The key environmental issues for Ericsson as for many companies in the Information and Communications Technology-sector (ICT) fall into two main areas: energy use and climate change; and materials and waste.

Ericsson uses four central principles to understand those impacts and address them with a consistent and methodical approach:

• Environmental Management System (EMS). The environmental work is governed by the EMS which is regularly reviewed by external assessors for compliance to ISO 140001.
  
  
• Life­-Cycle Assessment (LCA). Our LCA work includes monitoring and reporting on our performance in: materials, energy, water, biodiversity, emissions, effluents and waste, products and services and transport. Key performance indicators can be found in this report and on our website.
  
  
• The Design for Environment (DFE) is part of the standard requirement specifications we use in our design process, and ensures that environmental aspects are included in product design.
  
  
• Ecology Management. At end-of-life, Ericsson offers a complete product take-back program designed to meet the EU Waste from Electronic Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive and other national e-waste regulations. Ericsson has implemented this program not just in the EU but globally.