The EPEAT Environmental Benefits Calculator is a tool to help purchasers of technology products calculate the reduction in environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions, resulting from their procurement of EPEAT registered products as compared to anon-EPEAT reference product that does not incorporate EPEAT features.

The EPEAT Environmental Benefits Calculator allows purchasers to quantify the benefits of making responsible procurement decisions and buying environmentally preferable ICT and photovoltaic modules. Stakeholders that purchase EPEAT products can use the results to demonstrate commitment and communicate their progress and contribution in reducing the environmental impact of the technology products to management, customers, and other key stakeholders.

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For example, the EPEAT Purchaser Awards utilize calculations performed by the GEC on behalf of participating organizations to transform procurement data into verifiable metrics that showcase the real-world environmental impact of their electronics spend. This data-driven approach provides organizations with quantified evidence needed to validate their sustainability leadership and demonstrate measurable progress in areas like carbon reduction and resource conservation. For more information, please contact purchaserawards@gec.org

For help with using the calculator and for additional background information on the calculator, please reference GEC’s User Guide for EPEAT Benefit Calculator 2.0 <add link here when available>‍

For support in using the calculator, please contact us at purchaserrelations@gec.org.

Environmental benefits are estimated by calculating the quantitative difference between the environmental impacts of an EPEAT product versus a non-EPEAT reference product on the market for key product attributes and supply chain indicators. The calculator is not an absolute measure of the environmental impacts of an individual product. It is a measure of the relative delta or difference between the environmental impacts related to production, use, and disposition of an EPEAT and a non-EPEAT product.

The calculator uses life cycle analysis (LCA) models to compare EPEAT and non-EPEAT products. For EPEAT criteria with measurable attributes, such as product composition, life span, and renewable electricity in product manufacturing, LCA models are developed for representative EPEAT product configurations that quantify the changes in product and supply chain attributes resulting from products meeting the EPEAT criteria. These LCA results are then compared to a baseline, non-EPEAT product to estimate the environmental savings for EPEAT products relative to the baseline.

Yes, the calculator estimates the full lifespan environmental benefits of an EPEAT product. Please refer <add link to user documentation when available> for default product lifespan assumptions used in the calculator. Note that the calculator also allows users to enter a customized value for product lifespan if they intend to use the product for a longer duration than the default value.

While EPEAT criteria for responsible supply chains have many benefits, from reducing risks of forced labor to requiring safer workplaces, these criteria benefits are more difficult to quantify at the product level and hence are not part of the calculator at this time. Please contact us at purchaserrelations@gec.org if you would like to discuss the social supply chain benefits and impacts of your purchases.

Yes! Given that EPEAT registered products are bought and used in many countries around the world, the calculator allows the user to select the region of the world where the product is used. This information is used to calculate impact metrics associated with use phase energy consumption. Data published by the International Energy Agency on regional electricity generation (Energy Statistics Data Browser – Data Tools - IEA) is used for generating the impact factors for each region (per kwh electricity production) using LCA software.

No, the calculator works by quantifying the difference between the environmental benefits of an EPEAT registered product versus a non-EPEAT reference product on the market. The calculator is not an absolute measure of the environmental impacts of an individual product. It is a measure of the relative delta or difference, of the environmental impacts of an EPEAT product compared to a non-EPEAT product.

While individual EPEAT Climate Criteria (e.g., 4.1.1 - Required – Product carbon footprint disclosure and assurance) provide useful data on life cycle GHG emissions of a given product, the calculator cannot be used by an organization to calculate its overall scope 3 GHG emissions. The calculator does not provide an absolute measure of the environmental impacts of an individual product. Instead, it provides a measure of the relative delta or difference, of the environmental impacts of an EPEAT product compared to a non-EPEAT product. However, product carbon footprint reports are available for EPEAT 2.0 products in the EPEAT Registry, accessible here

For further support, please contact purchaserrelations@gec.org.

There will be a transition period for full implementation of the updated EPEAT 2.0 Criteria. Use the new EPEAT 2.0 calculator when purchasing products registered as meeting GEC’s updated EPEAT 2.0 Criteria. The EPEAT Product Registry indicates whether a product is registered as meeting the EPEAT 1.0 or 2.0 criteria. For more details on the transition plan, please see EPEAT 2.0 Resources for Purchasers‍

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When the EPEAT 2.0 sustainability impact criteria were completed, the associated EPEAT Environmental Benefits Calculator needed to be updated to ensure that the full scope of environmental impact reductions achieved by procuring products meeting the new EPEAT 2.0 criteria were captured and purchasers were enabled to communicate them. Calculator updates also included updates of background LCA data sources and methods to align with current best practice. The updated calculator allows purchasers to quantify the benefits of purchasing products meeting GEC’s updated EPEAT 2.0 Criteria.

Yes. First, GEC updated its EPEAT criteria to be more ambitious and this will reflect in the results. In addition, the underlying assumptions and data sources were updated to reflect the current best available science and methodologies.

No, the EPEAT Environmental Benefits Calculator 2.0 only captures benefits associated with criteria that have quantifiable measures, such as weight, composition, life span, etc. Unfortunately, it is difficult to quantify the benefits of select criteria, such as environmental and social performance disclosures. These criteria have qualitative benefits that are currently not quantifiable at the product level.

While EPEAT 1.0 has been delivering significant environmental benefits since its inception in 2006, EPEAT 2.0 is a significant evolution of the ecolabel and represents the next generation of leadership. EPEAT 2.0 criteria include a greater emphasis on reducing the environmental impacts related to product manufacturing and the supply chain, compared to previous EPEAT criteria versions. For this reason, we see an increase in benefits in the product manufacturing stage. However, it is important to note that in the EPEAT Environmental Benefits 2.0 Calculator, there are also changes in the overall methodology, including assumptions for product energy consumption of the reference baseline product, which are compared to representative EPEAT product configurations, which impacts overall benefits documented by the calculator. (See Q19 for additional explanation).

Supply chain criteria (e.g., manufacturing energy efficiency criteria 4.3 and renewable energy sourcing criteria 4.4) are responsible for the majority of the product manufacturing savings related to procurement of EPEAT registered products. For example, sensitivity analysis for notebook computers showed that supply chain criteria are responsible for over 85% of emission savings in EPEAT silver and gold products.

The EPEAT 2.0 Criteria are available here: https://epeat.net/about/epeat-criteria‍

The EPEAT Environmental Benefits Calculator allows purchasers to quantify the benefits of making responsible procurement decisions and buying environmentally preferable ICT and photovoltaic modules. Stakeholders that purchase EPEAT products can use the results to demonstrate commitment and communicate their progress and contribution in reducing the environmental impact of the technology products to management, customers, and other key stakeholders.

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Calculator 2.0 continues to include MFDs and printers but no longer differentiates between products printing in black and white versus color. EPEAT 2.0 criteria now differentiate IE devices by weight since product weight varies considerably and weight contributes most significantly to environmental impacts associated with raw material extraction and manufacturing. The Environmental Benefits Calculator 2.0 asks the user to enter the number of units purchased (by each IE product type) for small (<=25kg) and large (>25kg) products. While IE weight thresholds may vary in individual EPEAT sustainability criteria, analysis of IE product data in the EPEAT Registry and modeled sustainability impacts led to this small (<=25kg) and large (>25kg) bifurcation for data calculation purposes.

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For example, small MFDs and printers are typically devices that fit on a desktop (see sample images below).

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Large MFDs and printers are devices such as wide format printers and centralized office equipment, which do not fit well on a desktop (see images below).

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For further support or information related to the calculator, please contact purchaserrelations@gec.org.