Vodafone introduced a new Eco Rating system for mobile phones yesterday.
The idea is to give Kiwis a fix on which cellphone models have the best green rating. A single score out of five is delivered after questions on 200 criteria are asked of handset manufactures.
Vodafone says results are verified by KPMG.
And it doesn't seem like a patsy system.
One of the handsets Vodafone has pushed hardest in co-op marketing, Samsung's Galaxy S3, gets a modest 2.6 on the five-point scale (1 is worst for the planet, 5 is best).
But Vodafone's iPhone page, (www.vodoafone.co.nz/iphone) displays no Eco Rating for the iconic handset.
What's up?
Vodafone would only offer "While Eco Rating is open to all the manufacturers that supply us with the handsets we sell, one manufacturer has chosen not to take part at this stage."
On a sidenote, Apple director, former vice-president and green activist Al Gore is in Auckland on October 12.
The cheapest tickets to his speech are $804. Must cost a lot to pay for all that air travel, and carbon credits.