Corporate Responsibility
Products: Carbon Footprint
We are assessing the climate change impacts of our products across their entire lifecycles — from materials extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life.
Carbon footprinting helps us to understand the most effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with our products. It also enables us to respond to the increasing number of data requests from customers trying to understand the impacts of their supply chain.
Below are the results of our comparative lifecycle assessments (LCAs) for key products.
Enterprise Mobility
The majority of the lifecycle CO2 emissions associated with the barcode scanner (73 percent) and handheld computer (77 percent) used in the assessment result from manufacturing, largely due to the complexity of the devices. The use phase is less significant when compared to some of our other products as the devices are mostly operated sporadically.
Public Safety
The use phase is the most significant element of the carbon footprint for the portable radio (53 percent) used in the assessment, although manufacturing impacts also are significant (37 percent).
Ninety-eight percent of the lifecycle impacts of the public safety base station used in this assessment occur during use. The equipment is often continuously in use and each base station handles a large amount of data.
Background on our lifecycle assessments
The above analysis focuses on the lifecycle impact of typical Motorola products from 2008 and 2009. In the calculations, we assume the following use times:
Base station - 7 years
Handheld computer - 7 years
Bar code scanner - 7 years
Portable radio - 10 years
For the transportation phase, both inbound and outbound logistics are included. The assessments do not include the impact of accessories, packaging and user guides, and exclude the impacts of the end-of-life phase. Available data for recycling and disposal vary widely and we are analyzing the current research to determine the most accurate assumptions.
Motorola Solutions uses a third-party laboratory to complete LCAs of our products that follow the ISO 14040 and PAS 2050 LCA standards. The assessments were calculated using data collected from our manufacturing facilities, along with secondary data estimated using a third-party software tool.
Results of LCAs are dependent on the calculation method, scoping and assumptions used. The mobile industry does not yet have commonly agreed assessment criteria, which means it is not possible to compare LCAs conducted by different organizations.
Related links and resources
Separation news
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On Jan. 4, 2011, Motorola separated into two publicly traded companies, Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility. All data on this page, unless stated otherwise, relate to the former company Motorola, Inc.
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Highlights
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Alternative energy
Motorola Solutions is exploring ways to best integrate alternative energy into our infrastructure deployments. This enables us to stay ahead of market trends and contribute to efforts to move toward a low-carbon world. For example:
- Motorola Solutions has deployed the largest-ever number of TETRA base stations using hydrogen fuel cells for back-up power. This demonstrates that alternative fuels can be used effectively to support the high reliability demands of public safety networks. One hundred and seventeen base stations have been deployed to expand SINE, the Motorola Solutions-owned and -operated public safety network in Denmark.
