Fairphone

How ethical is Fairphone? 

Fairphone, a mobile phone owned by Fairphone B.V., is one of The Good Shopping Guide’s well-rated ethical brands. The brand receives an excellent Good Shopping Guide Ethical Score in our Ethical Mobile Phones Ratings Table and therefore passes our Ethical Benchmark as a good ethical brand, and is eligible for Ethical Accreditation.

We encourage other companies in the Mobile Phone sector to follow Fairphone’s example and adopt more ethical policies and practices.

In what areas does Fairphone perform well?

Fairphone performs well across many categories of our research, encompassing our criteria for the Environment, Animals and People.

Fairphone was founded as a social enterprise in response to the phone industry’s impact on human life and on the environment. The company particularly aims to reduce the number of conflict minerals used in its products. Fairphone also tries to facilitate fair working conditions for its employees and suppliers. They source ‘fairer’ materials using small-scale, artisanal mines and Fairtrade gold. Fairphone also co-founded the Fair Cobalt Alliance, which also works to make cobalt mining safer and conflict-free. Bas van Abel, a founder of Fairphone, did admit that it is nearly impossible to make technology completely ‘fair’ within our current economic structures, but that his company does aim to make phones ‘fairer’.

The mobile company also encourages customers to maintain and repair its devices using the Fairphone modules. (This is the opposite of planned obsolescence; some tech companies manufacture products that quickly become out-of-date, break easily, or require equipment upgrades to work properly.)

Fairphone was launched in 2013 as a social venture with the help of the Waag Society (a Dutch lab that researches and develops sustainable, socially-just design and technology).

To find out more about Fairphone, see the Fairphone website.

If your mobile phone brand values ethics and sustainability, why not check out The Good Shopping Guide‘s Ethical Accreditation? Increase customer and investor confidence and stand out from the greenwash.