What does this brand sell?
Fairphone is a social enterprise that launched in 2013 with the mission to create fairer electronics. They focus on manufacturing sustainable smartphones, prioritizing ethical sourcing of materials and fair labor practices. By challenging the traditional consumer electronics industry, Fairphone aims to create a more transparent and responsible supply chain. They believe that technology should benefit both people and the planet.
“To inspire the phone Industry to act more responsibly”
No information has been found on the achieved sustainable milestones.
2024 Best Mobile Innovation for Climate Action
You can find them across Europe at different retail stores: Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Switzerland. You can find their store locator here
You can find them across Europe at different retail stores: Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Switzerland. You can find their store locator here
No details are available regarding packaging.
Murena - Enables Fairphone users to buy a phone preloaded with /e/OS, instead of Google’s Android
operating system
E-waste race - Actively collect e-waste from homes
Fairmined Initiative - To ensure positive social and environmental impact of gold sourcing
EcoMakala - Virunga Green Energy project in Congo
Improved Cookstove - To ensure social and environmental impact in Uganda
No details are available regarding packaging.
Murena - Enables Fairphone users to buy a phone preloaded with /e/OS, instead of Google’s Android
operating system
E-waste race - Actively collect e-waste from homes
Fairmined Initiative - To ensure positive social and environmental impact of gold sourcing
EcoMakala - Virunga Green Energy project in Congo
Improved Cookstove - To ensure social and environmental impact in Uganda
Several countries across the world for their mined materials, such as Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile
Fairphone 5 256GB 8GB RAM= EUR 549.00
Fairbuds earphones = EUR 149.00
Fairbuds XL headphones = EUR 249.00
Phone protective cover = EUR 39.95
Just in 2023, they avoided 944 tons of CO2 in total (production emissions due to longevity of Fairphones, recycled material integration, take-back programs. Reducing e-waste accounted for 23.1% of the total). One of the reasons is that the current average lifespan of smarphones is around 3 years but Fairphone lasts approximately 5 years (this is the amount of years in average that their models have been activated). Having a phone for longer (3 vs 5 years) will reduce its yearly CO2e impact by around 28%.
Moreover, their unique modular design allows for easier and cheapers repairs. Repairing a device and using it for longer is far better for the environment than replacing it completely. For example, replacing a cracked screen on a Fairphone 5 versus buying a new phone saves 24kg of CO2e. That’s equal to driving 122 km in a petrol car.
For the Fairphone 5, the CO2 footprint is as follows: 32.7kg CO2e during the production phase, 2.8kg CO2e for transportation, 6.6 CO2e during the use phase (for a 3 year period) and 0.04kg CO2e for the disponsal (end of life). You can dig into their other product’s carbon footprint in their impact report!
In 2023, Fairphone reduced 178% of their scope 2 emissions from base year 2022.
According to their impact report, they play close attention to the environmental performance of their suppliers, including energy. As of 2023, their suppliers use 100% renewable electricity (in the final assembil of Fairphone 5 sold only).
Their offices are also powered by renewable electricity sourced from solar panels and from Dutch win energy. The office is also heated by Natural Gas so they purchased Biomethane Guarantees of Origin (BGOs) to claim our green gas
consumption. By purchasing BGOs, Fairphone reduced their Scope 2 emissions to 0%
through the addition of green gas to the grid.
According to their impact report, they play close attention to the environmental performance of their suppliers, including water.
No information on this is provided by the brand.
In 2022 alone, there were 62 Megatons of e-waste and only 22% of this was responsibly recycled. Fairphone’s newer products are all labeled as “electronic waste neutral”, meaning that for every one of these products (and their spare parts) that they sell, they reuseor recycle another product of the same type, or its weight in e-waste. Fairphone also incentivise the return of their phones and almost any other phone through their own program.
Fairphone also collects and recycle electronic waste from Ghana while also creating safe jobs for the collection and diassembly points for recycling.
In total, 24.7 tons of electronic waste was collected in 2023: 25% from their Fairphone owned take-back programs on the EU market, 12% by contributing to European schemes under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), while 63% was collected in Ghana. The total amount collected from 2020 to 2023 was 51.7 tons of e-waste.
Some of the materials used in the battery and exterior of the phones are recycled. For example, The Fairphone 5 uses 100% post-consumer recycled plastics in our back cover (as with the Fairphone 4), 100% post-consumer recycled plastics for the antenna cover, the speaker cover, and other sub components, and even 75% post consumer recycled plastics for the battery capsule shell (36% of all materials used in this phone are recycled materials). Same goes with the Fairbuds, over 80% of the structural parts contain 100% post-consumer recycled plastics. The same goes with other materials such as copper, aluminum and other alloys.
To help you keep the phone for a longer time and further decrease waste, Fairphone incentivise users with free and public repair information, including printed circuit board schematics for board-level repairs.
According to their impact report, they play close attention to the environmental performance of their suppliers, including chemicals.
72000 people benefit from their work and they have paid over 200k $ to 1700 workers in 4 factories. Their goal is also to to prioritize their fellow humans and the planet and
transform these systemic malpractices for the benefit of all. This includes living wages, worker voice and representation, health and safety, and nature. They also agree on improvement plans based on thorough assessment and worker’s surveys. By 2023, 63% of their suppliers for the Fairphone 4 demonstrated improvement or high maturity, compared to only 38% in 2021.