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Eco-Labels Galvanize Trade Unions

An eco-label which currently appears on over half the computer monitors sold in the world today has extended its reach to over 7000 products yielding estimated cuts of more than 25 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Originally developed in 1992 by the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (whose acronym is TCO), the eco-labels have become world trend-setters for meeting the UN’s goals for greener consumption set at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Trade unions are interested in the “4Es”: Ergonomics, Ecology, Energy and Emissions. The TCO labels are now a visible trade-mark on computer monitors, printers, keyboards, headsets and office furniture as proof that standards have been verified for the uses of chemicals, energy efficiency, radiation exposure, health and safety, and ergonomics. Many of the companies applying the label are well-known brand names such as Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu Siemens, Philips and Samsung.

Jan Rudling of TCO points out that unions have been promoting stricter power-down and standby requirements for computers through the newer TCO’03 label, used in connection with the US-based ‘Energy Star’ programme for energy efficiency. “We need smarter equipment such as automatic power-down for TVs when nobody is watching and we need to replace unnecessary travel with low power consumption telephone/video conferencing.”