How ethical is HTC?
HTC, a mobile phone brand the HTC Corporation, is given a low Ethical Rating by The Good Shopping Guide. Unfortunately, this brand receives a low Good Shopping Guide Ethical Score in our Ethical Mobile Phones Ratings Table and has therefore not yet met our minimum Ethical Benchmark.
In what areas does HTC perform poorly?
HTC performs particularly poorly in our research criteria for the Environment. Whilst HTC provides a public Corporate Responsibility report there are no targets though and little evidence of progress towards environmental initiatives. Vague commitments such as, “Our engineers and designers are focused on designing devices that are more energy efficient,” are unfortunately not enough to score well for our Environmental Report criteria.
HTC and China’s oppression of the Uyghur people
HTC’s score for Human Rights also takes a knock, as HTC appears on The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s report on companies implicated in Uyghur forced labour factories.
The Chinese government has been charged with perpetuating a genocide against the ethnic group, imprisoning Uyghurs in locations far from their homes in Xinjiang, engaging in ‘brainwashing’, and forcing Uyghur people to have abortions and sterilisations. Any business that deliberately engages in the genocide of the Uyghur people by supporting the Chinese government and using forced labour receives very low marks for human rights!
In what areas does HTC perform well?
HTC does publish a satisfactory and comprehensive Supplier Code of Conduct, which details HTC’s commitment to ensuring that workers in the supply chain have not been forced into working and that all HTC employees’ human rights are upheld. Whilst this might not be the case in actuality, at the very least, publishing a Code of Conduct does ensure that brands can be held accountable for their actions, and their hypocrisy called out by ethical shoppers.
HTC are also not found to be involved in Nuclear energy or weapons or to be involved in Animal Testing or Armaments.
How can the HTC brand improve its Ethical Rating?
The Good Shopping Guide’s score results from 15 ethical criteria in relation to HTC. To reach our Ethical Benchmark and qualify for our Ethical Accreditation, HTC has several issues to deal with, including its involvement in Uyghur forced labour and working on a detailed and precise Environmental Report.
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.
Ethical performance in category
GSG score
GSG category benchmark
Ethical Rating
Environment
-
Environmental Report
Poor
-
Nuclear Power
Good
-
Eco Labels
Poor
-
Fossil Fuels
Good
Animal
-
Animal Welfare
Good
People
-
Armaments
Good
-
Code of Conduct
Acceptable
-
Political Donations
Good
-
Human Rights
Acceptable
-
Conflict Minerals
Acceptable
Other
-
Ethical Accreditation
Poor
-
Other Criticisms
Poor
= GSG Top Rating = GSG Middle Rating = GSG Bottom Rating