Better Sustainability Policies for Electronics

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

I joined the Global Electronics Association in August 2025 as the director of sustainability policy. Since then, much has happened in terms of geopolitics and in the development and re-envisioning of sustainability policies in the industry. While the European Commission has released several legislative packages to simplify sustainability requirements (“omnibus”), these developments haven’t yet settled and are not in effect.

Given the many recent and ongoing public consultations, with often conflicting input from a broad range of stakeholders, final negotiations remain rather polarized among policymakers.

At the same time, we are seeing many changes in the U.S. The entire Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) framework is being legally challenged and this creates business uncertainty. In other countries and regions, Asia and Latin America included, we notice a visible focus on emerging due diligence, corporate sustainability, and REACH-like regulations.

In this article, I’ll discuss this year’s EU highlights and 2026 developments and reflect on how the electronics industry can take practical steps to inform smarter policies.

Electronics and Sustainability

Advancing a profitable business and sustainable solutions at the same time is challenging. Sustainability for electronics companies requires a concerted effort, but it is within reach. This is due to:

• Inherently complex supply chains and reliance on rare materials
• Limited lifespans and planned obsolescence
• Recycling is technically challenging and economically unattractive
• Consumer behavior and infrastructure gaps
• Regulatory reporting burden
• Lack of coherence in regulatory definitions around the globe; a lack of mature circularity policies to date

Stronger, data-informed sustainability policies are essential for business, not only to improve compliance with climate targets, for example, and to reduce the use of toxic chemicals, but also to address the structural barriers that the electronics industry faces in becoming more sustainable. Such policies must be shaped by insights from within the industry itself, through real-life business cases and consolidated data. As an industry, we need to proactively provide sufficient technical information to policymakers up front.

To continue reading this article, which originally appeared in the October 2025 edition of PCB007 Magazine, click here.