energy efficiency and material use.
Enhanced Transparency & Credibility
EPEAT 2.0 criteria set a higher standard for transparency and accountability across the electronics industry by requiring public disclosure of key environmental and social attributes such as product carbon footprints and corporate greenhouse gas inventories, and critical minerals and chemical substances (including forever chemicals) found in products. Making more information publicly available is key to enabling responsible procurement, and to ensuring purchasers can make buying decisions that align with their own sustainability goals and values.
Ecosystem of Tools, Resources & Community of Practice
We recognize that adopting EPEAT 2.0 can represent a big lift for purchasers, participating companies and their value chains. We are developing an ecosystem of tools, resources and programs to aid organizations with this high-impact transition.
Guidance materials and FAQs have been developed to help purchasers and other stakeholders embed EPEAT 2.0 into their policies, framework agreements and tenders. We are also working to make it easier for purchasers to procure EPEAT 2.0 products from retailers and resellers through the GEC Retailer Program.
Given that over 40% of EPEAT 2.0 criteria extend deep into the supply chain, we also have launched the Supplier Engagement Program (SEP) for EPEAT that is designed to help suppliers of participating companies prepare for their growing role to implement EPEAT 2.0 criteria.
Please contact us to learn more about our tools, resources and community of practice.
