Apple explains why it yanked devices from environment registry

As concern swells around Apple opting out of the EPEAT registry, however Apple products are superior in other important environmental areas not measured by EPEAT.

Apple responded to criticism today for pulling its products from a green-electronics certification registry. Apple said it uses rigorous environmental standards to measure its devices, many of which are not used by the certification registry. This registry is called EPEAT and was created by the U.S. government's Environmental Protection Agency and several device manufacturers (including Apple). EPEAT lists products certified to be recyclable and energy efficient.

Here's what Apple's spokesperson 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.

Apple has a comprehensive section of its Web site dedicated to showing the size of its carbon footprint, along with other environmental information such as its toxin output, carbon emissions, and how much it recycles each year. For instance, the company shows that in 2011, it estimated it was responsible for 23.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions