Executive Summary #2 Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)

PCF World Forum Executive Summaries provide quick references to concepts, initiatives and resources at the nexus of products, value chains and climate change.

Contents:

1. What is a product environmental footprint? 2. What are environmental impacts? 3. How is a product environmental footprint calculated? 4. What are product environmental footprints used for? 5. What methods/ standards define how a PEF is quantified and reported? 6. Is a product environmental footprint better than a product carbon footprint? 7. What about the “ecological footprint”? Is that the same? 8. About the PCF World Forum

1 What is a product environmental footprint? The term environmental footprint relates to the more established term “carbon footprint” and denotes the various environmental impacts or the aggregated environmental impact of systems, instead of climate impact alone. For product systems:

“A Product Environmental Footprint is a measure of the absolute environmental impact(s) over the full life cycle of a product (good or service) in a specified application”. Life cycle in this context denotes all value chain stages for making and disposing of a product over its full lifespan.

2 What are environmental impacts? A product may cause environmental impacts over its life cycle in different ways, typically through emissions into water, air or soil leading to environmental impacts (e.g. CO2 equivalent emissions

-> global warming/ climate change, chlorofluorocarbon equivalent emissions -> ozone depletion, toxic substances -> toxic effects in water or human body, H+ equivalents -> acidification, PO4

-3 equivalents -> eutrophication). use/depletion of scarce resources (e.g. fresh water, minerals, soil organic matter, forest cover,

biodiversity). Other possible environmental impacts of products are e.g. noise and land-use.

3 How is a product environmental footprint calculated? To derive an environmental footprint three core steps are necessary:

o System definition (scope, functional unit, boundaries) o Quantification of the amount of emissions and resource use o Impact assessment of emissions and resource use (based on models)

An additional step may aggregate the different environmental impacts to a single “score” or overall “impact” (requires weighing of the individual environmental impacts).

Hence, a measure for the different environmental impacts and perhaps an overall environmental impact is derived.

Standards and methods usually require additional steps for a meaningful assessment, e.g. definition of goals, uncertainty assessment or reporting formats.

A carbon footprint is typically one element of an environmental footprint.

   

© 2012, PCF World Forum c/o THEMA1 GmbH, Torstrasse 154, 10115 Berlin, Germany

Executive Summary #2 Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)

4 What are product environmental footprints used for? The benefits and uses of environmental footprints are similar to those of carbon footprints, but

more comprehensively address environmental impacts of products and value chains in different areas. See the Executive Summary #1 “Product Carbon Footprint” for further information.  

5 What methods/ standards define how a PEF is quantified and reported? The product environmental footprint is very much a specific case of a life cycle assessment

(LCA) as defined in ISO 14040/44. ISO 14025 with the instrument “Environmental Product Declarations” (EPD) provides further

specification for the communication of quantified environmental information on products for different purposes. The Global Environmental Declarations Network (GEDnet) coordinates many ISO based programmes employing EPDs.

The French Product Environmental Labelling Scheme (as part of “Grenelle II”) has developed a product environmental footprint methodology for all products and further specifications for product categories (e.g. shoes, jewellery) as a basis for product labelling.

The European Commission is currently producing a product environmental footprint methodology providing more specific rules for the comparable quantification of the environmental performance of products.

6 Is a product environmental footprint better than a product carbon footprint? It is neither nor. Methods and standards for carbon footprinting define more specifically how the impact category “global warming” is assessed and hence provide one element that is needed for a more comprehensive environmental footprint. It is a question of objectives (of the implementing organisation or the programme providing the framework and criteria) and available resources that determine scope and specificity of the assessment.

7 What about the “ecological footprint”? Is that the same? The ecological footprint is a measure for the amount of planetary biocapacity a system uses compared to the regenerative capacity available. It hence provides a different perspective on the environmental impact of products.

8 About the PCF World Forum The PCF World Forum is a neutral platform for companies and their stakeholders to reflect and act on challenges, practical experiences, initiatives, tools and insights towards climate-conscious value chains.

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