Eco Rating, an initiative launched by European operators to keep track of the environmental impact of smartphones, expanded to a further 11 countries, reaching a total of 35 markets globally, with EE, NOS and Proximus jumping on board.

The inclusion of the trio will bring the total number of operators on board to eight, while 22 manufacturers are already contributing to the scheme.

Since its launch in May 2021, Eco Rating has expanded from 24 European countries to consumers in nations across Europe, Africa, South America and, soon in Asia-Pacific.

Belgian operator Proximus has already launched the scheme, while EE and NOS will deploy in the coming months.

The Eco Rating consortium explained in a statement that most European suppliers are now covered the programme, which rates the environmental impact of devices by evaluating the production lifecycle along with the resources used in manufacturing to enable consumers to assess the overall sustainability credentials of their phones.

Eco Rating stated it launched a new feature which enables consumers to access sustainability scores using device brand and model details, and plans to introduce a new scoring system in 2023 as the number of devices evaluated increases.

The initiative currently covers over 300 phone models, double the number covered in 2021.