EPEAT for Solar
Managed by the Global Electronics Council® (GEC), the EPEAT® Ecolabel is the leading Type 1 ecolabel covering products and services from the technology sector. EPEAT and its criteria both ensure a product has a reduced impact on key environmental issues while also considering technology’s impact on human and labor rights.
EPEAT Criteria address these impacts across the entire product lifecycle, from the extraction of resources and manufacturing, through assembly, use, and end-of-life. EPEAT’s newly implemented criteria for embodied carbon ensure that EPEAT-registered solar modules are assembled with less carbon during their production, contributing to lower Scope 3 emissions for purchasers of solar panels or electricity from solar installations.
Products that meet EPEAT criteria are identified on the public-facing website called the EPEAT Registry. Before becoming EPEAT registered, an independent third-party certification and testing organization must verify the product’s conformance with EPEAT Criteria.
EPEAT’s global reputation, lifecycle-based Criteria, and online Registry create exciting opportunities for both manufacturers and purchasers of solar panels and inverters.
EPEAT for Solar: Updates
EPEAT and EPEAT Climate+ Have Expanded!
Effective 4 June 2024, GEC has activated its Ultra-Low Carbon Solar (ULCS) Criteria for the Solar category of the EPEAT electronics ecolabel.
It set the industry’s first embodied carbon threshold limits for use globally and GEC seeks to tackle the often-overlooked issue of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during solar module production. It also opened a path for solar modules to achieve the coveted EPEAT Climate+™ product designation.
EPEAT offers solar manufacturers meaningful criteria, third party verification, and easy to understand frameworks that provide transparency for buyers.
EPEAT helps government agencies, the private sector, educational institutions, and other organizations find and procure technology products that meet rigorous sustainability criteria.