Rome, Italy – The TIM Group has joined the Eco Rating initiative, which uses an assessment system to measure the level of environmental sustainability of smartphones and therefore encourage more informed and sustainable purchasing decisions by customers.

Set up in 2021, the initiative is the result of a collaboration between leading international telephone operators, including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica (operating under the O₂, Vivo and Movistar brands), Telia Company and Vodafone, which have developed a methodology for assessing the environmental sustainability of mobile devices. During 2022, EE, NOS and Proximus also joined the initiative.

Since launching in 24 European countries from May 2021, the Eco Rating scheme has further expanded to another 11 countries and is available to consumers in 35 countries across Europe, Africa, South America and soon in Asia/Pacific.

The methodology involves the assignment of a score, on a scale from 1 to 100, attributed through an analysis of the main environmental parameters identified in the phases of production, transport, use and disposal. The higher the score, the better the smartphone performs in terms of environmental parameters. The Eco Rating label (www.ecoratingdevices.com) also highlights the level achieved on five key aspects of sustainability: durability, repairability, recyclability, climate efficiency and resource efficiency.

The initiative will allow TIM customers to make more sustainable informed choices, encourage suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of their devices and promote greater transparency in the production chain.

Starting next year, TIM will apply the Eco Rating label to specific devices offered in Italy and in Brazil through the subsidiary TIM Brasil.

By adhering to Eco Rating, TIM is underlining the importance of alliances between companies as a way of achieving shared objectives to protect the environment and define standard industry-wide metrics to speed up the transition towards a circular economy model.