Ethical Consumer, Issue 181, Nov/Dec 2019

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g b s windows ad 91x137mm Ethical C dec 2018 FINAL.indd 1 14/12/2018 10:42 ETHICAL CONSUMER Editorial WHO’S WHO s we go to press, Extinction Rebellion (XR) are on the THIS ISSUE’S EDITOR Tim Hunt streets again demanding action from our government PROOFING Ciara Maginness (Little Blue Pencil) WRITERS/RESEARCHERS Jane Turner, Tim Hunt, on the issues of climate change and ecological Rob Harrison, Anna Clayton, Joanna Long, collapse. Josie Wexler, Ruth Strange, Mackenzie Denyer, AThe guides featured in this issue (laptops, desktops, mobile Clare Carlile, Francesca de la Torre, Alex Crumbie, phones and networks) also provide a reminder as to why we Tom Bryson REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Simon Birch, Colin Birch need political as well as consumer action to tackle these and DESIGN Tom Lynton other problems. LAYOUT Adele Armistead (Moonloft), Jane Turner One of the big issues we cover in the guides is that of conflict COVER Tom Lynton minerals. This is the perfect example of where concerted action CARTOONS Marc Roberts, Andy Vine from companies, driven by legislative change, can bring positive AD SALES Simon Birch real-world improvements. The Dodd-Frank Act in the US has SUBSCRIPTIONS Elizabeth Chater, Francesca Thomas seen companies forced to better monitor and account for the use PRESS ENQUIRIES Simon Birch, Tim Hunt of conflict minerals in their supply chains, and this has had an ENQUIRIES Francesca Thomas impact on the funding of conflict in the DRC (read more on page WEB EDITOR Sophie Billington 13). THANKS ALSO TO Marlous Veldt, Merle Büter, This law only came about due to a concerted effort from civil Haneen Hameed society groups such as the Enough campaign. We only hope that All material correct one month before cover date the efforts from XR will be equally successful in pressurising our and © Ethical Consumer Research Association Ltd. ISSN 0955 8608 government into taking more radical and ambitious action on the environment. Printed with vegetable ink by RAP Spiderweb Ltd, c/o the Commercial Centre, Clowes Centre, Another two examples of where government action is much Hollinwood, Oldham OL9 7LY. 0161 947 3700 needed also feature heavily in our guides: those of e-waste and PAPER 100% post-consumer waste, chlorine-free the use of toxic chemicals. It is clear from our research that the and sourced from the only UK paper merchant majority of companies are failing to take either issue seriously supplying only recycled papers – Paperback enough. In the case of e-waste, several companies are actively (www.paperbackpaper.co.uk) working against proposed initiatives for reducing consumer RETAIL DISTRIBUTION is handled by Central Books on 0845 458 9911. waste (see page 22). At the same time, toxic chemicals continue Ethical Consumer is a member of INK to be used in many consumer electronics often without any (independent news collective), an association of targets to reduce or phase them out. More encouragingly radical and alternative publishers. though, there are civil society groups working to take practical www.ink.uk.com and political action on the issue of e-waste, and we feature the We are a Living Wage employer, a multi-stakeholder European-wide Right to Repair movement on page 35. co-op, and Fair Tax Mark accredited Outside of our guides, another key issue that demands an immediate and concerted effort from government, companies and civil society is the protection of the Amazon rainforest. Recent months have seen a level of destruction that is unprecedented in recent years. This has been enabled by a right-wing government but is also, ultimately, of benefit to some global companies. From soy traders to fast food outlets, the ever- increasing demand for soy and beef continues apace. As we discuss in our feature on page 40, some companies and ABOUT THE ADVERTISERS financial institutions have started to boycott various sectors of ECRA checks out advertisers before accepting their the Brazilian economy. These efforts though, while more than ads and reserves the right to refuse any advert a token gesture, are unlikely to be enough to bring sufficient COVERED IN PREVIOUS PRODUCT GUIDES pressure on the Bolsonaro government for it to need to Abundance (172), Co-operative phone & change direction. The EU meanwhile has begun to broadband (145), Kingfisher Toothpaste (165), apply more concerted pressure on the country, Mooncup (180), Natracare (180), Plamil (169), Vegetarian Shoes (162), Windmill Organics (166). and long may this continue. OTHER ADVERTISERS Bhopal Campaign, Egni Co-op, Green Building Store, Juno, Infinity Wholefoods, Investing Ethically, New Internationalist, War On Want, Womankind.

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ethicalconsumer.org 3 Generate Clean Energy SHARE OFFER now OPEN Invest Tackle Climate Change 4% r etu r n in community INVEST FROM £50 solar power www.egni.coop · [email protected] · e g n i co-op 01639 830870 · From the award-winning Awel Co-op team ETHICAL CONSUMER Contents

6 FEATURE SHOPPING GUIDES

42 Torching the Amazon Computers Which brands are linked to the 12 Introduction Amazon fires 13 Conflict minerals 42 14 Laptops Score Table & Best Buys

15 Toxic chemicals 16 2-in-1 laptops Score Table & Best Buys

16 Workers’ rights 18 Desktop computers NEWS Score Table & Best Buys 19 Companies behind the brands 06 F ood & Home How climate-friendly is your council? 20 E-waste Free vegan milk? Good Fish Guide. Plastic. Whaling. Stop arming Israel. Mobile phones 08 Boycotts 24 Introduction Calls on Microsoft to withdraw from 26 Score Table & Best Buys facial recognition technology. The teenagers making Alexa. 27 Sustainability labelling 29 The Fairphone 09 Clothes 24 XR at London Fashion Week. 29 Companies behind the Underpaid in Manchester. G7 Fashion brands Pact.

11 Climate Mobile networks Climate strike. Rejecting oil 30 Introduction sponsorship. 30 Tax avoidance 35 Beyond consumerism 32 Score Table & Best Buys Right to Repair. 33 How to switch provider What is 5G? 38 Tax justice Public support for Wealth Tax. The 34 Companies behind the struggle for tougher reforms. brands 39 Money Customer Union success. Wind farm 30 opportunity. Carbon divested funds. 11 REGULARS

23 Christmas gift subscriptions Give a gift that lasts all year.

37 Ethical Novice Trials and tribulations of trying to be ethical: Laptops

44 Letters A regular forum for readers’ views

46 Inside view A Green New Deal and the global south

ethicalconsumer.org 5 NEWS Food & home

said. “These are the way forward as we Sainsbury’s and Unilever to cut challenge our throwaway culture. “We believe solutions to the plastic pollution problem must focus on reducing plastic by 50% by 2025 single-use packaging altogether, with an Both Sainsbury’s and Unilever have “Sainsbury’s should prioritise these emphasis on prevention and a wholescale recently said that they will cut their solutions rather than switching to other transition into reusable solutions.” use of plastic in half by 2025. But types of throwaway packaging and we The announcements come after the campaigners fear that they will stand ready to help them achieve this publication of a new report by the House just replace it with other single-use ambitious goal.” of Commons Environment, Food and packaging rather than reducing Elsewhere the Environmental Rural Affairs Committee. Entitled ‘Plastic packaging and using reusable options Investigation Agency (EIA) welcomed Food and Drink Packaging’, the report such as refills. Unilever’s promise to halve its use of new expresses disappointment at Government Louise Edge, head of Greenpeace UK’s plastic by 2025 and to collect and reuse inaction to tackle the root causes of plastic ocean plastics campaign, said: “Last year more plastic than it sells. They also urged pollution and unnecessary single-use we ranked UK supermarkets on their the company to achieve this via a whole- packaging, criticising the lack of focus on plastic policies and Sainsbury’s came last scale reduction in single-use packaging reducing plastic food and drink packaging in the league table. and a shift away from the throwaway in the first place. “This commitment from Sainsbury’s to business model. Bio-based and biodegradable plastics cut plastic by 50% by 2025 is a victory for EIA Ocean Campaigner Juliet Phillips do not necessarily break down in the the 95,000 plus customers who lobbied urged Unilever to ensure its drastic natural environmental any faster them to do better on plastic. plastic cuts are not met by substituting than conventional plastics and can “We commend Sainsbury’s for one form of plastic for another, such as contaminate waste recycling streams. listening and recognising that huge bioplastics or plastics containing recycled Increasing the recycled content of plastic reduction and bringing in refillable content. plastic is an important step in creating packaging at scale are vital to tackling the “It is promising to see Unilever commit a circular economy but, given the gulf plastic pollution crisis. to develop reuse and refill solutions,” she between existing recycling facilities and the ever-increasing demand for single-use plastics, a focus on recycling alone cannot Legal challenge to include vegan milk in meet the scale of the problem faced. Many zero-waste solutions already schools on par with cow’s milk exist, such as packaging-free shampoo bars, loose tea and liquid cleaning Nurseries that do not offer a vegan Jeanette Rowley, The Vegan Society’s products which customers can buy at alternative to cow’s milk as part of legal advisor, said: “Law regulating the refill stations in supermarkets and zero their free milk schemes are “indirectly provision of milk for young children is waste shops. discriminating against” children, the in urgent need of reform to recognise Vegan Society has said. current scientific evidence on nutrition The Vegan Society published a legal and a growing consumer trend away from GOOD FISH GUIDE opinion in September challenging the dairy products. The Marine Conservation Society has Department of Health to include fortified “Public authorities are under a general just launched new ratings for its Good plant milk in its Nursery Milk Scheme. duty under the Equality Act 2010 to avoid Fish Guide, which provides insight into Parents have also criticised the discrimination; by limiting the Nursery which seafood to avoid and which to Nursery Milk Scheme, which was Milk Scheme only to cow’s milk, the look out for in order to shop and eat established in the 1940s and offers free Department of Health are failing in that more sustainably. cow’s milk to children under five in duty. Top of the list of UK caught or nurseries, because they have to pay for “We are urging the government to farmed fish to avoid is cod. North Sea their child’s vegan milk. include fortified plant milk in its milk cod has had a troubled history and, schemes nationwide, to despite years of work to bring it back ensure vegan children to sustainable levels, the state of the are catered for with a stock has once again declined to a nutritionally adequate and worryingly low level. Look for cod from delicious milk alternative.” the North East Arctic or Iceland instead. The environmental Similarly, there are no rivers in benefits of plant milks are England or Wales where salmon stocks widely known, with even are meeting conservation targets and the most environmentally only 28% of rivers in Scotland are doing damaging types being so. Only consider salmon from Grade 1 better for the planet than rivers in Scotland or look for UK organic dairy milk (see graph on farmed salmon. left) See all the fish to avoid and more Look out for our sustainable options from shopping guide to plant www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search milks early next year.

6 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 NEWS Food & home HSBC: stop arming Israel A national day of action targeting HSBC was held on 14th September and called on the bank to stop arming Israel. HSBC invests in and provides financial services for companies supplying military technology and weapons to Israel, which the Israeli military has used to commit suspected war crimes and systematically violate international law. This includes investments of nearly £100 million in the company Caterpillar. On July 22nd 2019, for example, Caterpillar equipment was used in what Amnesty International has labelled a war crime in the demolition of Palestinian homes in Sur Baher, East Jerusalem. The first whale, a minke, killed in Japan's first commercial whaling hunt in 30 years.

In September © EIAimage the Trade Union Congress (TUC) First whale killed in Japan’s new commercial National Conference overwhelmingly pirate whale hunt passed a motion that The whaling industry killed 2.9 million This is the first of an estimated 227 included a call for an whales in the 20th century. In 1982, whales due to be killed in the country’s end to arms trading the International Whaling Commission first openly commercial hunt. with Israel. (IWC) agreed a moratorium on Humane Society International’s Meanwhile the commercial whaling to come into force President Kitty Block said: “This is a PSC union took action outside DSEI – the from 1986, a momentous decision that monstrous violation of global norms. world's largest arms fair – to call on the undoubtedly saved several species from In direct violation of international UK Government to #StopArmingIsrael extinction. standards and law, Japan has opened a Despite the success of the moratorium, new and infamous era of pirate whaling. Japan, Norway and Iceland have Abandoning its decades-long charade TAKE ACTION continued commercial whaling and of harpooning whales under the guise of l Tell HSBC to stop supporting the international trade in whale products – science.” arms trade with Israel – as well as mounting relentless pressure https://palestinecampaign.eaction. on the IWC to overturn the whaling ban. online/HSBC-End-your-complicity In December 2018, Japan announced l Palestinian cyclists are also calling it would leave the IWC to commence TAKE ACTION on British Cycling to drop HSBC as commercial whaling outside the a sponsor. Email British Cycling at organisation’s jurisdiction from July 2019. Tell Japan to stop whaling by signing https://palestinecampaign.eaction. The first minke whale in Japan’s the HSI petition – https://action.hsi. online/BritishCycling controversial new whale hunt was landed org/page/40639/action at Kushiro port, northern Japan, on 1 July. Revealed: The most climate-friendly councils Wiltshire has topped the table of the authority is, how their area compares to Local authority league table most climate-friendly councils in similar places, and what climate action England and Wales, according to new is most needed. Top 5 research released by Friends of the Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth 1 Wiltshire 92% Earth. chief executive, said: 2 Isle of Wight 88% FOE assessed councils in different “All local authorities, even the best 3 Northumberland 88% categories including renewable energy, performing, need to ramp up what they 4 Somerset West and Taunton 88% public transport, lift-sharing, energy are doing. We know we are facing a 5 Basingstoke and Deane 84% efficiency at home, waste recycling, and climate and ecological emergency that tree cover to find an overall winner. threatens our existence and the natural Bottom 5 Most local authorities are doing far too word. If we want to change things for the 1 Dudley 44% little, and even the better performing ones better, let’s start at home. 2 Rossendale 44% can do much more. Find out how climate-friendly your 3 Pendle 40% The new research enables people to local area is: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/ 4 Ribble Valley 40% look up how climate-friendly their local climate-friendly-communities 5 Spelthorne 40%

ethicalconsumer.org 7 NEWS Boycotts Microsoft invests in facial recognition for Israeli checkpoints

cameras for the Israeli military inside the West Bank, which are used to survey the local Palestinian population. Human Rights Watch has also called on Microsoft to review its financing of the company based on the “human rights risk associated with the investment in a company that’s providing [facial recognition] technology to an occupying power.” AnyVision also supplies technology in Russia and Hong Kong, where human rights abuses have been widespread. Microsoft’s investment breaks its own principles on face recognition software, BDS has stated, which prohibit “the use of facial recognition technology to engage in unlawful discrimination”. Critics say it In June, Microsoft made a multi-million- Microsoft to withdraw its funding from a is another sign that Microsoft is pushing dollar investment in AnyVision, whose company that it says is profiting from the the technology while promoting itself as surveillance technology is used in repression of Palestinians. taking a more progressive stance than Israeli check-points in the Occupied Technology produced by AnyVision is rivals like Amazon and Facebook. Palestinian Territories. The investment being installed in checkpoints throughout Amazon had also received criticism for has been condemned by Human Rights the West Bank where new ‘identification allowing its own technologies to be used Watch. The Boycott, Divestment, and inspection stations’ are being for the surveillance of migrants in the Sanctions (BDS) movement is calling on constructed. AnyVision also maintains USA.

Students forced to work at night to meet Amazon production targets

Villain of our ongoing boycott for tax had no choice, I could only endure this.” avoidance, Amazon hits the news again It is not the first time that the for violations in its supply chain. company has been found to be exploiting Hundreds of teenagers in China have temporary employees. Foxconn’s use of been asked to work nights and overtime student interns was similarly criticised in to meet production targets for making 2013. Amazon’s Alexa devices, in violation of In 2017, Amazon agreed a new deal Chinese law. with the company to add 15 production In August, interviews and leaked lines to the factory and hire thousands documents from the Amazon supplier of new recruits for the production of its Foxconn showed that over 1000 school Alexa-based Echo and Echo Dot devices as students have been employed, often well as its Kindle tablets. for over two months, to assist in peak Since then, Foxconn has been accused production periods. of avoiding hiring permanent members of In China, the employment of over-16s staff by using well over the limit of agency as factory ‘interns’ is legal, but they are workers permitted by Chinese law. It has not allowed to work nights or overtime. also been accused of asking workers to do However, documents leaked to China overtime beyond the legal 36 hours and Labour Watch show that Foxconn was failing to pay the legal wage for it. unable to meet production targets without Its recent hiring practices show it students accepting overtime and that is continuing to cut costs through its those who refused were sacked by the exploitative hiring practices. One of company. the recently leaked documents states it Xing Fang, 17, told the Guardian recruited student interns, “to fulfil the that she complained after her working shortage of the labour force and lower the hours were increased from forty to cost of labour recruitment”. sixty hours a week, including overtime, Foxconn’s student interns are paid just “But the manager notified my teacher £1.93 an hour including overtime and and the teacher said if I didn’t work add-ons, compared to around £2.29 for an overtime, I could not intern at Foxconn experienced agency worker – to produce of the factory’s workforce – more than and that would affect my graduation and devices that cost from £50 in the UK. They double the amount allowed by Chinese scholarship applications at the school. I were also found to make up over 20% law.

8 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 NEWS Clothes XR at London Fashion Week: No more ‘business as usual’

Extinction Rebellion stage a funeral at the London Fashion Week finale in September. © Ben Darlington

A few hours before the opening show the ‘ugly truth’ of the industry which an end to the industry in its current form. of London Fashion Week in mid- is “one of the most polluting industries 200 people, most of them with funeral September, Extinction Rebellion in the world”. According to the Ellen outfits and black veils, joined the funeral activists staged a ‘die-in’ outside the McArthur Foundation, the industry with two coffins at its centre. One read central venue. Buckets of fake blood has an annual carbon footprint of 3.3 ‘RIP London Fashion Week 1983-2019’ were used to symbolise how ‘business billion tonnes of CO2 and is forecast to and the other ‘Our Future’. However, the as usual’ in the fashion industry is significantlyincrease. movement Fashion Revolution argues contributing to the extinction of life on Protests continued throughout London that shutting down Fashion Week is not a earth. Fashion Week. On the final day, XR productive solution. The aim should be to The aim of the climate rebels was to organised a funeral march and demanded make fashion sustainable and ethical.

Low wages a nation-wide G7 Fashion Pact needs to go further

problem in the UK At this year’s G7 Summit global leaders turned their attention to the Low wages paid to some garment workers in fashion industry with a G7 Fashion Pact involving 32 global brands. Leicester have been under the spotlight recently. Including a number of ‘Science-based targets’, the pact is aimed Now, a report by Homeworkers Worldwide has at reducing the impacts the clothing industry has on our climate, shown that the problem is more widespread, biodiversity and oceans. having found similar working conditions in Greater Unfortunately, a note added to the document does not exactly inspire Manchester. confidence that this will be anything more than the usual empty promises: The report stated: “Although only an initial “The Fashion Pact is based on the collective ambition of CEOs to commit overview, this report does document concerning to sustainability targets that are needed to bend the curve on climate, evidence that workers are paid at rates well below biodiversity and fight against the pollution of our oceans. The document is minimum wage. not legally binding and can be seen as a set of guidelines.” It also provides an anecdotal example of the ways Indeed, a number of well-known campaign groups, including Clean in which a worker’s irregular immigration status can Clothes Campaign and Fashion Revolution, have already raised significant leave them vulnerable to further exploitation. concerns over how meaningful this new pact is. As fast fashion increases incentives for production Fashion Revolution spoke to a number of their internal experts to get that is located closer to UK markets, there is a danger their views on the matter: “We have just 11 years left to halt irreversible that these trends will only increase.” climate change. However, the pact states that they (20% of the fashion Read the full report at www.homeworkersww.org. industry) aim to achieve net zero by 2050. This will be too little too late.” uk/resources

ethicalconsumer.org 9 CAPITAL AT RISK. INVESTMENTS ARE LONG TERM AND MAY NOT BE READILY REALISABLE. ABUNDANCE IS AUTHORISED AND REGULATED BY THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY (525432).

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According to results from a YouGov poll, more than three in five people in the UK think that addressing climate change requires a ‘high’ or ‘extremely high’ level of urgency. Two-thirds of people support limiting air travel in order to address it, with only 22% feeling that we do not need to do so. And just over half support reducing the amount of meat in our diets to address it, with only 37% feeling that we do not need to do so. The poll was commissioned by a new UK research group – the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) – which aims to become a global hub for the social

and behavioural changes needed for a the Earth of © Friends low-carbon and sustainable society. It is a collaboration between Manchester, York THE CLIMATE STRIKE and East Anglia Universities, as well as the On Friday the 20th September, Ethical Consumer joined 7 million people worldwide charity Climate Outreach. striking for the urgent and necessary end to the age of fossil fuels and climate Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, injustice. Over 4000 events took place in 150 countries around the world. Director of the Centre, said: “Changing We called, and continue to call, on the governments to act because, while travel and food habits are amongst the individual consumer choices will be able to play an important part in tackling most impactful things individuals can do climate change, they will never be enough on their own. We need people to to reduce their carbon footprint – it’s very join together into movements and leverage the power to shift corporations and encouraging that there’s support amongst governments. the public for making these changes.”

Arts organisations severing ties with oil companies

In early October, the Royal Shakespeare Aurora, Greenpeace’s giant polar bear puppet the size of Company finally severed its eight-year a double-decker bus. Aurora sponsorship relationship with BP. This remained outside Shell’s HQ followed a big fight, with Mark Rylance, for a month to protest at the company’s plan to drill in the who had been an associate artist with Arctic. At the end of her stay, the RSC for 30 years, resigning his Shell announced that they position over the issue, saying that BP’s would end all oil-drilling in the Arctic. sponsorship deal allowed the company to “obscure the destructive reality of its activities”. The RSC said that it was opposition from young people that was one of the clinching factors: “Central to our organisational values, is that we listen to and respond to the views of young

people. Each year we actively engage © Greenpeace 500,000 children and young people with Shakespeare’s plays … It is with all of this House, the British Museum, Science smuggled a Viking longship and a 40-foot in mind that we have taken the difficult Museum and National Portrait Gallery. sea monster into the British Museum. decision to conclude our partnership with All of them have faced pressure from A protest, in February 2019, featuring a BP at the end of this year.” activists to drop the deals. 200-metre fabric banner was the largest The National Theatre has since split Indeed, activist theatre group ‘BP protest at the museum to date. with Shell, declaring fears of “catastrophic or not BP?’ intend to do a performance Other organisations are also rejecting environmental collapse”. protest at the British Museum on the the fossil fuel pound including a Swedish This puts more pressure on the 23rd November and have launched a newspaper that recently announced it will remaining arts institutions that have crowdfunder to pay for the building of a stop taking adverts from oil companies. sponsorship deals with major fossil fuel giant Trojan Horse to bring to the protest. The crowdfunder can be found at www. companies, including the Royal Opera In previous actions the group have crowdfunder.co.uk/trojan-horse

ethicalconsumer.org 11 SHOPPING GUIDE PCs and mobile phones

TOM BRYSON and ALEX CRUMBIE log in to the world of consumer PCs and mobile phones.

n the following guides, we rank the This industry of excess is having impact on the planet. Companies like biggest brands in the PC and mobile negative consequences at every stage of Fairphone have emerged to meet this phone industry according to their a product’s lifecycle. Exploitation and new demand and are showing that an ethical policies and performance. violence currently go hand-in-hand alternative business model can succeed. IWe also look at some lesser-known with the extraction of many minerals, Meanwhile, grassroots communities are companies that are offering more labourers are overworked and underpaid seeking changes to both people’s attitudes sustainable alternatives. We focus on in the product assembly, and workers and the law, to allow a more sustainable four products: laptops, 2-in-1 laptops, are often poisoned by toxic chemicals if relationship to grow between society and desktop PCs and mobile phones. devices are inappropriately disposed of. its technology. Technology is fast-moving and Meanwhile, all stages of production also innovative by nature, and perhaps lead to rising carbon emissions and are nowhere is this more pronounced than contributing to the destruction of our in the computer industry. In 1970, environment. Gordon Moore predicted that the overall However, as the world awakens to the processing power for cutting-edge urgent need to curb our consumption, computers will double every two years (he we have started to called this Moore’s Law). Nearly 50 years see the beginnings of development since has proved him of a counter-trend. right, as engineers continue to find new More consumers are and incredible ways of cramming more demanding products and more power onto smaller chips. that last longer and Inevitably though, exponential have a less damaging growth has proved unsustainable for people and the environment. The ever- increasing complexity of the computers and phones we use demands more and more energy and labour to produce. Resources must be extracted, processed and refined before being assembled into components and, eventually, the final product. Rising demand for exciting new products at low prices means that new devices are produced and consumed at a staggering rate PC is – as many 6 billion smartphones are estimated to be in circulation by 2020. ow our IT

A fully referenced version of this Product Guide is on our website

12 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 PCs and ethics: a system error?

In this guide we investigate, score and rank the ethical and environmental record of 15 brands producing desktop PCs, laptops and 2-in-1 laptops.

Conflict minerals an important and necessary step. If the UK leaves the EU, it should ensure that it To build the components that make up upholds this legislation. a computing device requires a plethora Both the US and the proposed EU laws of raw materials. Among these are a are based on the OECD Due Diligence number of metal elements that are Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains commonly sourced in the Democratic of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and Republic of the Congo, where the mining High-Risk Areas, which sets out five key trade has, for many years, been used steps a company should follow: to fund brutal conflicts, notably in the Eastern regions of the country, as well Establish strong company as in neighbouring states. Various 1management systems. paramilitary groups fight for control of small-scale artisan mines, Identify and assess risk in the where grave human rights abuses 2 supply chain. including forced labour and child labour are commonplace Design and implement and the money raised funds 3a strategy to respond to further violence, exploitation identified risks. and corruption. Conflict minerals have, for a Carry out an independent long time, been defined by policy 4third-party audit of supply makers under the umbrella term chain due diligence. 3TG: tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold. ? In recent years it has frequently been Report annually on supply suggested that the trade in cobalt, of 5chain due diligence. PC is which 75% of the world’s supply is mined Mining for cobalt in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo.

in DRC, is similarly linked to conflict Ethical Consumer expected all PC and © Fairphone in the region. However, cobalt is not smartphone manufacturers to have specified in existing conflict minerals an adequate policy addressing conflict legislation. their supply chains for tin, tungsten, minerals regardless of whether they These five chemical elements are tantalum and gold that may be sourced were bound to do so by law. To get our widely used in electronic and electrical from the DRC or surrounding countries. best rating, these companies were devices including PCs and mobile phones: To comply, companies must conduct required to list specific examples of how tantalum is commonly used for capacitors ‘due diligence’ checks to ensure that the they had carried out the five steps above, on circuit boards, tin in solder, tungsten is smelters and refiners which process rather than simply referring to them. used in phone vibration mechanisms and 3TG minerals have adequate processes Of the companies included in our PC gold is in connectors – although each has in place to avoid financing conflict in the guides, the US companies Apple, HP, Dell, multiple other uses. Cobalt is widely used region. Alphabet and Microsoft were obliged to ow in the production of batteries. In 2017, the EU passed legislation that report on conflict minerals under section In the United States, the Dodd-Frank will require EU businesses to ensure that 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, and all five Act came into force in 2012 and requires 3TG minerals are sourced responsibly. were found to meet the criteria for our your I all publicly listed companies to check This will come into force in 2021, and is best Conflict Minerals rating. Paramilitary groups fight for control of small-scale mines, where grave human rights abuses are commonplace

ethicalconsumer.org 13 SHOPPING GUIDE Laptops

USING THE TABLES Environment Animals People Politics +ve USING THE TABLES Ethiscore: the higher the score, the Positive ratings (+ve): better the company. Scored out of 14. Plus up to 1 extra point for Company Company Ethos: Ethos and up to 5 extra points for = full mark Product Sustainability. e E = half mark Green (good) = 12+ Product Sustainability: Amber (average) = 11.5–5 Various positive marks available Red (poor) = 4.5–0 depending on sector. H = worst rating h = middle rating = bes t rating/no criticisms found Best Buys are highlighted in blue

BRAND 14 + 6 extras) (out of Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Change Climate & Toxics Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Animal Testing Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Chain Management Supply Marketing Irresponsible Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Finance Anti-Social Ethos Company Sustainability Product COMPANY GROUP iameco D4R [S] 12 H HH 1 MicroPro Computers VeryPC 9 HHH HH Very Innovative Group Asus 8.5 h H h H h H H ASUSTek Computer Inc MSI 8 HHH HH H Micro-Star International ACER 7.5 H h h HHH h H Acer Inc Fujitsu [T] 7.5 h H H H H h h H H 1 Lenovo Group Lenovo [T] 7.5 h H H h h H H h h H 1 Lenovo Group HP [T] 7 h h h h H H h h H H H 1 HP Inc Dell [T] 6.5 h h H H H H h H H H 1 Dell Technologies Fujitsu 6.5 h H H H H h h H H Lenovo Group Huawei 6.5 HHH H H h HH Huawei Investment & Holding Lenovo 6.5 h H H h h H H h h H Lenovo Group Apple MacBook 6 H h h H H h h H H H Apple Inc HP 6 h h h h H H h h H H H HP Inc Dell 5.5 h h H H H H h H H H Dell Technologies Microsoft Surface 5.5 h h H H H H h H H H Microsoft Corporation Toshiba 4.5 h H H H H H h h H H H Toshiba Corp Samsung 3.5 H h h H H H H h H H H H Samsung Group

All the research behind these ratings is on www.ethicalconsumer.org Definitions of all the categories are at www.ethicalconsumer.org/our- ethical-ratings. [T] = TCO certified models [S] = repairable and recyclable

m nsu er o .o c r l g Best Buys are decided by the editorial team based on the research we have undertaken, the scoring system and the unique

a insight into the issues that our editorial team has. 9 times out of 10 this will be the brand (or brands) that are top of the table but

h t sometimes an ethical company which is truly innovative scores less well on our rigid scoring system and we use the Best Buy and

e Y Recommended section to acknowledge this. BES T BU

Impact of policies This problem seems to have been the situation for miners in the DRC, with The effects of the Dodd-Frank Act and greatest between the time that Dodd- significant reductions in the proportion of related reforms on the situation in the Frank was announced in 2010, and tin, tungsten and tantalum mines under DRC have been debated. Some criticisms when the final rules were published in the control of armed groups (although this suggest that the measures caused 2012. The rules stipulate that companies trend has not been observed with gold companies to altogether avoid sourcing should continue to actively source from mines). minerals from the region, which led to the region to support a responsible, further destructive effects on the lives conflict-free mineral trade. Since then, Companies can go further and livelihoods of people. studies have shown improvements in Even by following the guidelines and legislation, it is difficult for companies to guarantee their products are ‘conflict- Conflict minerals rating free’, as complex supply chains mean tracing the origin of minerals is far from Best Middle Worst straightforward. However, companies like Fairphone are pioneering new ASUS, Acer, Apple, Dell, Toshiba Huawei, Micropro (iameco), Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, MSI, VeryPC, Samsung methods of ensuring their products Alphabet (Google) are conflict-free (see our Mobile Phone Guide on page 24).

14 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 m nsu er o .o c r l g

released at various stages i

h of a product’s lifecycle. The BEST t

e Y danger becomes acute after BUYS BE U the disposal of a device, when S T B plastics are often burned in incinerators or by workers in There were no brands awarded Best informal recycling operations, Buy status in this guide. releasing dioxins directly into We advise people to buy second the air. hand and refurbished where possible. Phthalates are a group See www.ethicalconsumer.org/ of chemicals often used technology/buying-second-hand-tech as a softener in PVC. Over time, they leak out of plastic materials into the surrounding environment and have been RECOMMENDED linked to a wide range of health problems affecting the liver, kidneys, lungs and iameco D4R is an unusual wooden- reproductive systems. cased laptop developed by a small In the European Union, Dublin-based company called Micropro. the RoHS Directive restricts Their models are free of harmful BFRs Many companies have been criticised for using PVC in the use of toxic substances and PVC and are built to be repairable their cables which these young workers in Africa burn in electronics, including and recyclable. off releasing toxic chemicals. © Greenpeace / Kate Davison / Kate © Greenpeace a number of BFRs and, as VeryPC is a small manufacturer of 2019, four phthalates. based in Sheffield, which offers high- However, the restrictions powered customisable laptops. Toxic chemicals do not extend to all chemicals in these More widely available are Apple and groups. Lenovo. Among the dozens of elements and Ethical Consumer rates electronics Apple has removed all BFRs and PVC compounds used in the production companies on their level of commitment from all of its models. Lenovo makes of electronic devices are numerous to completely phasing out PVC, BFRs TCO Certified models and is also a substances known to be toxic to human and phthalates. The three PC brands more affordable option. health and the natural environment. that received our best rating for the use Both score best for conflict minerals Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and of toxic chemicals – iameco, Apple and but worst for tax avoidance. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) Huawei – had committed to removing all are two substances often used in the PVC and BFRs from their entire product plastic parts of electronic devices. Both range. The companies that received our substances are known to produce harmful worst rating had either committed to by-products, such as highly toxic and reducing rather than eliminating these iameco carcinogenic dioxins, which can be substances, or had no public policy. D4R Toxic chemicals rating 12 Best Middle Worst Micropro (iameco), Apple, Acer, Lenovo, HP, Dell, VeryPC, ASUS, Fujitsu, MSI, Huawei Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Toshiba Samsung

TCO Certified is a sustainability label for IT products, which BRANDS TO AVOID takes into account a broad range of social and environmental factors in the lifecycle of a product. For a product to be MSI makes high performance PCs for awarded the TCO-Certified label, it must meet numerous the gaming market, but scores poorly on criteria relating to both the design and manufacture including ethics. It received our worst ratings for criteria on worker’s rights, conflict minerals, hazardous chemicals, its policies on toxic chemicals, conflict user health and safety, durability, and recyclability. minerals, environmental reporting and Of the companies featured in these guides, Lenovo, HP, Dell and Fujitsu offered its management of workers’ rights in the TCO-Certified PC models (including laptops, hybrids and desktop PCs). supply chain. On our score table, TCO-Certified products are awarded a Product HP scores well in some categories, Sustainability positive mark. To find out if a specific model has the label, we but is subject to a boycott by the BDS recommend using the Product Finder on the TCO Certified website — Movement for its connections to Israeli https://tcocertified.com/product-finder activities in the West Bank.

ethicalconsumer.org 15 SHOPPING GUIDE 2-in-1 laptops

BRAND 14 + 6 extras) (out of Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Change Climate & Toxics Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Animal Testing Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Chain Management Supply Marketing Irresponsible Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Finance Anti-Social Ethos Company Sustainability Product COMPANY GROUP ASUS Transformer 8.5 h H h H h H H ASUSTek Computers Inc Acer 2-in-1 7.5 H h h HHH h H Acer Inc Lenovo Yoga [T] 7.5 h H H h h H H h h H 1 Lenovo Group HP [T] 7 h h h h H H h h H H H 1 HP Inc Dell [T] 6.5 h h H H H H h H H H 1 Dell Technologies Lenovo Yoga 6.5 h H H h h H H h h H Lenovo Group HP Convertible 6 h h h h H H h h H H H HP Inc Dell 2-in-1 5.5 h h H H H H h H H H Dell Technologies Google Pixelbook 5.5 H h h H h H H H H H Alphabet Inc Microsoft Surface 5.5 h h H H H H h H H H Microsoft Corporation Toshiba 4.5 h H H H H H h h H H H Toshiba Corporation Samsung Notebook 3.5 H h h H H H H h H H H H Samsung Group

All the research behind these ratings is on www.ethicalconsumer.org Definitions of all the categories are at www.ethicalconsumer.org/our- ethical-ratings. [T] = TCO certified models

m nsu er o .o c r l g Best Buys are decided by the editorial team based on the research we have undertaken, the scoring system and the unique

a insight into the issues that our editorial team has. 9 times out of 10 this will be the brand (or brands) that are top of the table but

h t sometimes an ethical company which is truly innovative scores less well on our rigid scoring system and we use the Best Buy and

e Y Recommended section to acknowledge this. BES T BU

Working conditions Student ‘interns’ forced to work WHAT IS A 2-IN-1 overtime LAPTOP? and workers’ rights A common practice in Chinese assembly factories is the use of student ‘interns’, Inadequate working conditions are a many as young as 16, as a source of A 2-in-1 (also known as convertible persistent issue in the IT supply chain. cheap and flexible labour during busy or hybrid) laptop comes with a The vast majority of manufacturing periods. Schools, universities and touchscreen and a fold-away takes place in countries with fewer colleges are given contracts and teachers keyboard, so that it can behave more protections for workers. For example, are paid to accompany students to the like a tablet device. They usually many products are assembled in factories; they are sometimes asked to come with a full featured desktop factories in China, where there is a encourage uncooperative students into operating system like Microsoft huge and highly-skilled workforce accepting overtime. Windows or Google’s Chrome OS costing relatively little. Reduced costs Although the practice itself is not (rather than the mobile iOS or Android allow companies to meet growing illegal, Chinese labour law does place found on tablets). global demand for affordable high- restrictions on overtime and shift They typically do not come with tech products, but all too often it is the patterns for student workers. Despite the powerful spec that some high-end workers who pay the true cost. this, repeated reports by NGOs and laptops do (although there are some Conditions in Chinese electronics news publications suggest that the law is exceptions to this) but can be great factories have frequently made routinely ignored. if you need something portable for headlines for low wages, excessive In September 2019, Apple and Foxconn everyday tasks like writing documents working hours, forced overtime and were again forced to admit to violating and web-browsing. insufficient breaks, and the even the Chinese labour laws at the Zhengzhou limited labour laws that do exist are plant while producing the iPhone frequently violated. 11, when 50% of the workforce was

16 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 m nsu er o .o c r l g

h BEST t

e Y BUYS BES T BU

There were no brands awarded Best Buy status in this guide. We advise people to buy second hand and refurbished where possible. See www.ethicalconsumer. org/technology/buying-second- hand-tech

RECOMMENDED Chinese workers at Foxconn production facilities. © Thomas Lee/SACOM Lenovo Yoga TCO-certified models are a good bet. Lenovo scores best for FOXCONN conflict minerals and gets a middle Foxconn is the world’s largest provider of electronics manufacturing services. It for toxic chemicals and supply chain has manufactured products for many of the world’s largest IT brands including management. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, HP, Dell, Huawei, and many more. The Taiwanese contactor employs 873,000 people worldwide, including an estimated 450,000 at a single site in Shenzhen, China (known as Foxconn City), and has around 45 factories scattered throughout China. It is currently the Lenovo fourth largest IT company in the world by revenue (although it has recently been Yoga reported to be experiencing a downturn, in part due to an escalating trade war between the US and China). 7.5 The company has been the focus of numerous scandals relating to workers’ rights. Besides its frequent misuse of student labour (see Boycotts on page 8), it has become notorious for reports of worker suicides in its factories.

discovered to be made up of temporary can contain thousands of components workers and interns, even though Chinese and the network of suppliers can cover law caps the proportion of temporary many different companies across workers at 10%. multiple countries. This means that it Only a month previously, Foxconn’s is particularly difficult for a company Hengyang facility supplying Amazon to oversee conditions throughout its smart speaker devices, was also found to supply chain, and therefore especially BRANDS TO AVOID be making illegal use of student labour important for companies to have a strict (see Boycotts on page 8). code of conduct in place that demands Multiple other reports have been fair treatment of workers from its HP scores well in some categories, but is published of similar practices involving suppliers. subject to a boycott by the BDS Movement Foxconn, and other large Chinese Overall, none of the PC brands we rated for its connections to Israeli activities in suppliers such as Quanta, at factories in this guide met the criteria for our best the West Bank. supplying products for Apple, Sony, HP, rating for Supply Chain Management. Acer and others. The frequency and recurring nature of these reports suggests that companies must do more to make sure that their Supply Chain Management rating supply chain policies are adhered to. Best Middle Worst Inadequate industry policies on Apple, Huawei, Lenovo & Google, Samsung, VeryPC, supply chain management Fujitsu, Toshiba, HP, Dell, ASUS, Acer, MSI, Micropro IT product supply chains are necessarily Microsoft (iameco) complex; a computer or smartphone

ethicalconsumer.org 17 SHOPPING GUIDE Desktop computers

BRAND 14 + 6 extras) (out of Ethiscore Reporting Environmental Change Climate & Toxics Pollution Habitats & Resources Oil Palm Animal Testing Farming Factory Animal Rights Human Rights Rights Workers’ Chain Management Supply Marketing Irresponsible Arms & Military Supply Technologies Controversial Call Boycott Activity Political Finance Anti-Social Ethos Company Sustainability Product COMPANY GROUP iameco V3 [S] 12 H HH 1 MicroPro Computers VeryPC 9 HHH HH Very Innovative Group ASUS 8.5 h H h H h H H ASUSTek Computer Inc MSI 8 HHH HH H Micro-Star International Acer 7.5 H h h HHH h H Acer Inc Fujitsu [T] 7.5 h H H H H h h H H 1 Lenovo Group Lenovo [T] 7.5 h H H h h H H h h H 1 Lenovo Group HP [T] 7 h h h h H H h h H H H 1 HP Inc Dell [T] 6.5 h h H H H H h H H H 1 Dell Technologies Fujitsu 6.5 h H H H H h h H H Lenovo Group Lenovo 6.5 h H H h h H H h h H Lenovo Group Apple Mac/iMac 6 H h h H H h h H H H Apple Inc HP 6 h h h h H H h h H H H HP Inc Dell 5.5 h h H H H H h H H H Dell Technologies

m nsu er o .o c r l g Best Buys are decided by the editorial team based on the research we have undertaken, the scoring system and the unique

a insight into the issues that our editorial team has. 9 times out of 10 this will be the brand (or brands) that are top of the table but

h t sometimes an ethical company which is truly innovative scores less well on our rigid scoring system and we use the Best Buy and

e Y Recommended section to acknowledge this. BES T BU

The carbon cost of computers

The contribution of IT and the the product means it requires large Broadening the scope of reporting electronics sector to climate change amounts of energy to manufacture, The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is a growing problem, with studies although the quantities are difficult to defines a set of standards to assist suggesting that the production and use measure as a myriad of materials and companies with measuring and tracking of electronic devices will account for components need to be processed and their climate impact in real terms by 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions assembled by different companies along separating emissions sources into three by 2040, which equates to one half of a huge supply chain. categories known as Scopes. today’s global transport sector. Like the gadgets themselves, the issue is highly complex, with emissions Carbon emissions reporting occurring throughout the lifecycle of a product: resource extraction, multiple No emissions reporting Scopes 1 and 2 Scopes 1, 2 and 3 (best stages of manufacture, transportation, reporting) use and disposal all contribute Lenovo (including Fujitsu), Dell, HP, Apple, Acer, significantly to the climate impact of a VeryPC, Micropro (iameco) MSI, ASUS, Huawei* device. Microsoft, Toshiba, Google (Alphabet), Samsung The production stage is often the most significant – for smartphones, this has been estimated to account for *Reported limited data defined as Scope 3 such as employee travel, but did not include supply 80% of emissions. The complexity of chain or product-use emissions.

18 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 m nsu er o .o c r l g

Scope 1 covers direct emissions account for the largest share of a i

h produced by a company’s own facilities, company’s carbon footprint. This BEST t

e Y while scope 2 accounts for the emissions is particularly true for electronics BUYS BE U caused by electricity use of the company. manufacturers, where so much energy S T B Scope 3 takes into account “all other use occurs outside of each company’s indirect emissions”, including those direct control. There were no brands awarded Best produced in the supply chain, product Despite this, we found that not all Buy status in this guide. use and disposal as well as other companies we assessed measured and We advise people to buy second activities such as business travel. reported on scope 3 emissions. The level hand and refurbished where possible. Although much more difficult to of reporting by each company is shown in See www.ethicalconsumer.org/ measure, Scope 3 emissions generally the table opposite. technology/buying-second-hand-tech

TAX AVOIDANCE RECOMMENDED Ethical Consumer rated companies on the likely use of tax avoidance strategies based on whether they listed subsidiaries in countries or regions on our list of known tax havens. iameco V3 is an unusual wooden- Companies with two or more subsidiaries considered to be high-risk within cased desktop developed by a small these areas were given our worst rating, unless they published country-by- Dublin-based company called Micropro. country financial information, a policy statement or narrative explanation that Their models are free of harmful BFRs could explain a different purpose for these subsidiaries. and PVC and are built to be repairable Among the PC brands rated in this guide, all of the big multinational companies and recyclable. received our worst rating. Only the small alternative manufacturers VeryPC and VeryPC is a small manufacturer iameco avoided losing marks. based in Sheffield that offers a range of PCs at different price points. Its Tax Avoidance rating ‘Broadleaf’ range is PVC and BFR-free. More widely available are Apple and Best Middle Worst Lenovo. VeryPC, ASUS, MSI, Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo, Apple has removed all BFRs and PVC Micropro HP, Dell, Microsoft, Apple, Huawei, from all of its models. Lenovo makes (iameco) Google, Samsung TCO Certified models and is also a more affordable option. Both score best for conflict minerals but worst for tax avoidance. Companies behind the brands

Chinese giant Huawei is now the world’s second largest supplier of smartphones; it also produces laptops and tablets and provides various types of communications infrastructure. The company has made headlines recently for its controversial iameco contract with the UK government to supply 5G mobile internet networks, as well as V3 its central position in the trade dispute between Donald Trump’s US government and China. It has also frequently been accused of colluding with the Chinese government 12 to carry out mass-surveillance of its users – particularly as its CEO is a member of the Chinese communist party. However, there still appears to be a lack of conclusive evidence for such claims. Lenovo is headquartered in Beijing and incorporated in Hong Kong. Although the company was founded as Legend Holdings in 1984, the Lenovo brand was only established in 2004 and has since grown to dominate the global personal computing (PC) market, having enjoyed the largest market share since 2013. The company purchased the Motorola mobile phone brand in 2014 and now also controls the BRANDS TO AVOID majority share of Fujitsu Client Computing Limited, which makes Fujitsu branded PCs and laptops. MSI makes high performance PCs for iameco is a range of PCs, developed by a small Dublin-based company called the gaming market, but scores poorly on Micropro , claiming to be “the world's first ecologically sustainable computers”. They ethics. It received our worst ratings for have been designed with unusual wooden exteriors, and include the ‘D4R’ (or designed its policies on toxic chemicals, conflict for reuse) laptop, the ‘V3’ desktop PC, as well as wood-enclosed accessories such as a minerals, environmental reporting and mouse and keyboard. The company states that the models are designed for minimised its management of workers’ rights in the production waste, durability, ease of repair, disassembly and recycling. The products supply chain. are also stated to be free of harmful BFRs and PVC, and to have a lower than average HP scores well in some categories, carbon footprint across the product life cycle. but is subject to a boycott by the BDS At the time of writing, both PC models were limited editions that were no longer in Movement for its connections to Israeli stock, however, according to the company, both are expected to be back on the market activities in the West Bank. with upgrades by the end of 2019.

ethicalconsumer.org 19 SHOPPING GUIDE PCs and mobile phones

E-waste: toxic techno trash

When we talk about the ‘life’ of an ceramics. This array of materials means properly collected and recycled. Much of electronic device or gadget we tend to that properly disposing of devices is the rest ends up in landfills or in informal refer to the period of usefulness, the complicated and fraught with issues. ‘recycling’ operations in developing time where it’s in our hands, or on our As a global society, we are currently countries, where the toxic chemicals desks, serving its purpose. The reality accumulating electronic waste or e-waste used in production are released into the is that this is a brief period in the long at a rate of 50 million tonnes every year. surroundings causing untold damage to journey taken by any device, a journey About a quarter of this is IT equipment human health and the environment. which often begins and ends with the and screens (including televisions), and Meanwhile valuable minerals and exploitation of the world’s poorest. there are estimated to be over 100 million complex components, extracted at such An average smartphone, for example, additional used devices stored in the attics huge cost to the natural environment and may contain over 60 different types and drawers of homes across the world. human welfare, are wasted after only a of metals, mined in various corners Of this so-called ‘tsunami of waste’, short period of use. of the world, as well as plastics and around 20% is officially reported as E-waste exports As a global society, we are International exports of e-waste occur as part of a wider global waste trade currently accumulating that is sadly symptomatic of global inequality and overconsumption in the electronic waste or e-waste 21st century. Defective and unwanted items from at a rate of 50 million tonnes Western countries often end up on the shores of developing countries, mostly every year in Africa and Asia, where they may be

A worker sorts through a pile of computer e-waste in Longgang, China.

20 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 © Kate Davison | Greenpeace Davison © Kate A child in Accra, Ghana, runs next to a fire where electronic cables and other electrical components are being burned in order to melt off the plastic and reclaim the copper wiring.

repaired and sold on to be used again. publications and has been called “the Convention, is between African nations, Unusable items are taken directly to most toxic area on the African continent” and prohibits the import into Africa of any disposal sites where they are often and the “world’s largest e-waste dump” hazardous waste. dismantled and harvested for reusable with one documentary suggesting Despite the regulations, studies materials by local workers. Unlike in that it will “most probably be the final have suggested e-waste continues to be formal recycling centres, which use destination of the smartphone, the exported from the EU – a recent study expensive machinery to separate computer you buy today”. used GPS trackers to follow disposed materials from waste items, these These statements have been disputed, and non-functioning electronics devices informal ‘recycling centres’ are typically and some of the reports that focus on from several EU states to their final dumping grounds or warehouses in which Agbogbloshie have been accused of destinations. It found that around 6% of components are frequently smashed oversimplifying what is a complex global items ended up being exported, most apart and burned in the open air. This problem. Many other e-waste processing likely illegally, with the most instances releases harmful substances, such as sites exist across the developing world, originating in the UK. Other major dioxins and furans, into the air causing particularly in China and South East Asia. exporters such as the US have not ratified serious health problems in workers What is clear is that the toxic burden of the Basel Convention, and similar studies and local people who are exposed to the the products we consume in the West have suggested that as much as much as fumes, and other toxins seep into the soil has been shifted onto the world’s most 40% of the e-waste supposedly recycled and water supplies. vulnerable in a systematic way. in the U.S. was actually exported, mainly Perhaps the most notorious of Various laws have been enacted across to Asia. these ‘digital dumping grounds’ is in the world in a bid to stem the flow of toxic The sources of illegal exports are often Agbogbloshie, on the outskirts of Accra, waste to the developing world. The Basel difficult to trace due to complex waste Ghana, where a large scrap yard has Convention is an international treaty that disposal chains and trans-shipment developed next to a slum that is home to bans exports of hazardous waste, while networks, but it has been suggested around 100,000 people. The area and its China, India and Thailand have recently that items slip through the net by being association with e-waste has been the placed bans on e-waste imports to their labelled ‘repairable’ or ‘used’ goods rather subject of numerous documentaries and countries. Another treaty, the Bamako than waste.

ethicalconsumer.org 21 SHOPPING GUIDE PCs and mobile phones

Designed for the moving towards sealed units, where even the battery is not replaceable by dump? the average user. Much effort has been made in recent In 2018, Apple and Samsung were years to address the growing problem fined £10 million and £5 million of e-waste. NGOs and electronics respectively by the Italian authorities manufacturers frequently promote the for ‘planned obsolescence’ built into idea of a ‘circular economy’, whereby the their smartphones. According to Italy’s value of components and raw materials competition watchdog, operating system is retained in a ‘closed-loop’ system of updates, which users were encouraged production. Legislators have also made to accept, “caused serious malfunctions efforts to tackle the problem through and significantly reduced performance, Extended Producer Responsibility laws thus accelerating phones’ substitution”. such as the EU’s WEEE Directive, which Companies have also been found to use aim to make producers responsible for techniques such as gluing essential parts the products after use through take- of a phone or tablet together so, if the back schemes or through additional device was opened up, the parts would charges added to the market price. break; and copywriting schematics and manuals to keep them out of the In many ways, the public domain. In the US, E-waste problem is so-called right to repair legislation, inherent to the design intended to allow consumers to and consumption of repair their own devices more technological products easily, has been

repeatedly lobbied © Fairphone against by tech And yet, despite these efforts, e-waste companies. In April 2019, a right to Modular phones is the fastest growing waste stream in repair bill was put forward in California, the world, and is on course to double by only to be prematurely pulled following There are, of course, simple ways that 2050 at the current rate. In many ways, lobbying by Apple and CompTIA, a trade manufacturers could help. The concept the problem is inherent to the design organisation representing big tech behind a modular phone is that the user and consumption of technological companies. can easily replace the different parts products. It is reported that the within. So, if the camera or another part The relentless demand for lobbyist met directly with breaks, you can order another one and exciting new tech means that members of California's fit it yourself with no need to buy a whole new and more advanced devices State Assembly’s Privacy new phone or fork out large amounts of are released in rapid cycles – for and Consumer Protection money on repairs. example, in Western countries, Committee, which was Several years ago, Google began dipping we tend to use a smartphone considering the bill, its toes into the relatively uncharted water for around 24 months before arguing that consumers of modular phones with its Project Ara, but upgrading (although recent might be at risk of hurting scrapped the project in 2016, reportedly as reports suggest the trend themselves if encouraged part of a broader move by the company to may be starting to to open up their phones streamline its hardware products. Whether reverse). and attempt repairs a modular phone will be made by one of the themselves. The major firms is difficult to say. sponsor pulled the On the other hand, the Fairphone The right bill following this website listed 22 parts, or modules, that corporate intervention, users could purchase in order to replace to repair claiming that various parts of its Fairphone 3, from the Defective “manufacturers had display screen to the daughterboard. If you devices are sown enough doubt with search the websites of most of the major often simpler vague and unbacked mobile phone brands, such as Apple or to replace claims of privacy and Samsung, you will find little more on offer than to security concerns”, to add to your phone than a protective repair, with but stated that they cover. Modular phones have great potential smartphone, intended to continue to to improve the sustainability of the laptop and work on the bill with electronics sector, but it is in the interests tablet designs hope of passing it in of profit-hungry companies to keep us

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ethicalconsumer.org 23 SHOPPING GUIDE Mobile phones

Making the right call © Greenpeace

ALEX CRUMBIE examines n this guide, we have ranked 15 An exciting development, shortly one of the defining products mobile phone brands against our before the publishing of this guide, was ethical criteria. There are two the release of the Fairphone 3, the latest of our era: the mobile phone. stand out issues: conflict minerals model in the Fairphone line. It is this Iand the pollution and harm caused by phone that tops our list, and is really the electronics waste and manufacture, both only brand in our guide which truly aims issues are explored in more detail below to put people and environment before and on p20. profit.

A fully Fairphone is the only brand in referenced version of this Product our guide which truly aims to Guide is on our website put people and environment before profit

24 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 Conflict minerals

As we saw in our last guide to mobile phones (EC 163/2016), the market is very much split when it comes to conflict minerals. Some companies go to great lengths to make sure that they are sourcing potential conflict minerals responsibly, whereas others have made little progress. Fairphone leads the pack, having taken great measures to map out its suppliers, even down to the fourth tier. It is the first smartphone company to integrate Fairtrade gold into its supply chain and has also publicly disclosed a detailed list of its suppliers: 76 for the Fairphone 3. This level of public disclosure regarding a company’s supply chain is rare in any sector, but we argue it should be the norm. Conflict minerals miners as young as 11 in eastern Congo. However it isn’t an easy task. In Project. Sasha Lezhnev/Enough fact an article published by Fairphone demonstrates how it was not possible to effectively trace the supply chain of gold this to then be traded on the Exchange. Apple) both have very good conflict used in their phones beyond the Shanghai The example shows how a company can mineral policies, whereas two out of three Gold Exchange, where all component proactively overcome barriers to ensure of the European companies (Doro & HMD suppliers in China sourced their gold. To that its products do not support the Global) receive our worst rating – the compensate for this, the company pays conflict minerals trade. other European company, Fairphone, for an equivalent quantity of gold from Interestingly, the two American received our best rating. Publicly listed certified Fairtrade refiners and allows companies in this guide (Alphabet and US companies are required by the Dodd- Frank Act to report on the sourcing Conflict minerals rating of conflict minerals, but European companies have not yet been subject Best Middle Worst to the same legislative pressures. This highlights the importance of government Alphabet (Google), Apple, Motorola* Doro, HMD Global (Nokia), Fairphone, LG, Lenovo*, Sony HTC, Huawei, Samsung, TCL legislation in pushing companies towards (Alcatel, Blackberry), ZTE more ethical practices. We discuss conflict minerals in more * Motorola is owned by Lenovo Group, but Motorola had its own conflict minerals policy. depth on page 13.

HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE Supply chain management The smartphone has fast become an essential and almost unavoidable feature of modern life. In 2008, around 17% of people in the UK owned Good supply chain management systems are a smartphone, but a decade later that figure has reached 78%, and essential for upholding workers’ rights throughout reaches 95% for those aged between 16-24 years old. a company’s supply chain. This is especially It is clear that important in sectors such as electronics where many of us have production is primarily based in countries that lack something of an strong workers’ rights legislation, such as China. addiction to our As our findings show, most companies do not have smartphones. strong supply chain management policies: over half We check our received our worst rating, and only one company, smartphones Fairphone, received our best rating. For more every 12 minutes information on workers’ rights issues, see p16. of the waking day, while 65% of Supply chain management rating under-35s check it within the first Best Middle Worst five minutes of Fairphone Apple, Huawei, Doro, Google, HMD waking up. Lenovo & Global (Nokia), Motorola, LG HTC, Samsung, Sony, TCL, (Alcatel, Blackberry), ZTE

ethicalconsumer.org 25 SHOPPING GUIDE Mobile phones

Fairphone [S] 14 HH e 1 Fairphone B.V. Nokia 9 H H H HH HMD Global Oy Doro 8.5 HHH HH h Doro AB Alcatel 8 HHH HH H TCL Corporation Blackberry 8 HHH HH H TCL Corporation LG 8 H H H h h HH LG Corp HTC 6.5 HHH HHH h H HTC Corporation Huawei 6.5 HHH H H h HH Huawei Inv. & Holding Co. Lenovo 6.5 h H H h h H H h h H Lenovo Group Motorola 6.5 h H H h h H H h h H Lenovo Group Sony Xperia 6.5 h h H H H H h H H Sony Corporation ZTE 6.5 HHH HHH H h ZTE Corporation iPhone 6 H h h H H h h H H H Apple Inc Google Pixel 5.5 H h h H h H H H H H Alphabet Inc Samsung 3.5 H h h H H H H h H H H H Samsung Group

All the research behind these ratings is on www.ethicalconsumer.org Definitions of all the categories are at www.ethicalconsumer.org/our- ethical-ratings. [S] = repairable and recyclable

m nsu er o .o c r l g Best Buys are decided by the editorial team based on the research we have undertaken, the scoring system and the unique

a insight into the issues that our editorial team has. 9 times out of 10 this will be the brand (or brands) that are top of the table but

h t sometimes an ethical company which is truly innovative scores less well on our rigid scoring system and we use the Best Buy and

e Y Recommended section to acknowledge this. BES T BU

Toxic chemicals management

The majority of companies received our nor did we receive any response from BFRs or PVC. worst rating for their policies around Fairphone, regarding their policies Motorola stated that its “entire mobile the phasing out of phthalates, PVC and around these issues. For this reason, it device product range is now free from brominated flame retardants (BFRs). received our worst rating. brominated flame retardants (BFR) and In our last guide, Fairphone received Huawei and Apple were the only brands contains no PVC or phthalates.” However, our middle rating as it had made efforts to receive our best rating. Huawei stated as the company did not appear to have to reduce the use of PVC, phthalates and that it had banned the use of six harmful phased out these substances from their BFRs. But in the research for this guide, substances in its phones, tablets and other products, nor have targets for Ethical Consumer could not find any wearables, including BFRs, PVC, and doing so, it received our middle rating. information on the Fairphone website, phthalates. Apple also did not use any

Toxic chemicals rating TCO and smartphones

Best Middle Worst In the previous mobile phone guide (EC163), we gave a positive sustainability Apple, Huawei Alphabet (Google), Doro, Fairphone, HMD Global (Nokia), HTC, mark to any phones that were TCO Lenovo, Motorola, LG, TCL (Alcatel, Blackberry), ZTE Samsung, Sony certified, (for more on TCO certification, see p15). At the time, this was only the

26 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 m nsu er o .o c r l g

Samsung Galaxy Note 4. This time when mobile phones. Their demands, as large i

h Ethical Consumer searched the TCO purchasers of mobile phones, would carry BEST t

e Y Certified online database it found that no some weight so, in theory, they could put BUYS BE U mobile phones currently on the market pressure on network service providers to S T B were TCO certified. supply phones that meet sustainability This came as a surprise, especially certifications. So why is this not the case? Fairphone is our only best buy as the same database listed 182 TCO- “We have seen that many organisations company for this guide. The company certified notebooks, 133 desktops and purchase phones in a different way than leads the way when it comes to 7 tablets. Many of the materials and other IT products. For example, many a number of important issues, processes used to make computers and make a deal with the service provider notably conflict minerals, supply phones are very similar and so should be that allows the staff to choose a phone chain management and producing a easily certifiable in many cases. within a certain price range. Here it modular and repairable phone. We contacted TCO Certified asking would, of course, be possible to request Our other best buy why no smartphones were currently that the staff could only choose between recommendation is a second-hand accredited. TCO stated: more sustainable phones, but this is or refurbished phone. Creating new “One reason for the lack of often not considered. One reason could products always comes with an commitment from the smartphone be that the organisation considers it as environmental cost so it is more industry could be that the majority if it is purchasing a service rather than a sustainable to buy second hand where of smartphones are purchased by product. The focus is then on the monthly possible. individuals rather than through cost and conditions of the service rather procurement in large quantities by than the products.” professional buyers... This means that the TCO Certified suggests a simple way pressure on the industry is less powerful of trying to resolve this problem: service Fairphone and coordinated for this product group.” providers should have a section of their In the market for mobile phones, website dedicated to the sale of more 14 the network service provider acts as an sustainable phones. “This would make it intermediary between the end customer easier for a consumer or organisation who and the mobile phone brand. They are wants to buy a more sustainable product the most important customers for mobile and it would send a clear message to the phone brands, purchasing large numbers phone industry to start improving the of phones in order to sell them on to sustainability of the phones and to certify customers, usually as part of a network/ them to prove this.” handset bundle. The presence of an As there are currently no phones that intermediary actor means that there receive TCO certification, we recommend is less opportunity for end users to put opting for Fairphone. Greater demand direct pressure on mobile phone brands for Fairphone sends a message to other to improve sustainability, unlike in brands that sustainability is increasingly other electronics goods markets such as important for consumers. desktops and notebooks. A large organisation, such as a city council or a big business, that bulk buys Environmental impact RECOMMENDED desktops and notebooks for their staff will likely also provide their workforce with In the EU, around 211 million smartphones are sold annually. Our Although there are issues with Apple, insatiable hunger for new products is such as accusations of large-scale tax putting an ever-greater strain on the avoidance, it was the only company to environment, primarily through the receive our best rating for its policies demand for raw materials, the use of on both conflict minerals and toxic harmful chemicals, the creation of chemicals. waste, and the production of carbon. A 2019 study stated that the annual climate impact of all EU phone stock was 14.12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, with manufacturing, distribution and BRANDS TO AVOID disposal accounting for around 72% of a phone’s climate impact. The issues of conflict minerals and Extending the life of smartphones is toxic chemicals are particularly TCO and smartphones a vital way of reducing their impact. The important in the electronics sector. expected lifetime of a smartphone is three Try to avoid companies that received years, but extending the lifetime of all our worst rating for conflict minerals phones in the EU by just one year would and use of toxic chemicals: Doro, save 2.1 million tonnes of CO2 per year, HMD Global (Nokia), HTC, TCL the equivalent of taking over a million (Alcatel, Blackberry), ZTE. cars off the roads.

ethicalconsumer.org 27 SHOPPING GUIDE Mobile phones

Greenhouse gas categorising reporting into 3 different Buying second hand ‘scopes’. emissions As the table below illustrates, the As with nearly all goods, it is better to mobile phone companies in our guide purchase second hand than to buy new, The reporting of greenhouse gas are quite evenly split in regard to the as this does not increase demand for raw emissions has come to be regarded as extent of their reporting. It should be materials, nor require energy and labour an important step in the fight against noted that properly reporting emissions for manufacture. It could be argued climate change. Some companies, can be costly, so it is not particularly that, to some extent, the second-hand depending on their size and country of surprising that those companies with the phone market relies upon the over- incorporation, are required by law to lowest turnovers in our guide, Doro and consumption of those ever-upgrading report on their emissions, while others Fairphone, have not reported on their consumers in the new market. However, do so voluntarily. emissions. it is unlikely that avoiding second hand The Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides More on emissions reporting, including will discourage others from purchasing an international standard for reporting, what each scope entails, on p18. new phones. So, while there are perfectly good used phones available, it is Carbon emissions reporting advisable to purchase these if possible. Second-hand phones can be purchased No emissions Scopes 1 and 2 Scopes 1, 2 and 3 in a number of places. Many brands will reporting sell refurbished phones which come with a product guarantee. There are also Doro, Fairphone, HTC, Nokia Alcatel and Blackberry (TCL), Apple, Google (Alphabet), a number of sites on the internet that (HMD) Huawei*, LG*, ZTE Lenovo (and Motorola), sell second-hand phones. Or you could Samsung, Sony try to acquire one from one of the many people who have an old phone stashed *Reported limited data defined as Scope 3 such as employee travel, but did not include supply away in their drawer following their latest chain or product-use emissions. upgrade. For more info, see: www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/ buying-second-hand-tech

Recycling your old phone Your phone contains a host of precious minerals and materials and so it is important that these are recycled rather than ending up in landfill. There are many places you can recycle or sell your phone. Here are a couple of ideas: Oxfam offers to recycle old phones, laptops and other such devices. For more info, see: www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/ other-ways-to-donate/recycle-with-us Fairphone operates a recycling scheme for old phones. If you send a © Fairphone Fairphone’s partner in Ghana, Recell, phone that can be turned on, Fairphone recycle completely damaged phones that or other, you will receive money off the can’t be refurbished or used any longer. purchase of a Fairphone 3.

Tax avoidance MOBILES AND HEALTH The majority of companies in our guide received our worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies. The tax affairs There has long been concern about the effects of mobile of some of these companies, notably Apple and Google, have phone use on health. However, according to the NHS, been well documented. “research suggests it’s unlikely that mobile phones or base stations increase the risk of health problems.” However, they Tax avoidance rating do acknowledge that there is still uncertainty over the effects of long-term, decades-long use, and that more research is Best Middle Worst needed. The biggest risk of using a mobile phone is using it while Doro, Fairphone, LG, ZTE Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, driving, which can increase your chances of having an HMD Global Lenovo & Motorola, Samsung, (Nokia) Sony, TCL (Alcatel, Blackberry) accident by up to four times.

28 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 THE FAIRPHONE

Fairphone tops our rankings table by a long way and is our Best Buy for this guide. The Dutch social enterprise began in 2009 as a campaign around conflict minerals but, in 2012, it took the plunge and began actually producing phones. The organisation has spent years mapping its supply chains in order to ensure that the minerals in its phones have been responsibly sourced, and that labour rights are upheld throughout. On the company’s website, you can find a document that lists, with addresses and other details, all the manufacturers, smelters and refineries The Fairphone comes equipped with that the company has located within its a screwdriver tool so that it can be opened up and parts of it replaced, with supply chain. The company is leading spare parts available on the company’s

the way on supply chain transparency, website. © Fairphone which is essential if workers’ rights are to improve. publicly disclosed, measurable targets The Fairphone 3 It lost a whole mark under our is considered by Ethical Consumer to be The Fairphone is now in its third Environmental Reporting category an essential element of monitoring and iteration. The first two versions made because its report did not contain improving environmental sustainability. great gains in sustainability and ethics, at least two dated and quantified In our last guide, the company had but functionality was a problem for environmental targets. The setting of received an exemption in this category some users. The Fairphone 3, however, as it was considered to seems to have made great gains in the be providing a social and latter as well as the former. environmental alternative, At the time of writing, the Fairphone with an annual turnover 3, having only just been released, was of less than £10.2 million. receiving great reviews online, including However, by this guide, its a 4/5 from The Guardian, and a 10/10 turnover had just exceeded for repairability from iFixit. this threshold. It also lost The Fairphone comes equipped with a mark under our Pollution a screwdriver tool so that it can be and Toxics category because opened up and parts of it replaced, with the company no longer spare parts available on the company's appeared to have a policy website. relating to the phasing out of brominated flame retardants, Fairphone 3 is available from the phthalates or PVC. Phone Co-op.

Companies behind the brands

TCL Corporation is a Chinese business conglomerate founded in 1981, out of the ashes of TTK Home Appliances, a company which produced recording tapes. TCL Corporation lists five key subsidiaries on its website, with TCL Communication the business that deals with its mobile phone brands: Alcatel and Blackberry. Both brands are technically owned by other companies but produced under exclusive license by TCL: the Alcatel brand is owned by Nokia Corporation and Blackberry by Blackberry Ltd. HMD Global Oy is a relatively new company, established in 2016, but by 2017 was already posting revenues of €1.8 billion. The Finnish company is the exclusive licensee of the Nokia brand, although the brand itself remains a registered trademark of the Nokia Corporation. We have rated Nokia under HMD Global, and it is this change of ownership that accounts for Nokia’s score moving from 4.5 in the last guide to 9 in this guide. Prior to HMD, the Nokia brand was under the control of

ethicalconsumer.org 29 SHOPPING GUIDE Mobile phone networks Have the networks got ethics covered? JOANNA LONG and JANE TURNER look at who’s the best choice for your mobile phone network.

his guide looks at 15 mobile l The Phone Co-op is now owned by the Tax avoidance phone networks. The Big Four Midcounties Co-operative, which means (O2, EE, Three, Vodafone) have its Ethiscore drops from 12 to 5.5 (p. 32). Vodafone their own mobile network l There are two new virtual operators Not long ago, Vodafone was synonymous Tinfrastructure. The other 11 operators on the scene: Sky and Ecotalk. The latter with tax avoidance. In 2010, it was are called ‘Virtual Mobile Network is run by renewable energy supplier, accused of making a ‘sweetheart Operators’ (VMNO) as they provide Ecotricity, hence the ‘eco’ in the name. deal’ when it handed over £1.2 billion services by ‘piggy-backing’ on existing In our rating system, companies that to settle a row with HMRC over its infrastructure. have a licensing relationship (such as Luxembourg arm. In 2014, UK Uncut Apart from the very top and bottom piggy-backing) with another company protestors targeted Vodafone for paying of the score table, there is not much to will lose marks in categories where the no corporation tax since 2011. In separate most of the networks. Ecotalk partner company has received major 2014, it made a profit of £59.4 billion is the standout ethical brand, whilst criticisms. in the UK but paid no UK corporation three brands – Three, Tesco and ASDA – For example, Telefónica (which owns tax for the third year in a row. The languish at the bottom of the table. The O2) lost whole marks under Habitats finger was pointed at the company’s remaining 11 networks are separated by and Resources, Human Rights, Workers’ Luxembourg-based subsidiary, Vodafone only a few points. Rights, Political Activities, and Anti-Social Procurement Company (VPC), which the The major issue in the industry is tax Finance. Therefore, the networks using O2 company claimed to use for centrally avoidance, of which much more below. to provide mobile services (Lycamobile, managing strategic procurement and to We have focused on Vodafone, once TalkTalk, Tesco) lost an additional half ‘leverage scale and achieve better prices synonymous with tax avoidance, and mark in each of these categories. and terms’. Critics pointed out that the Lycamobile. They appear near the top of In the same way, companies using the company “funnelled revenues through the score table, but this position belies EE network lost additional half marks the country to avoid tax in Britain”. their still dubious tax practices. under Pollution & Toxics, Human Rights, Vodafone’s initial response to these Arms & Military Supply, Political Activities accusations was to complain that the and Anti-Social Finance. protesters didn’t understand tax, that What’s changed?

In one sense, not a whole lot has Who piggybacks on whom? changed since we last looked at mobile phone networks two years ago. The Big The table below shows the networks used by each VMNO and what effect this Four (EE, O2, Vodafone, Three) continue relationship had on the network’s Ethiscore. to dominate the market overall and EE Virtual Mobile Network Service still has the biggest individual market Operator provider Negative Effect on Ethiscore share (23%). EE Nil – ASDA-Walmart’s own Ethiscore is 0 But look further down into the minor ASDA placings and there have been some BT Mobile EE Nil – BT owns EE changes and rearranging: Ecotalk EE -2.5 l The People’s Operator went bust in February 2019. Lycamobile O2 -2.5 l TalkTalk mobile remains in name only: TalkTalk O2 -2.5 they are no longer accepting The Phone Co-op EE -2.5 new mobile customers A fully Plusnet EE Nil – Plusnet is owned by BT which owns EE referenced and instead are offering version of existing mobile or Sky Mobile O2 -2.5 this Product broadband customers Guide is on Tesco Mobile O2 Nil – company is a Joint Venture between our website access to special deals Tesco and Telefónica with their network EE -2.5 partner, O2. Virgin Mobile

30 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 the company was a major investor in the UK (such as in 3G and 4G infrastructure, from which Vodafone directly benefited) and a major source of direct and indirect employment. The following year, however, Vodafone became the first multinational to publish country-by-country financial data and it now provides narrative explanations for subsidiaries based in jurisdictions on Ethical Consumer’s list of tax havens, including the Cayman Islands, Jersey, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This means it now receives our best rating for ‘likely use of tax avoidance strategies’. Our rating is based on a company’s policy on its operations in tax havens. It needs to have a narrative as to why it has operations there. It also needs country-by-country reporting which provides revenue, tax, investment and employment data for each country that a company operates in so you can see, to a certain extent, what’s happening in each country. However, this doesn’t mean that Vodaphone is now paying corporation tax. It’s just more transparent and better at explaining its tax affairs. In its ‘Tax and our total contribution to public finances 2018’ report Vodafone explained why it paid “little or no UK corporation tax” in 2018 despite making a profit of £168 million. Vodafone says it had to deduct in excess of €500 million for the interest costs on its UK debt from £10 billion it borrowed to pay the UK government for its 3G and 4G licenses. It then had tax relief on the €1.3 billion it spent in 2018 on building and upgrading its networks and services. “The UK remains an expensive and highly competitive country in which to do business; it is also one of our least-profitable markets anywhere in Mobile phone mast made to

the world”, claims Vodafone. look like a pine tree. On North | Dreamstime.com © Clickos The jury is still out on whether the Downs near Dorking. Surrey. leopard has changed its spots. It still receives third party criticisms for the data shows how this multinational courts through which corporations can sue potential tax avoidance practices. For has chosen to structure itself to states for loss of future profits if laws are example, a report in December last year minimise taxation in countries in which changed. ISDSs usually meet secretly, are by Shareholders for Change analysed it operates. This has likely resulted in presided over by corporate lawyers and Vodafone’s tax report for 2018 and found significant revenue losses for UK (and provide no right to appeal once a verdict that there was a potential for profit- other countries’) tax authorities. This is has been made. The dispute dated back to shifting to low-tax jurisdiction countries. particularly detrimental for developing 2007, when Vodafone acquired India-based “The largest share of Vodafone’s profits countries, as they rely on corporation tax telecommunications company Hutchison (38%) are generated in two conduit [low receipts more heavily than developed Essar Ltd. through a Cayman Islands- tax] jurisdictions, Luxembourg and Malta, countries do.” based subsidiary. Indian tax authorities where the group has just 325 employees In May 2018, the company was claimed the underlying assets of the shares (out of a total of 108,271 employees challenging the State of India in an transferred derived value in India, and worldwide). Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) slapped Vodafone with a 120 billion-rupee Whilst Vodafone should be applauded over a $1.8 billion tax bill. Also known as ($1.8 billion) tax bill. At the time of writing for being a leader in tax transparency, corporate courts, ISDSs are international the outcome of this was still pending.

ethicalconsumer.org 31 SHOPPING GUIDE Mobile phone networks

USING THE TABLES Environment Animals People Politics +ve USING THE TABLES Ethiscore: the higher the score, the Positive ratings (+ve): better the company. Scored out of 14. Plus up to 5 extra points for Product Company Ethos: Sustainability and up to 1 extra point = full mark for Company Ethos. e E = half mark Green (good) = 12+ Product Sustainability: Amber (average) = 11.5–5 Maximum of five positive marks. Red (poor) = 4.5–0 H = worst rating h = middle rating = bes t rating/no criticisms found Best Buys are highlighted in blue

Ecotalk 11 h h h h h H h e Ecotricity Group Limited Lycamobile 8.5 H h h h H HH A. Subaskaran Vodafone 8 H HHH HH Vodafone Group plc BT Mobile 7.5 h H h H h H H H BT Group EE 7.5 h H h H h H H H BT Group Plusnet 7.5 h H h H h H H H BT Group Giffgaff 7 HH HHH HH Telefónica SA O2 7 HH HHH HH Telefónica SA TalkTalk 7 HHH H h H h H TalkTalk Telecom Group Virgin Mobile 7 h H H H H h H H Liberty Global Sky Mobile 6 HHH HHH HH Comcast Corp

Phone Co-op 5.5 Hh hhHHhh Hhh Hh E Midcounties Co-operative Three 3.5 HHHH HhHHhH h H CK Hutchison Holdings Tesco Mobile 1.5 HHHHhhHHHHhh h HH Tesco plc / Telefónica SA ASDA Mobile 0 HHHHhHHHHHHHHh HH Wal-Mart Stores

All the research and stories behind these ratings is on www.ethicalconsumer.org Definitions of all the column headings, such as ‘Environmental Reporting’, are at www.ethicalconsumer.org/our-ethical-ratings.

m nsu er o .o Best Buys are decided by the editorial team based on the research we have undertaken, the scoring system and the unique c r l g insight into the issues that our editorial team has. 9 times out of 10 this will be the brand (or brands) that are top of the table but a

h sometimes an ethical company which is truly innovative scores less well on our rigid scoring system and we use the Best Buy and t

Recommended section to acknowledge this. e Y BES T BU

WHY IS THE PHONE CO-OP A BEST BUY? For twenty years, The Phone Co-op was an independent consumer co-operative owned by its members. In June 2018, it merged with Midcounties Co-operative Society, a Midlands co-operative retailer. Midcounties is the largest independent consumer co-operative in the UK and is a member of The Co-operative Federal Trading Services, a buying group owned and controlled by each of its member societies but managed by The Co-op Group. Midcounties picks up the usual supermarket negative marks for selling things like non-organic meat, products with palm oil in, and animal-tested cosmetics. That accounts for The Phone Co-op’s drop in score from 12 to 5.5. But it also picks up positive marks because it follows The Co-op Group’s policies in areas such as environmental reporting and supply chain management and use of toxic chemicals. We are still recommending The Phone Co-op as a Best Buy because, like Ecotalk, it is an alternative provider in the networks market. Within the co-operative movement, Midcounties has a reputation for being the most active co-op in the group for promoting and developing the co-operative business model. Aside from retail, it runs other innovative businesses co-operatively such as Co-operative Nurseries which now has 45 nurseries across the UK. Midcounties was also a pioneer of the Fair Tax Mark whilst the Fairphone, our mobile phone Best Buy, is available from The Phone Co-op.

32 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 m nsu er o .o c r l g

h BEST t

e Y BUYS BES T BU

The Best Buys are Ecotalk and The Phone Co-op which both piggyback on the EE network.

Ecotalk 11

In 2014, UK Uncut protesters targeted Vodafone for paying no corporation tax since 2011.

Lycamobile (PAC) to give to your new provider if you Lycamobile was embroiled in a £26 wanted to keep the same phone number. The million tax dispute in 2017 with HMRC From July 1st 2019, you’ve been able to Phone over VAT. Lycamobile’s accounts cancel your contract by sending a single Co-op also revealed that it paid £72 million free text (‘PAC’ to 65075 to keep your old to another part of Subaskaran’s number or ‘STAC’ to 75075 get a new one) 5.5 business network, based in the low- to your current network and they will tax jurisdiction of Madeira, which the send you a switching code. Give that to company said was for phone airtime. your new provider and they will switch In 2012, it had paid no corporation tax you within one working day – regardless for three years. The HMRC is currently of whether you have a contract or pay-as- trying to fine Lycamobile £8.2 million for you-go phone. the tax it thinks the firm owes “for the Once you’re out of your minimum financial years 2012 and 2013 combined.” contract, mobile providers will also Lycamobile has set aside £10.5 million. be banned from charging you for the remainder of your notice period after BRANDS TO AVOID Our Tax Avoidance rating you’ve switched (which is typically 30 We rated the networks in the Anti-Social days), putting an end to paying for your ASDA, Tesco and Three which all Finance column for their likely use of old and new contract at the same time. come at the bottom of the table. tax avoidance strategies. Only a quarter You will, however, still be charged early of them got our best rating, with half of termination fees if you leave before the the companies covered getting our worst notice period of your existing contract. rating. There are two sorts of contracts you towns and cities on at least one mobile Best – Ecotalk, Phone Co-op, Vodafone, take out with a mobile phone network: network. Lycamobile l A pay-as-you-go deal where you buy 5G essentially means that download Middle – O2, Giffgaff, TalkTalk your own phone and pay for each call, text speeds will be substantially quicker Worst – Virgin, BT, EE, Plusnet, ASDA, or time you spend on the internet. – you’ll be able to download a film in Sky, Three, Tesco l A monthly contract where you pay a seconds. It will also have lower latency, the Vodafone and Lycamobile still get set amount each month, usually by direct time it takes for something to happen. third-party criticisms for tax avoidance debit, and either get a phone ‘free’ or a At launch, 5G connections will be and therefore a full mark in the Anti- ‘SIM Only’ deal which you can use with around five times faster than the best 4G Social Finance column. any phone. networks, but eventually it will be between ten and 20 times faster than 4G. In the future, probably after 2023, How to switch What is 5G? 5G will enable ‘the internet of things’ – connected infrastructure, turning provider 5G is so-called because it is the fifth everything from lamp-posts and roads, to generation of wireless communication bins and bike racks into smart objects and It’s now much easier to switch to a more standards. In May of this year, EE, including the much-vaunted self-driving ethical network provider. You used to Vodafone and Three rolled out 5G cars. have to phone your current network networks in the UK with O2 set to launch Unlike the move from 3G to 4G, the roll- provider when you wanted to switch and their 5G network in October 2019. 5G out of 5G requires different infrastructure, request a ‘porting authorisation code’ coverage is currently available in 17 so new masts will have to be built.

ethicalconsumer.org 33 SHOPPING GUIDE Mobile phone networks

But you’ll need a new phone, a 5G BT Group , which owns EE, provides enabled one. And your network contract various services to the military. One will probably cost more. of these is ‘Smart Defence Base’, It won’t be until 2022 that 5G will take which provides infrastructure and over all of the ‘core network’ functions. Wi-Fi connectivity to support “greater Until then, the 4G network is going to operational efficiencies and cost savings” still be used for most things other than in the armed forces. downloading data even when connected BT has a long-standing partnership to 5G, including calls and managing with Bezeq International Limited, a connections. company providing telecommunication 2G and 3G networks are still in services to Israeli settlements, army bases operation but they’re expected to be and checkpoints in the West Bank and to phased out across the UK by 2020 so Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights. you’ll have to get a 4G enabled phone BT has also faced accusations of then. It will be several years before the 4G facilitating covert US drone strikes in signal gets shut down leaving just the 5G Yemen by providing key communications network. infrastructure between a US military So, there’s no point in getting a 5G base in Northamptonshire and Camp phone, especially not at this early stage Lemonnier in Djibouti, the secret base in 5G’s development and if you don’t live from which armed drones reportedly interest to readers of this guide is the fact in one of the 17 cities currently covered. carried out lethal strikes in Yemen. The that the Three mobile network is 50% Only 41% of rural areas currently have 4G US’ secret drone programme was carried owned by Hutchison 3G UK Investments coverage and it’s unlikely that the more out by the CIA and US Joint Special S.à.r.l. (registered in Luxembourg), with expensive 5G technology will make it very Operations Command in countries with the remaining 50% being owned by ‘other far out of urban areas. which the US was not at war and has CK Hutchison companies.’ More importantly, from an killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen Owned by Sri Lankan-born tycoon environmental point of view, it only and Pakistan. BT was said to have earned Allirajah Subaskaran, Lycamobile makes sense to get a new phone when $23 million from its contract with the US gets the bulk of its income from selling your old phone stops working. When that government. international pay-as-you-go SIM cards to happens, you might want to think about CK Hutchison Holdings is what’s customers wanting to make international getting a 5G one to future-proof your called a ‘diversified multinational telephone calls. device. corporation’, meaning that it has its Between 2011 and 2016, Lycamobile fingers in all sorts of pies in all sorts of made donations totalling £2.2 million to places, from the Three mobile network the Conservative Party. The largest single Companies behind and Superdrug in the UK, to Buenos donation was £542,500 in March 2016. It Aires container port and Grand Bahama also donated use of a call centre to Boris the brands Airport. The company is owned by Hong Johnson during his 2012 London mayoral Kong billionaire, Li Ka-shing, who retired election campaign. Ecotalk is owned by renewable energy as Chairman and Executive Director in In 2018, it was revealed that the company Ecotricity , whose energy May 2018 but continues to hold 56% of the HMRC had refused to assist a 2016 is certified by the Vegan Society company’s shares. French investigation into Lycamobile (it does not come from animals or The specific structure of Li’s ownership and alleged money laundering activities. animal by-products, such as fish parts, illustrates a wider penchant within CK The HMRC cited Lycamobile’s donations slaughterhouse waste or slurry), for Hutchison for elaborate ownership to the Conservative Party. Lycamobile which it receives a Company Ethos plus arrangements: Mr Li personally owns 30% was the biggest corporate donor to the point. Ecotricity owns Forest Green of the shares in CK Hutchison and has Conservative party at the time but it has Rovers which is the world’s first vegan an interest in a further 26% of the shares taken no donations from Lycamobile football club after it received the Vegan of the company via three companies – Li since then. The investigation is ongoing. Trademark from the Vegan Society in Ka-Shing Unity Trustee Company Limited Lycamobile was ordered to pay €20 2017. as trustee of The Li Ka-Shing Unity Trust, million in bail after its two French Li Ka-Shing Unity Trustee Corporation companies were formally charged with Limited as trustee of The Li Ka-Shing money laundering in a Paris court. Unity Discretionary Trust, and Li Ka- Rupert Murdoch’s three-decade reign Shing Unity Trustcorp Limited as trustee at satellite TV company Sky ended in 2018 of ‘another discretionary trust’. Confused? when it was sold to the US media firm So were we. Comcast . Murdoch’s departure from Sky The company is also a big fan of marked the end of an era for the British tax havens, having multiple high-risk media industry, although the 87-year- subsidiaries in jurisdictions on Ethical old media mogul will unfortunately still Consumer’s tax haven list, publishing no retain substantial influence thanks to country-by-country financial information his newspaper and radio holdings – The and providing no assurances that it Times, The Sun, HarperCollins, Wall does not use these jurisdictions for the St Journal, Fox News, Virgin Radio, purposes of tax avoidance. Of particular TalkRadio, TalkSport.

34 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 NEWS Beyond consumerism The Right to Repair Campaign

E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world and only 15-20% is recycled. A new report from environmental network EEB states that extending the lifetime of all washing machines, notebooks, vacuum cleaners and smartphones in the EU by just one year would save around 4 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030, which is the equivalent of taking over 2 million cars off the roads for a year. This calculation, from The ‘Coolproducts Don’t Cost the Earth’ report, breaks new ground and considers the so-called ‘non-use phases’ (energy The FixFest participants were also present at the global climate strike on the 20th of needed to produce and distribute new September in Berlin. products and dispose of old ones) which, until now, has been overlooked in climate of the requirements and won’t apply until that, they request incentives or tax assessments. 2021. reductions to create a vibrant market for At the same time, there is a demand Provision is made for a minimum repair which would not only reduce costs from consumers for longer-lasting repairability for all TVs, monitors, fridges, to consumers but also create new jobs. products. According to a recent survey, freezers, washing machines, washer- 77% of EU citizens would rather repair dryers, dishwashers and lighting products Wider repair movement their goods than buy new ones. However, placed on the EU market. This means that The Right to Repair campaign is part many companies have strict trademark spare parts should be available between of the wider Repair Movement which laws which make it often impossible and 7 to 10 years after the date of purchase, argues that repairing saves both money even illegal to repair products. (see page delivered within 15 working days and be and the environment. The movement 22 for more) installed without special tools and without aims to ditch the throwaway economy This is why NGOs and other damaging the device. and disrupt the current model of organisations are demanding changes The campaigners from Right to Repair capitalist consumerism. There are now with the EU-wide campaign ‘Right to argue that the minimum changes aren’t 1,900 Repair Cafés worldwide. Repair’. The main aim is to get access to enough in the face of climate change. Since 2017, repairers worldwide repair information and spare parts for They demand that products have to be celebrate International Repair Day on the everyone – not just professionals. more durable, customers should be third Saturday in October. This marks the The EU is already taking some action informed about lifetime and repairability anniversary of the opening of the first on this front. It is currently amending the of products (e.g. with the EU energy Repair Café in Amsterdam. The directive ‘Ecodesign Requirements for label), and all parts should be motto in 2019 is ‘Repair for Energy-Related Products’, however the replaceable including the the Future’, in homage to new regulations cover only a small part hardware and software. Beyond Greta Thunberg.

FixFest in Berlin

Other events have also taken place around Europe this year to promote the repairing agenda. In September, the international FixFest was held at the Technical University in Berlin. With a diverse programme, it offered its 250 participants discussions with experts and practical advice on how to fix things in workshops. Keynote speaker Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Professor for sustainability research at TU Berlin, pleads for a change of what has been described as ‘the cultural production of worthlessness’: “As soon as something is bought it already loses its value”, she told the conference. New ways to minimise waste, and the necessary political changes were the core element of the FixFest. The organisers explain that ‘high-quality recycling must always be the second choice […] the long use of products Learning how to mend and repair is the only and to sew in one of true alternative from an the workshops at the FixFest in Berlin. environmental perspective’. © Mark Phillips

ethicalconsumer.org 35 Moonloft ethical web & graphic design

logos & design website branding for print design www.moonloft.com COLUMNIST Ethical novice

COLIN BIRCH with a light-hearted guide to trying, and sometimes failing, to be ethical. This issue: Laptops.

’ve reached a stage that every Mafia with every purchase. fuels and toxic chemicals needed to professional writer reaches In the past, I’d replace computer create a new one. However, there is one from time to time as they pursue hardware by grabbing something on small drawback: No matter how much their career. No, not profound offer in the nearest PC store, but now the hard drive’s been cleared and how Idesperation; we’re in that state I’m ethically minded, I can’t. So, I’ve clean everything’s been made to look, constantly. I mean I need a new laptop, been exploring the idea of opting for a I just know I’m going to get that uneasy as my old one has started emitting the refurbished laptop instead. A friend even feeling that someone got rid of the laptop sort of unpleasant hissing noises usually put forward the even more eco-friendly I’m using for reasons best known to the made by a chuntering pensioner as they idea that I should try to repair the faults Police. It’s the same feeling you get that read another fake news story about on my old laptop myself – an option I puts you off buying second hand shoes in migrants eating kittens in the Daily Mail. turned down on the basis that, by the charity shops, no matter how committed Now, I’ve always suspected that my time I finished laughing at his suggestion, you are to recycling. laptop wasn’t ethically sound, but I’d laptops would be obsolete and we’d all be Perhaps I’m being a bit hasty in assuaged any guilt I felt by remembering walking round with computer chips in our writing off purchasing a new one? Some that many forms of communication brains. manufacturers are designing models through history have been bad for For me though, a recycled laptop where various parts can be repaired and the environment: cave paintings makes a lot of sense. The one good thing recycled. Basically, I’m going to need to do compromised the natural beauty of rock; about being a hermit-like writer sat alone a lot more research before I can make the Native American smoke signals increased in my hovel of an office is that there’s no right choice carbon emissions; typewriters used one I need to impress with my gadgets, So, all I have to do now is buy a new endless reams of paper from forests. so an all-singing all-dancing laptop isn’t laptop that can cope with doing all the However, it seems that my laptop is a necessity, despite what my daughter intensive research needed before I about as environmentally friendly as a says. A refurbished laptop also means can decide which new laptop to buy – Brazilian president with a flamethrower. I’d be helping to cut electronic waste, as because, frankly, I think this one’s going to Its only claim to being green well as the use of the fossil die before I reach the end of this senten... is that the food crumbs I’ve deposited in the keyboard while working through my lunch are vegetarian. Now, choosing a new laptop isn’t easy at the best of times, and I’m so out of touch as regards technology that, until three months ago, I thought a Jade Plug-In was an electric car. There’s so much to consider, from the price and spec, to how quickly you can shut the lid if your mum walks into your bedroom (teenage boys only). However, when selecting an ethically sound model, there’s so much more to think about. They contain minerals with the sort of names that might score you a zero on ‘Pointless’, but will also score a worst Ethical Consumer rating for conflict minerals from The Congo, which are linked to unsafe working, forced labour, deforestation, water pollution, human trafficking, illegal mining, violence and extortion. Basically, laptops are so dodgy that some stores are giving away free

ethicalconsumer.org 37 NEWS Tax justice UK voters support wealth taxes

Polling from Tax Justice UK and Oxfam in September showed widespread public support from across the political spectrum for increasing taxes on wealth. The poll showed that more than two-thirds (69%) of Brits thought that earnings from wealth should be taxed at the same level as, or more heavily than, earnings from income. In addition, just over half (52%) of those polled said they would support or strongly support the introduction of a new tax on net wealth over about £750,000, which would be paid predominantly by the wealthiest people in the UK. A number of countries have net wealth taxes. Spain, for instance, taxes net wealth over about £750,000 at a rate starting at 0.2% and rising to 2.5% for wealth over £12 million. Oxfam has estimated that applying this model in the UK could raise around £10 billion a year which could be used to fight poverty at home and overseas.

Campaigners criticise proposed international tax reforms

Amid a scramble to reform an 43%; and the tax justice campaigners’ FOUR NEW international tax system haemorrhaging proposal would result in a drop of 60%. up to $500 billion every year to tax With internet companies (such as CERTIFICATIONS FOR dodging by multinational corporations, Amazon) in particular, it is currently easy FAIR TAX MARK three different proposals have emerged. to book lots of sales through a low-tax One has come from the OECD, a Paris- jurisdiction without many employees. The United Utilities based technical advisory body and club campaigners’ approach which measures In July, the UK’s largest of rich nations, one has come from the employees would, they claim, address this listed water company IMF, the Washington-based body for particular issue more effectively. was certified as an accredited Fair ‘global monetary co-operation’, and one For more information, see: Tax Mark business. United Utilities from tax justice campaigners at the Tax https://www.taxjustice.net/2019/10/07/ is the North West’s water company, Justice Network. oecd-reform-weak-on-corporate-tax- providing water and wastewater Encouragingly the three proposals all havens-harsh-on-poorer-countries services to three million homes and take a similar line and propose breaking 200,000 businesses across the region. with the century-old approach of taxing a multinational Eurocell plc group’s subsidiaries In August, the UK individually as separate manufacturer, entities. Instead they propose distributor and a ‘unitary’ approach that taxes recycler of UPVC window, door, a multinational group as a conservatory and roofline systems, whole and then apportions was also certified as an accredited the tax owed by the group Fair Tax Mark business. to the various countries in which the group operates (see Community Leisure infographic opposite). UK The problem for Community Leisure campaigners is that they is an association vary on the detail of how to whose non-profit members operate measure where profit is made everything from community and how the apportioning swimming pools, gyms and sports among countries is pitches, to libraries, museums, determined. The OECD and heritage buildings and children’s IMF want to apportion profits centres. It joined the growing to countries based on the movement of Fair Tax Mark location of a multinational’s organisations in September. sales, whereas the tax justice campaigners’ proposal Suma apportions profit based on In October, Ethical the location of multinationals’ Consumer readers’ sales and employees. favourite ethical Analysis from the Tax company of the last 30 years (see Justice Network suggests that EC180) was also accredited as a the OECD proposal would lead Fair Tax payer. Suma is a workers’ to a drop of just 5% in (pre-tax) co-operative specialising in the profits booked in corporate distribution of organic foods. tax havens; the IMF proposal https://truthout.org/articles/we-could-eliminate-extreme-global-poverty-if- would result in a drop of multinationals-paid-their-taxes

38 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 NEWS Money

WIND FARM INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY

Co-op Bank agrees to external auditing of sustainability report

Following this year’s publication of the Co-op Bank’s ‘Values and Ethics Report 2018’, the Customer Union for Ethical Banking raised the alarm after its eagle- eyed discovery that the report lacked external scrutiny from a third party. This is vital for ensuring that the bank is sticking to its ethics, particularly now that it is mostly owned by private equity funds. A new opportunity has arisen to invest in a wind farm in Scotland. The offer gives Despite dropping it, the Co-op Bank people the chance to invest their money positively, providing benefit to a local apparently understood the importance community and contributing to the fight against climate change by supporting of external assurance. The Values and renewable energy infrastructure. Ethics page of its website boasts, “we're The Auchrobert Community Energy Society is a Community Benefit Society, set also independently audited every year, to up to allow its members to purchase a stake in the Auchrobert Wind Farm, which make sure we keep our commitments and is situated 28 km south east of Glasgow and started generating power in 2017. maintain an Ethical Policy that reflects In order to provide this opportunity, Auchrobert CES is working with Energy4All, our customers' values.” a non-profit organisation, and Falck Renewables, the commercial firm that built Elsewhere on its website the bank the wind farm. states, “We were the first bank in the The wind farm is situated close to other wind farms built by Falck Renewables, world to produce an independently which have provided community benefit and paid returns every year to members verified sustainability report in 1998, of the Spirit of Lanarkshire Co-op, set up in 2014. and we have led the way in reporting Auchrobert is looking to raise £1.5 million. The minimum investment is £100 ever since.” Had the bank not ditched and the opportunity to become a member and invest is open to locals and those independent verification, this year’s nationwide. The average projected return is 5%. Closing date: 6th November report would have marked its twentieth 2019. anniversary of this great achievement. For more details go to: auchrobert.coop The Customer Union contacted the bank to seek a clear commitment to reinstate auditing next year, and encouraged its members to do the same. Carbon divested funds: financial performance Following this pressure, the Co-op Bank stated the following: Carbon divested fund 5-year cumulative Ethiscore “Some customers and customer union growth to as of 3/10/2019 6/18 members have expressed concern that the report was not externally audited this Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Fund 97 6 year. We would like to reassure customers that, while the report was not externally WHEB Sustainability 71.6 16 audited, it did receive a high degree of Aviva Liontrust Sustainable Future European Growth 66.8 7 internal scrutiny to an exacting standard. We are committed to ensuring that next Triodos Sustainable Pioneer 63.4 15.5 year’s report is subject to independent specialist third party audit. We’ll discuss Sarasin Sustainable Equity Real Estate 62.7 7.5 our plans for the report with the Customer Union.” Jupiter Ecology 60.1 6.5 The commitment to resume external Castlefield BEST Sustainable Income Inst 19.5 15 auditing is fantastic news and is a great illustration of how collective pressure can Quilter Cheviot Climate Assets Data unavailable 4 change corporate practice. For customers of the Co-op Bank who Standard Life Equity Impact Global (less than 5 years old) 3.5 are interested in joining the Customer IA Global (for comparison) 69.9 -

Union, please visit: saveourbank.coop trustnet.com from Data

ethicalconsumer.org 39 FEATURE

Torching the Amazon

As fires continue to rage across the Amazon, JOSIE WEXLER looks at the consumer brands that are implicated. © Victor Moriyama | Greenpeace | Greenpeace Moriyama © Victor

40 Ethical Consumer Sep/Oct 2019 ine months after the far right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was elected on a platform of plundering the NAmazon, the forest is ablaze. It’s unlikely to have been big corporations that struck the match – that is thought to be smaller farmers who have the (probably correct) impression that they can now get away with it. Yet there is no doubt that the forest is mostly being cleared for agriculture, and the main products are cattle and soya. We therefore had a look for companies that are implicated, or that might have the power to do something about it.

Greenpeace billboard highlights the fast Beef food industry’s role in the destruction of the Amazon. The billboard is right next to | Greenpeace Morgan © Steve Fresh and frozen beef sold in the UK a KFC advert. is generally reared in the UK or other European countries, as South American Leather beef has been priced out by the EU’s external tariff policy. While 80% of Brazilian beef is consumed of its leather was sourced from Brazil, (This could change in a No Deal Brexit domestically, 80% of Brazilian leather is and H&M said that only a “very small” scenario, in which countries like Brazil exported, potentially giving foreigners amount ever came from there. However, could potentially have equal access into more leverage to force change. Brazilian given the size of these companies, their the UK beef market.) leather is primarily used for car seats statements are still significant. However, tens of thousands of tonnes and furniture rather than clothing, An Oxford-based NGO called Global of Brazilian beef is consumed here each although about 20% is used for shoes. Canopy has made a list of 15 key US and year in the form of corned beef. Corned Both H&M and VF Corporation – the EU-based leather-using companies that it beef is an exception to the tariff policy, company behind Timberland and The believes have the power to affect Amazon which largely only applies to “high quality North Face- have said in the last month deforestation due to their size and beef” (and as anyone unfortunate enough that they have stopped using leather from influence, and because they manufacture to have ever eaten it will be able to attest, Brazil because of the Amazon fires. H&M in China, the principal importer of corned beef is not high quality). said that this will hold “until there are Brazilian leather. Three big companies dominate credible assurance systems in place to VF Corporation made the list. The Brazilian beef exports – JBS, Minerva and verify that the leather does not contribute other 14 were: BMW, Daimler, Ford, Marfrig. All three have been accused of to environmental harm in the Amazon.” General Motors, Volkswagen, Ashley being complicit in deforestation. Brazilian Both companies say that they didn’t Furniture, DFS, IKEA, Macy's, Adidas, corned beef from the three companies source that much from Brazil in the first New Balance, Nike, Skechers, and has been found at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, place – VF Corporation said less than 5% La-Z-Boy. Aldi, Lidl, Coop and Asda. It is also sold to NHS Supply Chain, which manages food across the health service, and to the Ministry of Defence. THE CONTEXT

In the last month there have been In the early years of this century the Amazon was being trashed at a mind- protests in the UK at McDonalds and boggling rate – in 2004 27,772 km2 were cleared. Concerted efforts brought that Burger King over their use of Brazilian down to 4,571 km2 in 2012, but it has steadily been rising again – in 2018, the produce. The chains made a big deal of figure was 7,900 km2. Scientists warn that this year it is likely to pass 10,000 km2 telling everyone that they only sell UK and for the first time in a decade. Irish beef in the UK, which is true (and There isn’t agreement on what caused the deforestation rate to fall so the result of the tariffs, not idealism). But dramatically after 2004. However, it is most likely to have been a combination of they all sell Brazilian beef extensively in actions by the left-wing government led by president Lula da Silva, and the soya other countries. McDonald’s lists Brazil as and cattle moratoriums. The moratoriums are agreements between companies one of the top 10 countries not to buy any soya or cattle from recently deforested land. it sources beef from at As we described in our last guide to meat substitutes in EC160, the soya A fully a global level. Burger moratorium has been widely praised as one of the most successful consumer referenced King not only buys initiatives ever, because since its creation very little soya has been grown on version of this Feature Brazilian beef, it is recently deforested land in the Brazilian Amazon. The cattle moratorium is far less is on our owned by a Brazilian watertight, however, and there are some loopholes in both schemes. website company: 3G Capital.

ethicalconsumer.org 41 FEATURE

Soya for animal feed WHERE DO MEAT ALTERNATIVES SOURCE The EU used to get most of its soya from THEIR SOYA? Brazil, but the trade war between China Outside Brazil Cauldron, Taifun, Vivera, Tofurky, The Vegetarian Butcher, and the US has disrupted that, and most Oumph! Brazilian soya is now going to China, Beyond Meat, Vbites, VegiDeli, Cheatin & Making Waves , while the EU’s largely comes from the No info Dragonfly, Linda McCartney, Tivall, Fry's, Wicken Fen, No Bull (Iceland) US. In 2017, only 19% of the EU’s soya came from Brazil. No info, but can be assumed to source some from Brazil All the supermarkets Presumably due to this, and due to the quantity used the perceived success of the soya Source: Meat substitutes guide, EC160 moratorium, there hasn’t been a huge UK focus on soya in relation to the fires, although Greenpeace has been protesting Investments against some of the fast food chains that sell chicken, which is very soya-intensive, Some investors are also taking action, $16.2 trillion in assets issued a statement containing about 109 grams of ‘embodied particularly in Norway, which has been warning companies to meet deforestation soya’ per 100 grams of meat. very involved in action to protect the commitments or risk economic Amazon over the last decade. consequences. Norway’s biggest investors, Storebrand An American NGO called Amazon Soya for human ASA and pension fund KLP, have Watch has been attempting to identify stated that they are researching which those who have major investments consumption companies may be contributing to in relevant companies. It identified With the proviso that most soya is fed to Amazon deforestation with a view to the following as holding significant animals, details of where the companies exiting them. Meanwhile Nordea, one of equity investments in JBS, Marfrig and making soya-based meat substitutes the Nordics’ biggest banks, announced Minerva: Capital Group, BlackRock, source their soya are shown below, so that it is suspending purchases of Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, Brandes you can avoid eating Brazilian soya Brazilian government bonds. Investment Partners, Storebrand, Azimut, directly. In September, 230 global investors with BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and Invesco.

The UK Student Climate Network, Survival international and Greenpeace protested against the visit of the Brazilian environment minister, Ricardo Salles on October 3rd outside the Brazilian Embassy. They sent a clear message to Salles that until his government’s destructive agenda is reversed and the Amazon and its people are protected, he is not welcome here. © Chris J Ratcliffe |Greenpeace |Greenpeace © Chris J Ratcliffe

42 Ethical Consumer Sep/Oct 2019 Conclusion

The soya moratorium (see ‘The Context’ box out on page 41) showed the power that purchasing companies have to affect change in this area. We all need to keep the pressure on them to do more. At the same time, we ought not to lose sight of the fact that Bolsonaro is at the centre of this, and it is fundamentally a political issue. There is international political momentum around the issue at the moment, with France and Austria threatening to pull out of the Mercosur trade deal, which will, if it goes through, allow more Brazilian agricultural produce into the EU. We need to keep holding governments’ feet to the fire and forcing them to act, because companies and consumers are not going to be able to tackle this on their own.

LINKS FOR ACTIONS

There are a lot of petitions and campaigns on this topic circulating at the moment. Here are a few:

l Greenpeace has a petition asking the UK government to suspend trade talks with Brazil until the Amazon fires are out. https://secure.greenpeace.org. uk/page/s/uk-government-no-trade- deal-with-brazil-until-the-amazon- fires-are-out l Greenpeace has another petition at act.gp/dont-fry-amazon to send this message to McDonald's, KFC and Burger King: "Take a stand against President Bolsonaro’s Amazon destruction. Stop sourcing soya and meat from Brazil until the Amazon and its people are protected". l Christian Aid has a petition calling Flame grilling the Amazon. In September, Greenpeace on the government to put ecosystems climbers abseiled from the roof of Burger King’s iconic and indigenous people’s rights first in restaurant in London’s Leicester Square. They unfurled trade and investment talks with Brazil a giant banner linking the fast-food giant to Amazon rainforest fires and deforestation. Other activists are and Bolivia. It is available here: dressed as white-cheeked spider monkeys which are https://www.christianaid.org.uk/ classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. These campaigns/climate-change/amazon- monkeys live in the Amazon basin and face continuous, large-scale deforestation and land alteration into soya rainforest-fires-petition bean plantations. © Paul Hackett | Greenpeace | Greenpeace Hackett © Paul

ethicalconsumer.org 43 ETHICAL CONSUMER Letters

Ethical kids clothes Ed Whether we should have faith in the FSC is a complex question. In the Great magazine this month, and a Furniture guide (EC 177), we were quite comprehensive guide to the state of critical of the FSC. It has certainly had £4·25 180 Sep/Oct 2019 www.ethicalconsumer.org fashion. a great deal of fair criticism and is not On your Ethical Clothing table on page operating entirely as it should. 34, you listed some ethical companies Recycled is always preferable, as we that happen to sell a handful of children's argued in the Toilet paper guide. clothes. That approach neglected three However, as it stands, FSC is still the How British companies selling only organic most respected certification body when cotton or recycled polyester, whose it comes to virgin timber products. We to websites at least appear to champion the did not want to put across the argument values we look for. These are: that the FSC is totally useless only for slow l Frugi consumers to go away and buy wood l Little Green Radicals that is uncertified or think that the other down l Piccalilly certification bodies are better (e.g. fast PEFC). Perhaps worth a mention for would-be We will continue to need virgin wood for fashion ethical parents, or even a rating by the some things and, while we do, the FSC 30th birthday experts (that's you!) when resources will play a role. issue! PLUS High Street Clothes Shops permit. In the toilet paper guide, we included l Ethical Clothes Shops l Jeans Nicholas Chapman bamboo because it seems to be generally acknowledged in academic Ed Thanks for those recommendations. literature that it is a sustainable Our guide did focus more on adult alternative to virgin tree pulp. It is not clothing due to limited time and as good as recycled but it is better than resources, but we will bear them in mind virgin pulp. when we do an update. One of the main problems with bamboo sourcing is exploitation of labour. One of the things the FSC does (in some Do I buy FSC or cases at least) is make sure that the International Labour Organisation's ten recycled? core values are upheld. Therefore, FSC- In the March/April 2019 issue, page 24 certified bamboo is a way of, in theory, [Furniture Shops guide, EC177], Simon ensuring that workers have not been Counsell, who helped to set up the FSC (over)exploited. 25 years ago, says FSC isn't working and As you remember from his article in is definitely not protecting forests; he EC177, Simon Counsell criticised the advises us to buy recycled. FSC but said that if you couldn't buy CORRECTION TO LAST The July/August 2019 issue, page recycled, or from close to the UK (i.e. ISSUE’S CLOTHING 31 [Toilet Paper guide, EC179], under within Europe), then choose FSC 100% GUIDE ‘Bamboo and the FSC’, sings the FSC's labelled products. So, he does not praises; we are encouraged to have every completely dismiss the organisation. In the article ‘Clothing companies faith in it. (Actually, I find it hard to believe and tax havens’ in EC180, it was that bamboo is truly sustainable; like stated that every year £12 billion palm oil, I would rather avoid it). Petition for Food was lost from the UK public purse as Please will you look at both these a result of tax avoidance. Following articles, do some research and let us Labelling the publication of the piece, we were know as soon as possible? Until then I I have just started an online petition to informed that this figure, which was will follow my instinct and believe Simon the Government, via 38 degrees, to have based on a TUC report from 2008, is Counsell. the carbon footprint of foods stated on now considered unreliable. Fair Tax I was at a local District Council Climate the labels. Mark currently estimates that “as Emergency planning meeting this week The campaign is headed ‘Climate a result of corporate profits being discussing sourcing ethical paper. I, Impact Food Labelling’ and its demand: shifted to tax havens, revenue losses having read Simon Counsell's article, Introduce labelling on all food, similar in the UK amount to at least £7 billion questioned the other participants’ faith in to the nutritional information, which per annum.” The Fair Tax Mark the FSC, only to read the bit about bamboo shows the impact on the climate from the figure only accounts for the shifting last night. It's really important to me to be particular foodstuff. of corporate profits, but it is still able to give them sound advice, and they Why is this important? Is British milk, substantially lower than the original were most disbelieving about the doubts sustainably farmed, worse for the climate figure used. about FSC. than soya milk from beans grown on Penny Avant cleared tropical forests and transported

44 Ethical Consumer Nov/Dec 2019 ETHICAL CONSUMER Letters half-way round the world? Labelling it will confuse consumers. would help us to make suitable food But with a climate emergency, the time Animal testing and choices to reduce our climate impact. is definitely right for a reintroduction. We You can sign the petition here: have a mandatory energy label, so why medicines you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/climate- not a carbon label too? I read your article, ‘Animal testing and impact-food-labelling medicines’ (EC179) with interest. You Daphne Wassermann referred to a Reuters piece, ‘Success rates for experimental drugs falls’, which ED The carbon labelling of all products, Toilet paper stated, 'There is a failure rate of 90% for not just food, was in our 2001 manifesto, drugs which pass animal trials to prove so this is definitely something we alternative safe and effective for humans.' support. The Carbon Trust introduced Having read that article, I cannot see such a label in 2007. Examples of any reference to that specific statistic. products that featured their carbon Perhaps it is implied in the article but I footprint were Kingsmill bread, Quorn did not see that. foods, Evian water, Silver Spoon sugar, Can you please clarify for me as I think Walkers crisps and a range of own-brand it is such an important point? products in Tesco. The label fizzled out a Jonathan Peat bit in 2012 unfortunately. That was the year that The Carbon Trust Ed We were using this sentence: "The stopped being government funded, study, covering 2004 through 2010, as part of the Coalition Government's found the overall success rate for drugs cuts, and it now relies solely on private moving from early stage Phase I clinical funding from its work with businesses. trials to FDA approval is about one in 10, Tesco dropped its plan to label all its down from one in five to one in six seen products with their carbon footprint For people who don’t have a bidet or in reports involving earlier years." in 2012, blaming the amount of work hose type thingy in the bathroom and Our understanding is that to get involved and other supermarkets for can’t afford or don’t have space to install (regulatory approval to get) to Phase failing to follow its lead. Quorn Foods one, there’s a cheap alternative. Yes, 1 clinical, they need to have passed a still uses it and half of its products by they’re usually made of plastic but are range of animal tests. volume globally have a certified carbon very durable. The product is a ‘bodna’ or number attached to them – the one for ‘lota’ toilet washing jug. its mycoprotein-based mince showed Barbara Iqbal the carbon footprint to be 90% smaller than beef mince. In April, an international survey by the Carbon Trust found that two-thirds We welcome readers’ letters. Letters may be edited for reasons of space or (67%) of consumers support the idea of clarity. If you do not want letters or emails to be published, please mark them a recognisable carbon label. The food ‘Not for publication’. Our address is on page 3, or email us at industry is generally against it, claiming [email protected]

ethicalconsumer.org 45 INSIDE VIEW A Greener New Deal?

We need to start including the Global South when talking about tackling climate change, says SIMON BIRCH.

catastrophe whilst side- stepping these pitfalls? Like many global justice campaigners, Rehman believes our current levels of consumption have to change as we need to dish out the world's resources more fairly whilst at the same time heading off climate meltdown: “Ultimately we need a huge reduction in the levels of consumption in the Global North as we consume between five and ten times more than anybody in the Global South. The result is that just 20% of the world's population is responsible for 80% of carbon emissions,” says Rehman. “The rest of the world just can't live as we do.” But how do we sell this message to disadvantaged communities in Manchester or Middlesbrough? “At the moment when you say to people in large parts of the country who don't have Extinction Rebellion protesters in London demonstrating against the climate emergency.

© Ben Gingell - Dreamstime.com © Ben Gingell anything, 'we want you change your shopping habits and have s the world teeters on the edge doing – which will require nearly three even less', then they're not going to buy of climate meltdown, the good times more energy. It will be difficult it,” admits Rehman. news is that we have a plan to enough for us to decarbonise the existing “We have to portray a vision of a low- stop us falling into the abyss. global economy – virtually impossible do carbon world that is better than we have AThe Green New Deal is being hailed as it three times over.” now and say 'you'll have clean air and the way to avert runaway climate change. The second issue is that the renewable warm homes',” says Rehman. The big idea is to kickstart a renewables revolution is dependent upon extracting For example, the answer to our future revolution that will churn out everything rare-earth minerals and resources for transport needs, says Rehman, isn't to from solar panels to electric vehicles at electric batteries, mostly from the Global flood our roads with millions of resource- an unprecedented rate to usher in a new South, a process that all too often ends hungry electric cars, but instead provide low-carbon economy. up exploiting workers and trashing the free public renewable transport. First developed in 2007, the plan is environment. Rehman believes that as it stands, the now firmly embedded in the political “A 'green new deal' in the Green New Deal is a good starting point mainstream, both in the UK and North mould of current thinking but that there's more work to be done. America. will lead to a new form Crucially, those living in the Global So far, so good. The bad news is that of green colonialism South need to be considered when dissenting voices believe that the Green that will continue to talking about any low-carbon future New Deal has two key flaws. sacrifice the people which, at the moment, just isn't The first is based on the fact that of the Global South to happening. economic growth is pushing up energy maintain our broken “The detail isn't yet sufficient or demand at a rate that's just too fast to be economic model,” says ambitious enough,” says Rehman. met by installing green energy. Asad Rehman who heads “If we continue growing the global up the global justice economy at existing rates, it will nearly campaign group War triple in size by the middle of the century,” on Want. says anthropologist Jason Hickel, writing So how in the Guardian. are we going “That’s three times more production to head off and consumption than we’re already climate

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