The European Telecommunications Standards Institute launches standard for measuring the environmental impact of smartphones

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published ETSI EN 304 132, a new standard for assessing the environmental impact of smartphones. It provides a common methodology for measuring and comparing the environmental performance of different smartphone models.

The standard covers the full life cycle of a smartphone, including raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, and end of life. It builds on ETSI EN 203 199, which provides a methodology for life cycle assessments of ICT goods, networks, and services.

ETSI said differences in existing assessment methods, assumptions, and data have made it difficult to compare environmental performance between devices. The new standard aims to address this by establishing a common framework for the industry.

The standard is also intended to support the tracking of environmental improvements over time. Manufacturers can use it to demonstrate changes in the environmental performance of their products, while operators and other buyers can compare devices and portfolios using a consistent methodology.

Customers could also benefit from more comparable environmental information when assessing smartphones.

ETSI said that around 1.3 billion smartphones were sold globally in 2023. It also cited estimates that smartphones in use account for around 580 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, approximately 1% of global emissions.

Anders Andrae, chair of ETSI’s Mobile ICT Devices working group, said the standard provides a common benchmark for measuring efforts to reduce the environmental impact of smartphones.