Being eco-friendly is a top priority for Royal Philips Electronics, which announced it is focusing on products and practices that encourage environmental sustainability, especially in China and India.

Innovations for emerging markets will be a key part of Philips' sustainability initiative, as developing countries need more help in this area due to technology restrictions, said Barbara Kux, chief procurement officer and chairwoman of the Dutch giant's sustainability board .

The need for sustainability in the electronics sector in China was made evident on Friday, when the Ministry of Information Industry released a regulation to restrict the use of hazardous contents in electronic devices from next March. The move is similar to a European Union directive known as RoHS.

"We are very glad to see that a country like China is also taking sustainability seriously," said Kux.

In China's national blueprint for the next five years, the country has put sustainable development a top priority and aims to reduce the country's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product in 2010 by 20 per cent from the end of 2005.

The latest available statistics show that China's energy consumption per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) was 11 times as much as Japan's and four times more than in the United States in 2003.

Philips China has set up a sustainability board to discuss how to do businesses without damaging the environment.

The Chinese operation will continue to serve as a major manufacturing and design base for some of Philips' Green Flagship products, which are economically conscious in terms of energy consumption, packaging, recycling and lifetime reliability.

A mobile phone with an extra-long battery life, a flat screen TV that uses half the energy of a regular set and energy-efficient lighting are examples of such products.

Last year, Philips doubled its revenue from Green Flagship products to 2 billion euros (US$2.4 billion), almost 7 per cent of its total revenues for 2005.

Philips said its products made in China comply with the Rohs directive and can meet the requirement set by the Chinese Government.

Source: China Daily