Apple responds to concerns over EPEAT withdraw

Last week, the news came out that Apple had recently removed 39 of its products from the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) registry. EPEAT is essentially a list of environmentally friendly products.

There’s already been a significant amount of backlash — from both the media and consumers — regarding the announcement. So last night, the company decided to comment on the matter…

Apple representative Kristin Huguet told The Loop:

“Apple takes a comprehensive approach to measuring our environmental impact and all of our products meet the strictest energy efficiency standards backed by the US government, Energy Star 5.2. We also lead the industry by reporting each product’s greenhouse gas emissions on our website, and Apple products are superior in other important environmental areas not measured by EPEAT, such as removal of toxic materials.”

The Loop goes on to point out that in addition to not measuring toxins, EPEAT also doesn’t account for smartphones and tablets — products that happen to make up a large percentage of Apple’s sales and revenue.

But that doesn’t mean that the move isn’t going to have repercussions. Word is that the city of San Francisco has already announced plans to avoid future Apple purchases due to the EPEAT withdraw. And we’re sure there will be several others to follow.

For a bit of context, Apple was essentially forced to withdraw its products from the EPEAT registry due to the nature of their designs. To make the list, devices must have removable batteries and be repairable with basic hand tools.

What do you think? Is this EPEAT thing a major concern, or will it all just blow over?