Nintendo responds to Greenpeace report

By Robert Purchese Published 11 January, 2010

Takes eco responsibilities "seriously".

Nintendo has told Eurogamer that environmental matters are taken very seriously at the company and are considered at every stage of a product's life following a critical Greenpeace report last week.

Nintendo said that Wii is "notably the most energy efficient [console] of its generation" and that the DS design had been improved to minimise energy consumption.

"We would like to assure customers that we take our environmental responsibilities seriously and are rigorous in our commitment to comply with all relevant laws relating to environmental and product safety, including avoiding the use of dangerous substances in our manufacturing processes and ensuring the safe disposal and recycling of materials," Nintendo told us.

"We consider the environmental impact of our products over their entire life cycle, from planning to disposal. In the planning phase, for example, we make every effort to design energy-efficient products and select materials for component parts and packaging materials with careful consideration for the environment. We also consider the importance of reducing environmental impact at end-of-life disposal by clearly indicating the materials used in each product to make recycling easier.

"We also work to eliminate harmful substances from our products right from the initial stages of material selection and have established strict environmental control standards, with our 340 production partners all co-operating with us in our efforts," the company added.

Last week, Greenpeace published its yearly report evaluating 18 of the world's biggest electronics companies, scoring them their handling of Chemicals, E-Waste and Energy.

Nintendo finished bottom, although Microsoft finished only one place better. Sony, however, scored over five and finished mid-table with the bulk of the companies. Nokia and Sony Ericsson were well out front, finishing first and second, respectively.

Whether videogames manufacturers, both of software and hardware, will come under renewed scrutiny following the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December remains to be seen.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • schnide #1 2 years ago

    This from Nintendo is just PR bullshit - they've said this for the past three years, and they still finish bottom.

  • BartonFink #2 2 years ago

    It also probably helps a lot that all these Wiis are rarely turned on anyway ;)

  • Distributor #3 2 years ago

    Shock horror. Tbh I think greenpeace is the only instance in the world caring about the environmental impact that for example consoles have. People just buy the stuff.

  • Ornithophobe #4 2 years ago

    Wii is "notably the most energy efficient [console] of its generation"

    Well yes, bicycles are notably more energy efficient than motorbikes.

  • CallousB #5 2 years ago

    Greenpeace would be better off giving them an "ungraded" rating due to having no information.

    Keep rating Nintendo at the bottom despite having no evidence..and Nintendo are even less likely to give them the info they want... as Nintendo will just see it as blackmail by a group who have no legal right to the information.

  • brokenkey #6 2 years ago

    How come they are going to take it seriously this time, when they've ignored the same report from Greenpeace with the same findings for the last 2 years?

  • kangarootoo #7 2 years ago

    This isn't just concerned with the energy used vby the running console, its based on the energy performance of the company. As for hidden figurtes, Greenpeace surely have something to base their performance charts on (despite the internet's fondness for calling shenanigans on this sort of thing).

  • Rubarack #8 2 years ago

    Considering the Wii is never on and uses the most energy by default when switched off they kind of had this coming. But then when your business plan is to create expensive electronic equipment that only looks like it does something you're never going to go far by considering the environmental impact.

  • midnight_walker #9 2 years ago

    Who cares? I just want to play games.

  • mkreku #10 2 years ago

    I love how they're trying to make the power efficiency of the Wii a conscious choice.. No! It's a side effect from having seriously outdated hardware in your console! IF you'd want it to be power efficient, you'd at least make the chips with the newest manufacturing procedures! You could probably make the entire Wii take less than 10W if you built it on sub-40 nm tech!

  • originaljohn #11 2 years ago

    I still haven't seen any data from greenpeace. They make things up for companies that dont give them data, nintendo and microsoft.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #12 2 years ago

    Rubarack
    "uses the most energy by default when switched off they kind of had this coming."

    I know, lets leave our Nintendo devices still turned on at the wall with the standby light on, just for another excuse to have a pop at Nintendo. Sod this turning things off at the wall, and not using the TV standby button lark, that's so yesterday.

  • schnide #13 2 years ago

    @CallousB

    That'd be pointless. It'd be letting them off the hook when they clearly don't want to play ball anyway - this might at least embarrass them into doing *something* more than a press release; it just hasn't worked so far.

  • Murton #14 2 years ago

    The chief reason that Nintendo scored bottom is because they scored a zero for a few of the sections, the reason they scored zero? They didn't give any data for those sections, now if Nintendo are doing as well as they claim in terms of the environment, why did they not provide their figures upon request? They responded to some sections but not others, that alone suggests they have something to hide. They might not, but then surely it's less hassle to release the figures.

    There is one true thing in the response though, the Wii is the most energy efficient console, but only because the thing is so rarely used. Mine has been in a box in a cupboard since I moved almost a year ago and hasn't really been missed, I'll probably dig it out when I get a copy of Resi Darkside Chronicles on the cheap but once I've completed that it'll end up sitting there gathering dust once again.

  • Skooch #15 2 years ago

    "It's only because Nintendo refuse to publish numbers. Sure, they might something to hide, but I doubt it."

    I admire your optimism MasterlessChief :-D

  • Bigglesworth #16 2 years ago

    Astonishing Sony-bias from Greenpeace, here.

  • Terribly_Mauled #17 2 years ago

    Must be all those Whale sarnies in the staff canteen

  • TonyHarrison #18 2 years ago

    People should actually read the report to see just how laughable the data Greenpeace have on Nintendo is.

    All the other companies have about half a page at least of explaining the data in written form. Nintendo's section is three tiny paragraphs. You'd think they'd have more to write, given that they finished bottom. You know, like explaining exactly what it is they are apparently doing wrong.

    But they can't, because they have no information to write about....

  • Kami #19 2 years ago

    That's largely why they end up bottom I guess, because Nintendo really don't want Greenpeace poking around their factories to find a million Miyamoto clones gearing up for world domination...

  • robg #20 2 years ago

    I don't think it helps that the Wii case is made from crushed dolphin teeth cemented together with panda tears.

  • callum9999 #21 2 years ago

    Sony bias from Greenpeace! Why on earth would they do that?

    I just read the report, and they only have "no information" in 3 of the 15 categories. I know in past years they had little to no information, but they appear to have a reasonable amount now. I'm not surprised Nintendo isn't co-operating!

  • TonyHarrison #22 2 years ago

    @callum9999: What little information they have seems to have been lifted straight from the Nintendo.com website, rather than as a statement from Nintendo themselves.

  • JohnnyFireBlade #23 2 years ago

    "Well yes, bicycles are notably more energy efficient than motorbikes."

    Nowhere near as much fun, though! ;)

    I'm still not convinced by this whole carbon footprint thing anyway. Everything that's happening with the climate seems to have happened before and often worse.

  • smelly #24 2 years ago

    >This from Nintendo is just PR bullshit

    Erm no.. Greenpeace are doing PR bullshit by making up numbers just because nintendo refuses to give them. I still dont understand why nintendo dont sue for false information though.

  • smelly #25 2 years ago

    @schnide : Greenpeace is a disgusting publicity seeking organisation which is ALMOST as bad as Peta. Why should ANY company respond to blackmailing tactics like this?

    The root idea behind both greenpeace and peta - i have no problems with, in fact the base idea behind both these organisations are actually merit worthy.

    However they're both run for publicity purposes and have "lost" their message along the way of over sensationalism, violence, vandalism, trespassing, and blackmail (such as this stuff). "Tell us your private company information - or we'll tell everyone you're damaging the environment"

  • Lusterpurge #26 2 years ago

    Iwata: This Greenpeace report says we are the least green videogame company!
    Miyamoto: (Glances at giant pile of cash) Looks pretty green to me!
    Iwata: (Laughs)
    Miyamoto: (Laughs)

  • Collymilad #27 2 years ago

    @smelly, so so true.

    Also, clamshell packaging should be banned not because of the environment, but because it's a crime against humanity.

    Or at least humanities hands.
    Edited by 1 at 12/01/10 @ 03:40

  • Mr_Bogus #28 2 years ago

    The Wii's CPU was made to be as low power as possible, so it could be permanently connected. That part they did & did well.

    But would it really hurt them to make rechargeable controllers?

  • Zomeguy #29 2 years ago

    > But would it really hurt them to make rechargeable controllers?
    Anything preventing you from using rechargeable batteries?