Responses to Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP ...
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Responses to Questionnaire on
Environmental Issues
in FP7 NMP Projects
on Materials
Research and Innovation
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Directorate G – Industrial Technologies
Unit G3 – Materials
E-mail: [email protected]
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
REPORT ON
Responses to Questionnaire on
Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP
Projects on Materials
Edited by
Dr. Johan Veiga Benesch
© beholdereye Fotolia.com
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
2012 Industrial Technologies Material Unit EUR 12366 EN
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3
Executive Summary
Environmental issues require more and
more attention at EU policy level. This
can for example be seen in the Raw
Materials Initiative by DG Enterprise and
Resource Efficient Europe by DG
Environment which goes back to the
theme of a sustainable economy as
expressed by the Europe 2020 growth
strategy. DG Research and Innovation
supports related research activities, and
the Nanotechnology, Materials &
Production (NMP) Theme in the FP7
Cooperation scheme has taken stock of
this. This would include aspects such as
substitution, life cycle assessment,
improved resource efficiency and better
performance materials in the NMP calls
for proposals.
Materials and their use can have a large
environmental impact in many aspects,
from sourcing, extraction, processing,
auxiliary materials and processes, use up
to end of life. The choice or design of
material solutions can thus have a great
impact on the technologies in which they
are used. This implies that a material
could be an integral part of the solution
to a problem created by the use of a
specific technology. Such solutions could
require entirely new materials either to
replace a material or be part of a new
technology based on materials that
perform better.
With this enquiry the Materials unit of
the Directorate for Industrial
Technologies of the DG of Research and
Innovation aimed to understand better
how project consortia view
environmental issues. This would refer to
how they could be included and handled
in FP7 NMP projects on Materials. A brief
questionnaire was therefore devised,
comprising 6 questions covering the level
of importance of environmental issues
with focus on RTD projects, how they are
incorporated and affect the outcome of
the project as well as including
recommendations on how to best handle
environmental issues in RTD projects.
Environmental issues for the purpose of
this questionnaire include, but are not
restricted to, resource efficiency,
recycling, precautionary and substitution
principles, eco-toxicity, bioaccumulation,
life cycle assessment, end of life use,
sustainable use, green production, and
European environmental policies.
61 out of the contacted 103 FP7 NMP
projects on materials responded of which
74% claimed to include environmental
issues. Of those that stated that they do
not handle environmental issues most
claimed they were of too fundamental a
character to include any such issues.
Some of those also stated that their
outputs have the potential to lead to
improved environmental impact by
4 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
development of better performing
material's solutions. The responses to
the open-ended questions were grouped
thematically in an attempt to get a
better appreciation of the relative
importance of the comments from the
consortia. This grouping could also aid in
devising questionnaires for potential
future studies on environmental issues in
projects.
Two main advantages to include
environmental issues were identified by
the respondents, namely; to develop less
harmful materials and/or processes (by
substitution or optimisation), and to
make the output from projects more
attractive to industry. An improved
environmental impact could then be
demonstrated, such as environmental
protection for a secure and healthy life
by avoiding harm to people and
environment. About half of the
respondents use recognised
environmental protocols, such as Life
Cycle Assessment according to ISO
14040 and/or ILCD handbook,
environmental management systems or
activities to comply with REACH. It is
generally expected that newly developed
materials would be correlated to
environmental friendliness, which can be
increased by using the feedback from life
cycle assessment support during its
development. Some noted the
importance of handling environmental,
health and safety (EHS) in conjunction.
Almost two thirds say that inclusion of
environmental concerns help to steer the
output from the projects, such as helping
in selecting optimal materials or
processes. Approximately one third said
environmental issues are the basis for
the projects. Overall, consideration of
environmental issues helps to create a
technological culture that avoids future
human and environmental damage,
which is costly in human and economic
terms. It was also perceived to increase
the need to develop new
(environmentally friendly) materials and
substitute materials. This would
encourage industry towards innovation
and exploitation resulting in
technological leadership of European
industries. For many of the respondents
a big justification for the project was to
develop new environmentally friendly
materials solutions, e.g. sustainable
sources materials for products based on
eco-design and/or with entire life cycle in
mind. Better environmental behaviour is
expected to improve the competitiveness
of new materials and their market value.
Tackling environmental and eco-toxicity
issues upstream in the innovation value
chain is by the respondents overall seen
as advantageous, as it allows avoid
investing in research in technologies
which finally would not into industrial
production, and to pave the way to
accelerate industrial take-up of
promising material solutions.
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The respondents' highlighted the value
also of on non-monetary support from
the European Commission such as
networking between projects and
between projects and other stakeholders.
It was suggested to explore the
possibilities for cross-project activities
including data and tools sharing and
horizon mapping. The setting up of a
tight network among projects related to
the various environmental issues was
seen as desirable. Further suggestions
entailed training (e.g. LCA, REACH, EU
regulations, work place safety etc.),
environmental guidelines (for proposers
and running projects) and EU database
(single entry point) on environmental
issues (e.g. guidelines and regulations).
The most common recommendation from
respondents for projects on materials
was to include environmental issues as
soon as possible to get an early view of
the required research efforts and
regulatory requirements so as to be able
to adapt the projects accordingly, while
at the same time, not losing valuable
time on less sound material options.
Among the suggestions was noted the
need to define environmental
requirements, risks and specifications at
the beginning of the project, and to
analyse the most recent status of
environmental regulation. The
respondents also recommended to
include pertinent expertise, use
recognised protocols and to look at the
entire life cycle of the studied materials.
Identification of the required specialised
fields of expertise needed is essential
and, as a consequence, the inclusion of
personnel already qualified or ready to
undergo specific trainings on handling
the relevant environmental issues.
Assessment of environmental issues in a
life cycle perspective, in combination
with comprehensive safety
considerations and risk assessment of
processes, is considered as crucial in
order to optimise the environmental
performance and commercialisation of
the material technologies under
development. Some suggested
reinforcing the importance of
environmental issues in EU calls for
proposals and subsequent evaluations.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary......................................................................................... 3
Table of Contents............................................................................................. 7
Methodology..................................................................................................... 8
Replies .............................................................................................................. 9
Q1. Does the work in your FP7 NMP materials project cover
environmental issues (Yes/No)? .................................................. 9
Q2. What are the advantages of including environmental issues in
your materials project? .............................................................. 10
Q3. Does your project follow any recognised procedures in
handling environmental issues, e.g. REACH, LCA (ILCD or ISO
14040) or OECD guidelines for testing of chemicals etc?............ 17
Q4. How do the environmental issues influence the outcome of
your materials project? .............................................................. 20
Q5. What kind of non-monetary support from European
Commission could be of use?...................................................... 23
Q6. Which are your recommendations on handling environmental
issues in materials projects? ...................................................... 27
Annex 1 List of pertinent websites.............................................................. 34
Annex 2 Examples of horizontal projects on environmental issues ........ 35
Annex 3 List of respondents, in alphabetical order of project acronym.. 36
8 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
Methodology A brief questionnaire was devised,
comprising 6 questions covering the level
of importance of environmental issues
with focus on RTD projects, as follows:
1. Does the work in your FP7 NMP
materials project cover environmental
issues (Yes/No)?
2. What are the advantages of including
environmental issues in your materials
project?
3. Does your project follow any
recognised procedures in handling
environmental issues, e.g. REACH, LCA
(ILCD or ISO 14040) or OECD guidelines
for testing of chemicals etc?
4. How do the environmental issues
influence the outcome of your materials
project?
5. What kind of non-monetary support
from European Commission could be of
use?
6. Which are your recommendations on
handling environmental issues in
materials projects?
The questionnaire was sent to the
coordinators asking them to confer with
their project partners. The focus was on
FP7 NMP projects with RTD activities
related to materials (i.e. handled by the
unit G3 Materials) albeit some CSAs
were also contacted. It was noted to be
important to as well invite coordinators
for projects in which the calls for
proposal did not necessarily specify any
environmental concerns. The
questionnaire was sent in the first
quarter of 2012 to projects starting
latest 1 February 2012. The coordinators
were also asked to keep their reply
concise, not more than 2 pages. It was
also highlighted that the questionnaire is
not an evaluation of their FP7 NMP
project. In some cases the replies came
separately from the partners, these were
collated to make one reply per project
(See Annex 3).
The choice of using open-ended
questions was made to allow for a wide
range of replies. In an attempt to
structure the replies for questions 2 to 6
they were grouped in themes based on
their commonalities. The occurrences
were then counted to get an appreciation
of the relative importance of the
identified themes. For each question
these are put into figures followed by a
summary of the responses for each
theme. These summaries were made as
collages of the received replies.
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Replies
103 projects were contacted of which 61
replied. See the response rates in Figure
1.1. Note that questions 5 and 6 were
asking for recommendations, hence "no"
was not an answer. As seen in the
replies to second, third and fourth
questions the level of involvement in
environmental issues varies to a fairly
large extent for those that said yes. The
majority had constructive comments and
suggestions on how to handle
environmental issues in projects and
ideas for non-monetary support to
running projects, also from consortia
which saw no environmental issues in
their current FP7 NMP projects on
materials.
Figure 1. Response rate including distinction Yes/No, where appropriate.
Q1. Does the work in your FP7 NMP materials project cover environmental issues (Yes/No)? 74% of the respondents claim that their
projects include environmental issues,
and 26% said they have none. This is
not a surprisingly high number since
many calls for proposals at least hint at
environmental issues, without
necessarily demanding them to be
included in the proposals.
Response rates
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6
No replyNoYes
10 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
Q2. What are the advantages of including environmental issues in your materials project? Circa 80% of all the respondents saw
one or more advantages of including
environmental issues in materials
projects. Overall 60% noted multiple
advantages (ca 80% of the positive
replies to the 1st question (Q1.yes)).
Only 20% saw no advantage or did not
respond. All Q1.yes gave at least one
example of an advantage. Given the
open ended nature of this question the
answers have been loosely grouped into
9 themes as follows in the below sub-
headings, with an overview in Figure 2.1.
The two most commonly stated
advantages were development of less
harmful materials or processes (48%)
and making the RTD output more
attractive to industry (40%). A third of
the respondents stated improved
resource efficiency, and a quarter of
them stated early incorporation of
environmental assessment and/or
important driver for RTD on new
materials. Below follows a collage of the
comments from the respondents.
Advantages of including environmental issues in NMP projects on materials?
0 10 20 30 40 50
No response
None
Compliance with regulation
Improve the work environment
Stakeholders' awareness and/or acceptance
End-of-life
Driver for RTD on new materials
Early incorporation of environmental assessment
Improved resource efficiency
Making RTD output attractive to industry
Development of less harmful materials/processes
% responses Figure 2. Percentage of the respondents that gave replies as per the identified themes of
advantages of including environmental issues in materials projects
Development of less harmful materials or processes
Almost half the respondents claimed that
their material projects aim to develop
less harmful materials, procedures
around the materials and/or materials
for processes with improved
environmental impact. In some projects
environmental, health and safety aspects
(EHS) are taken into account in
conjunction. For new materials it often
the case of finding substitutes but also to
improve their use (see also "improved
resource efficiency") that may lead to
environmental protection for a secure
and healthy life by avoiding harm to
people and environment. Additionally,
the use of eco-friendly reagents and
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chemicals could also make the new
materials more suitable for applications
in the biomedical sector. The comments
can be summed up as aiming to:
• decrease of CO2 emissions
• lower emission/leaching of (potentially) toxic substances to the environment (e.g. air, water, soil)
• lower the eco-toxicity
• substitute a material (e.g. silver, rare earth metals, fossil oil-based chemicals, biocides etc) for another
• eliminate hazardous toxic and difficult to handle chemical reagents (see also "regulation compliance")
• benchmark against current materials/technology
• use green chemistry (eco-friendly chemicals/polymers and sustainable sources raw materials) as a precautionary measure for both process chemicals and final product.
• develop processing routes that are more environmentally friendly
• move to technology that uses less harmful materials (see also "regulation compliance") e.g. self-cleaning surfaces rather than frequent maintenance, magnetic probes rather than radioisotopes etc
Making the RTD output more attractive to industry
40% of the respondents thought that
handling environmental issues would
make the output more attractive to
industry. The real value of including
environmental issues in material project
is the link between environmental
criteria throughout the life cycle, the
strategies of the partners and planning
to achieve sustainable business benefits.
All these parameters can provide
valuable information about efficiency of
resource use of a production system and
waste management. It also can help
companies gain competitive advantages
through cost savings, increase profits
and improve the image (of the company
or of a particular product). This can help
to strengthen the market position or to
increase the market share.
The advantage is to have the possibility
to know the environmental friendliness
of the materials developed and compare
these properties with actual used
commercial materials. This offers the
possibility to develop competitive
materials with a good performance being
at the same time sustainable and
environmental friendly, which is a high
added value for the developed products.
One may also benchmark the
environmental performance against
competing technologies and add to the
overall evaluation of our technique. It
was suggested that industrialists are
sensitive to this impact, and one has to
take into account it during the
elaboration of materials as well as
implementation of these new
technologies, especially, if this fits with
their corporate policy based on
sustainable growth. It might even be
that the industrial partners reminded the
others to take care of the environmental
issue and if necessary reoriented the
work toward this issue.
12 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
R&D projects are the main interfaces
where innovative companies are
confronted with critical decisions about
implementing new types of advanced
materials in their product portfolios. One
goal is to make use of any possibility to
evaluate and to apply protective
measures already at the project level.
This is done in order to guarantee the
ecological sustainability of a company.
Notably since improved environmental
may provide additional selling points.
Improved resource efficiency
Over a third of the respondents identified
issues related to improved use of
resources. See also "end-of-life". The
advantages are economic and social
since the materials developed within
materials project could allow:
• lower input of material during production, e.g. additive rather than subtractive manufacturing
• decrease in consumption of materials, e.g. longer lasting materials, reusable products and easier recycling
• less use of energy during production, usage and end-of-life
• less use of energy since smaller amount of material to achieve same level of functionality, e.g. smart design of materials and components for photovoltaics.
One may also increase the resource
efficiency by using and wasting less
scarce or non-renewable materials in
combination with improved recycling
processes. For example by:
• working at lower scale (microfluidics) thus lowering the amount of liquids.
• using polymeric based conductors, the amount of metal employed is expected to decrease.
• adaptable progress by tailoring a surface to the requirements of the part. This simplifies the manufacturing process by saving raw material as well as effort in manpower.
• Developing multifunctional materials that each could lead to improved efficiency such as, thermal storage (reduction of energy consumption for heating), self-cleaning capacity (reduction in use of hazardous products) and IR high reflection (reduction of energy consumption for cooling) are included.
• sorting materials out of components at the end of life
Early incorporation of environmental assessment
Almost 30% claimed advantages of
including and integrating environmental
issues at the beginning of materials
projects. One can then identify and take
action if any materials have toxic or
other adverse impacts on the
environment or human health. Materials
and technologies thusly developed are
expected to be widely used in the future,
prepare and preserve the future as they
already take into account environmental
concerns. Otherwise a situation may
occur where the material and
corresponding technologies are being
13
developed quite far and afterward one
finds out that the environmental and
health risks that the material possess
does not allow its successful
implementation into the products.
This is can also be reflected in the choice
of criteria to aid in selecting the best
performing materials. Such as having
clear guidelines for the materials search;
e.g. they must consist of elements that
are non-toxic and environmental benign
(in addition to cheap and abundant). The
sustainability criterion can also be used
to assess the project progress and be
used as an efficient project management
tool. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
tool also offers the possibility of
comparing the environmental impacts of
different materials/systems used for the
same purpose, in order to determine the
economic and environmental optimum.
By including attention to environmental
issues, one can better understand the
advantages using a material, allowing
the identification of potential
environmental impacts of the new
materials jointly with the development of
control measures for them. The LCA
provides relevant knowledge about the
stage of the life cycle of a
product/process that is susceptible to
changes or improvements to increase
the sustainability of the overall process,
also when looking at cradle to gate
production systems. Including the
impacts throughout the product life cycle,
LCA provides a more accurate picture of
the true environmental trade-offs in
product and process selection.
It is also an advantage to have the
possibility to know the environmental
friendliness of the developed materials
and compare these properties with
currently used commercial materials.
This offers the possibility to develop
competitive materials with a good
performance being at the same time
sustainable and environmental friendly.
This in turn can be viewed as a high
added value for the developed products.
The assessment of technologies/products
developed in the project provides
information about the potential
environmental benefits that can be
obtained.
Important driver for RTD on new materials
Circa a quarter of the respondents
pointed out this issue. A project
focussing on the development of new
materials should be aware of the
importance of the environmental issues
as potential risks of new technologies
and products/materials are becoming an
ever increasing factor of sustainable
success of these technologies and
products. It is an obvious advantage to
work in a very competitive area because
Environmental Material Science and
Engineering constitutes one of the
14 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
currently most potential and rapidly
developing fields.
Environmental issues are gaining more
and more importance during the last few
years. Current materials solutions have
technological, cost or environmental
limitations. Indeed in the past most of
the research and developments in
materials were axed around cost
reduction and new functionality. Today
there is a need for materials at
equivalent costs and performances but
with better environmental aspect. In this
respect it can be viewed more as a
necessity, since materials and processes
that would not also take environmental
issues into account would probably be
less likely to be used in practice.
End-of-life (recycling, waste management etc)
Around a quarter of the respondents
pointed out at least one issue related to
the whole value chain starting from
sourcing of raw materials, to material
optimisation up to the production of
individual components. Some related
issues can be seen under "improved
resource efficiency". Part of the
European materials industry to a large
extent relies on external sources.
Improving waste management and
recycling at end-of-life could alleviate
this; also improve the environmental
impacts of the waste handling. This is
also true for internally sourced materials.
Extension of the lifecycle endurance is
expected by use of the new materials.
This in turn could lead to an increased
sustainability, reducing environmental
pressure on its disposal, making it also
more cost effective. To find
environmentally friendly ways of
producing the final product helps to
avoid expensive ways of disposal of
waste materials (e.g. by producing less
waste) and helps in marketing new
products.
Increasing stakeholders' awareness and/or acceptance
A fifth of the respondents noted that by
taking environmental issues into account
one can improve the image of the
project in relation to its external
stakeholders. Environmental issues
influence the long term impact of our
society on its surrounding and as such
they should indeed be evaluated
carefully. It provokes a continued
awareness of the relevance of devices in
future environmental research that could
lead to increased acceptance of the novel
technologies by both the industrial and
the societal sector, and strengthen the
worldwide recognition of research in the
EU. The advantage of including
environmental issues in materials project
is also to provide the society the
response to a legitimate question. In
general, complying with recognised
15
environmental precautions strengthens
possible end users’ faith in the project
and its output.
For example, it was considered that it is
advantageous to include environmental
topics in the discussions so that the
community is aware of the broader
impacts of nanomaterials in formulations,
i.e. by putting the new material solutions
into a wider context. Deeper
investigation of the interactions of the
developed materials with biota could
facilitate their further acceptance by
industries and consumers (more
generally by society). Environmental
management offers increased
competitive advantage when customers
are involved in the production or service
process. It might be easier to
disseminate project activities to the
public, since the public is highly
interested in the environmental issues.
The public would also realise how tax-
payers’ money has been spent for
research activities. This is an advantage
not only for materials project but also
other projects.
This increase in awareness could also
happen within the consortia, e.g.
researchers specialised in materials are
trained to use LCA and thanks to the
continuous assessment of the
environmental impact all along the
project, partners that were initially not
used to sustainability assessment to give
project orientations have integrated this
“way of doing things”. There is a good
chance that the partners, specialised in
material development, keep the use of
LCA in their other projects even if it is
not explicitly requested. Inclusion of
environmental obligations in the projects
was perceived to help to increase the
awareness of environmental issues
(including working conditions).
Improve the work environment
1 out of 5 respondents claim to include
research and/or measures to improve
the quality of the work environment
either in laboratory or for production
lines. Such as setting up protocols and
procedures to safely handle reactants
and solvents. These range from control
in laboratory security to protocols for
chemical waste management. The use of
less harmful reagents/materials can in
itself ease the access to laboratories and
other third party facilities (e.g. service
measurements) thanks to reduced
material safety concerns, also, by
avoiding transports of “dangerous goods”.
Projects can contribute to the
development of guidance on risk
management and best available
techniques to minimise and control any
health risks to manufacturers,
downstream users and the environment.
In addition such issues are a natural part
of the research work itself and is
becoming more and more important, to
16 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
protect the employees and the
environment, and to contribute to a
positive working environment.
Compliance with regulation
Reasonably few, just below 15% of the
respondents, made the connection to
regulatory compliance. It was noted that
one should be vigilant in order to
minimise the risk of developing materials
systems which are not compliant with
environmental regulation. There can be
regulatory pressure to develop new
materials for which a phase out is
foreseen, e.g. related to bans or limits of
specific materials on the European
market. Similar issues could also be
found in workers' health and work place
security related regulations. Chemical
companies are aware that this can be
achieved firmly by following
internationally acknowledged standards
which also cover the R&D projects. For
example, to already at an early stage
include environmental and health
certification of developed materials. It is
also important that all materials are
handled strictly following applicable
European guidelines and regulations
during the development stages. Materials
with less regulatory restrictions are also
more easily accepted and handled by
producers, intermediaries and end-users.
Very few identified advantages
The projects described themselves as
either too theoretical or basic science, or
simply did not include any environmental
aspects at the proposal stage. Some
stated that, albeit out of the scope of the
project, the outputs might eventually
indirectly lead to improved
environmental impact by enhanced
performance of the studied materials or
processes based on fundamental
research.
17
Q3. Does your project follow any recognised procedures in handling environmental issues, e.g. REACH, LCA (ILCD or ISO 14040) or OECD guidelines for testing of chemicals etc? Almost half of the respondents relied on
some kind of externally defined
guidelines in handling environmental
issues. A third mentioned included
multiple guidelines, 40% relied on
standards and 30% on regulations. 28%
included LCA according to ILCD or ISO
14040, and 22% mentioned compliance
with REACH regulation. A collage of the
feedback follows below.
Inclusion of recognised procedures
0 10 20 30 40 50
Standards
LCA
Legislation (excl REACH)
REACH
External guidelines
In-house guidelines
No
No response
% of respondents
Figure 3. Percentage of the respondents that said they include identified recognised
procedures in their project.
Standards (e.g. ISO/CEN, excluding LCA)
Almost all mentioned related
environmental standards were ISO
standards, ranging from technical testing
of materials, health and safety practises
for work environment to environmental
management certification, both ISO
14001 and EMAS. Very few also
mentioned that projects partners are
active members in CEN or ISO technical
committees.
Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040 and/or ILCD handbook)
The included Life Cycle Assessments
(LCA) relied on either the ISO 14040
family or the ILCD handbook. LCA is a
standardised technique to assess the
environmental aspects and potential
impacts associated with a product,
process or service, following four
phases: goal definition and scoping,
inventory analysis, impact assessment
and interpretation. It is generally
expected that newly developed materials
would be correlated to environmental
friendliness, which can be increased by
using the feedback from life cycle
assessment support during its
development. For the chosen
environmental categories the method
recommended in ILCD were often
followed. An assessment of
environmental and socio-economic
18 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
impacts will be developed about the
following phases: 1. production of raw
materials needed; 2. industrial process;
3. using the product; 4. disposal of
waste. Some also mentioned the use of
sub-contractors for the external review
required for some levels of LCA.
Legislation (excluding REACH)
Some noted that it is useful to be aware
of regulations and development thereof.
Those that mentioned specific
regulations often related to national
legislation on waste management and
work environment. It was also stated
that more and more new technologies
are precisely supervised with regulations
sometimes in perceived contradiction
with their future use.
REACH
REACH legislation (Registration,
Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction
of Chemical substances, EC 1907/2006)
was mentioned at various levels, such
as:
• partners have set in place procedures to handle REACH compliance
• only use chemicals that have REACH compliant MSDS
• assessing the need for REACH compliance of the materials developed in the project
• do the evaluation according to REACH (and OECD guidelines)
A few projects have tasks or work
packages entirely devoted to REACH
compliance. Also, some mentioned the
importance to recognise the EU directive
on the precautionary principle, advice on
life cycle approaches, REACH regulations,
specific food and cosmetic regulations,
and to use a hazard/exposure score
matrix approach to determine the health
risks of all chemicals employed. REACH
is always an issue when chemists look
for new ways to manipulate biomass-
based products. Also, projects' newly
developed testing protocols could
provide means to support REACH or
similar regulatory requirements for
testing of chemicals.
External guidelines (OECD, WHO, UNEP etc)
Reference was given to guidelines
provided by a good number of
organisations both international and
non-governmental such as UNEP
(SAICM), WHO, OECD, ICCA (GPS), and
some related to USA bodies and
regulations, e.g. DOE and ChAMP.
Typically these were seen as part of the
landscape of environmental issues to
take into account depending on the
scope of the project. However, care must
be taken with handling of these products
and therefore the existing guidelines
should be taken into consideration
19
whenever relevant. Again, some looked
at the wider scope of HSE issues and/or
the product chain.
In-house guidelines
These refer to in-house guidelines on
work environment and standard
operating procedures. These could aim
to handle laboratory testing to handling
of waste, but also to build solid
laboratory culture with the aim to take
on board environmental management
systems and good practises.
None or no response
These projects consider themselves too
fundamental to include any
environmental concerns, or simply that
they were not defined to be within the
scope of the project. Albeit some noted
that environmental issues may need to
be taken into account when aiming to
push the foreground beyond the scope of
the project.
20 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
Q4. How do the environmental issues influence the outcome of your materials project? Almost 70% of the respondents stated
that environmental issues have an
impact on their projects by steering the
project (63%) and/or being the basis for
it (33%), and almost half said both.
Those that claimed no or little influence
mostly did so because their projects
were perceived to be too fundamental or
that environmental issues were not
defined to be part of the project from the
start. A collage of the feedback follows
below.
Influence on project outcomes
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Steers the project
Basis for the design of the project
Does not or only little
No response
% of respondents Figure 4. The percentages of the respondents that identify an influence of environmental
issues on the outcomes of their project.
Steer the project
Most of these comments noted that the
(LCA) analysis of environmental (and
occupational) impacts has influenced the
selection of the best materials and/or
sustainable production options. This
includes materials, equipment, controls
and management measures. Best in this
context often meant optimisation of both
environmental and economic aspects,
and in some cases also included health
and safety issues, in relation to the
expected applications and existing
technologies. This has also raised the
level of awareness of environmentally-
constrained design, production and
waste disposal issues in the research,
the development, scale-up and
commercialisation of the material. This
helps to create a technological culture
that better avoids future human and
environmental damage, which is costly in
human and economic terms. It can
increase pressure for the development of
new (environmental-friendly) materials
and substitute materials thus provides
an incentive for industry to aim towards
innovation and exploitation resulting in
technological leadership of European
industries.
Not all projects looked at the entire
value chain, so focus might have been
solely on sourcing of materials,
production, usage and end-of-life, or a
combination thereof. This also influenced
the level at which environmental issues
were taken into account. Some saw
environmental issues as the first
priorities in steering the project which
then was related to whether the
21
environmental issues was seen as the
basis for the project, or not. For example,
some noted that environmental issues
are critical because they can decide the
future of the field.
The timing of the assessment can also
influence the project. For example, since
each substitution must be justified on
the ground that it brings a sufficient
benefit. In many cases, it is not bringing
a benefit and the project must consider
these results in order to improve their
strategy. It can create bottlenecks when
basic research topics are performed in
order to understand basic dependencies
and material behaviour. For example, if
included in projects of more fundamental
nature.
Environmental aspects can also provide
added value to the projects being
researched if placed in a real world
context and drive the main objective
(environmentally-friendly materials and
processes). In other cases they are
issues that need to be taken into account
in the same way as costs. It may lead to
safety regulations in production, use and
end of life stages. It may also influence
the choice and extent of recycling
techniques.
Inclusion of environmental issues may
also influence materials project and its
partners in different ways such as
helping to establish collaborations with
groups of academic excellence within
and outside Europe, and production of
scientific work publishable in high impact
journals
Basis for the design of the project
For these respondents a big justification
for the project was to develop new
environmentally friendly materials
solutions, e.g. sustainable sourced
materials for products based on eco-
design and/or with the entire life cycle in
mind. Also better environmental
behaviour is expected to improve the
competitiveness of the new material and
its market value. Often the reason is to
find substitutions to harmful and/or non-
renewable materials, e.g. the materials
search was restricted in order to have
products that could enter the market
providing non-toxic and environmentally
benign component materials. Some
aimed to use environmentally friendly
raw materials for the development of
materials, such as recycled materials and
also the recycling and life cycle analysis
of the products developed are considered.
At the same time many also aimed to
develop materials that are expected to
give higher performance in specific
applications such as catalysis,
22 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
photovoltaics, magnets, light-weight
materials etc. Some aimed at green
product design (design for the
environment) since it can lead to less
waste, less use of harmful materials,
greater productivity, and greater
innovation. Also noting that continuous
effort to develop more environmental
friendly materials will lead to sustainable
and cost efficient products and
production processes and hence to better
marketable products and enhanced
competitiveness. Inclusion of
environmental issues at the R&D project
level was perceived to provide valuable
know-how and the daily practice of
environmental thinking, which facilitate
the future commercialisation of the
project outputs.
23
Q5. What kind of non-monetary support from European Commission could be of use? Almost 70% had ideas for non-monetary
support to projects. The most frequent
comments were related to networking
activities (33%) closely followed by
guidelines and EU database (single entry
point) (30%). A collage of the
suggestions follows below.
Suggestions of non-monetary support from the European Commission
0 10 20 30 40
Networking
Guidelines
EU database
Training
LCA support
Regulations/Standards
Other
No reply
% of respondents
Figure 5. Percentages of the respondents giving suggestions for non-monetary support.
Networking
The most common suggestion was to
support networking options with between
projects either on similar topics or more
horizontal issues such as LCA, toxicity
and risk analysis. Some ideas aimed to
improved exchange of information and
achieve a better overview of the running
projects on related topics. This could also
help to achieve consistency, e.g. in
handling horizontal issues. It was
suggested to explore the possibilities for
cross-project activities including data
and tools sharing and horizon mapping.
Also, the realisation of a tight network
among projects related to the various
environmental issues.
Almost every aspect of materials usage,
from production, through product design
and disposal, should be now subject to
environmental considerations. Therefore,
a suggestion was that the EC could
organise events and meetings in order to
foster cross-sector and inter-disciplinary
collaboration in physics, chemistry, and
materials science and to bridge the gap
between the scientists and industrial
sector.
Guidelines
The suggestions for guidelines aimed at
various stages of project life cycle and
somewhere more general including hints
on which regulations may be pertinent.
Readily accessible common guidelines
are always helpful especially if they are
24 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
easy to access. As a general rule, then,
it would be helpful to have access to
concise material (e.g. database)
encouraging partners in the project to
re-think procedures to make them more
environmentally friendly. Here follow
some examples:
• Creation of a sort of “good environmental practice” list, naming all products which are made or can be made following these environmental issues. This should create a sort of simple “Eco”-label.
• Guidelines for handling of the (nano)materials at working place. There are many on-going and past projects funded by the EC which deal with the risks of using nanomaterials. The results from these projects could be used to elaborate guidelines
and/or protocols of handling and safety and to promote the development of standards.
• Establish guidelines to all materials projects indicating which elements of the periodic table should at best not be part of future generations of consumer products, produced in small, medium or large scales for a global market.
• Publication and communication about a handbook of best practises in designing eco-efficient materials followed up with workshops and trainings
• A guide (or online tool) listing the points which should be checked or acted upon in proposal-, negotiation- and project- stage for protecting the environment.
EU database on environmental data and regulations etc
Overall guidance on regulatory issues
was suggested, especially if provided by
a single entry point at the European
Commission, for example, by creating a
dedicated unit or website or database
covering environmental data and
regulations; current, discussed and
future. This would also be a tool to
provide condensed updates of the status
of environmental regulations in Europe.
Especially if combined with regulatory
support that provides clear and brief the
information about new regulations and
more information according to possible
interpretation of these regulations. Some
examples:
• Access to databases or other relevant sources of information related to environmental effects of new materials and especially nanomaterials, and how to handle
them in laboratory, production and disposal.
• Better information on how to handle dangerous wastes, programmes for a more responsible use of hazardous materials.
• It would be helpful to establish different degrees of requirements and regulations on material projects divided in Research / Development / Prototyping including exception rules.
• Checklist of environmental issues in the context of materials, e.g. a search engine to get a list of related environmental issues related to my proposal or project
• Support for SMEs to implement eco-friendly practises.
25
Training
A large range of topics related to
environmental issues were suggested to
be the focus of trainings or consultancy
services that could be provided by the
European Commission and its Services to
running projects and other stakeholders,
such as:
• Dissemination activities by European agencies such as EEA and EU-OSHA
• Expertise and consultancy in HSE issues
• Introduction to new EU regulations and dissemination of information pertaining to the issues, trends and innovations in materials development from the environmental issues stand point. This might bring all partners to the same fundamental level of knowledge needed to reach successful the project goals.
• Training courses in laboratory security, protocols, and chemical waste management with emphasis on increased awareness of recognised procedures for handling environmental issues. This could also include training on recognised international standards and guidelines
• Communication and seminars on the new under-development regulation on energy consumption of machinery could be of great support
• Training programs in the field of political environment, the area of cultural heritage
• Dissemination activities like workshops, training, trying to have audience from industry, research centres and academics
• Introduction of environmental aspects for materials projects to potential applicants through seminars/webinars
• Dissemination of projects funded by EC to the public.
• Provide consultancy service of expert advisors (for instance from ECHA) helping each group involved in the project in applying REACH guidelines
• Be trained/educated to recognise the multifaceted aspects of it, would be an effective (not only intellectual) improvement. Where specialist will emphasise the importance at the EU level of such issues that might be strongly overlooked during projects
LCA support
These comments where similar to those
mentioned under "Training" and
"Networking" albeit aimed specifically at
Life Cycle Assessments. It would be
interesting to promote the importance of
LCA and how all the partners in the value
chain are important to provide data for
the LCA. Seminars involving all the
partners in a project (as are already
done in the case of the exploitation of
results) could be a possible way to
promote the active participation (even if
only for providing data) in the LCA of the
materials in the projects. Also with the
intent to ensure that the research and
technology related interests of RTD
projects are well matching the interest of
environmental safety and sustainability
and follow the principles of "LCA
Thinking Approach". Life cycle analysis
can be an extremely effective way of
linking many different aspects of the
environmental impacts of materials
usage. Sometime, researchers only think
about environmental impact of the
chemicals used in the laboratory. But, it
26 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
could be that the finished product by
itself could have a much more important
environmental aspect. Additionally,
workshops on LCA could strengthen the
relations between industry and academia,
and improve their cooperation in
resolving environmental issues in
material science. Some examples of
suggested training and consultancy
activities:
• Education and Training on Life Cycle Analysis to consider the entire environmental impact, energy and resource usage of a material or product, and also to legislative aspects. Inputs for the priorities of future activities in the area LCA/risk
• Seminars and workshops for the partners who are carrying out the LCA
• External audits of the LCA and related consultancy
• Support for life cycle assessment seminars, both on materials and processes could be useful for SMEs.
• Workshops and short trainings regarding especially LCA and ISO 14040
• Putting efforts into establishing a more encompassing database of Life Cycle data
• Workshops about the importance of LCA for materials as an indispensable tool to put products in the market from the point of view of EC
• Access to database or other relevant sources of information related to environmental effects of new materials and especially nanomaterials
Environmental regulations
These suggestions overall have much
wider scope than giving support to
research projects. The non-monetary
support from European Commission
could be the proposal of new regulations
about the use and exploitation of
materials presenting some human risks
as well as the environmental impact
derived from any process/materials (e.g.
LCA), particularly when end-life is
concerned. In general environmental
issues were suggested to be supported
by a legislative apparatus that push both
producers and end user to select
environmental friendly technologies and
solutions. Some examples:
• Transparent EU regulations and updates for the industry available to project partners
• European agreement on ecologically approved environmental standards and regulations.
• Legislative increase of collection obligation (e.g. EU/66/2006) and control of country implementation
• Legislative measures for increased use of “green” materials such as green taxes for effective internalisation of environmental costs of products, improving the competitiveness of “green” materials
• Make LCA mandatory by regulation
• More standardisation towards nanotechnology related EHS aspects, for example in the measurement of dust and in the identification of relevant impact categories for nanomaterials in LCA is needed in the coming years to ensure a consistent approach among the different studies in this field
27
Q6. Which are your recommendations on handling environmental issues in materials projects? Over 90% of the respondents had
recommendations, thus including some
of those that did not identify any
environmental issues in their projects.
The by far most common was to identify
the environmental issues early in the
project life cycle (67%), followed by
taking into account the life cycle of the
material or process (40%), and to use
recognised protocols to handle these
issues (32%) as can be seen in Figure 6.
A collage of the recommendations
follows below.
Recommendations for materials projects
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Identify them early
Look at the life cycle
Use recognised protocols
Adapt to the scope of the project
Include environmental expertise
Reinforce evaluation of proposals
Other recommendations
No reply
% of respondents Figure 6. Percentages of the respondents giving recommendations on handling
environmental issues in projects on materials.
Identify and include them early on
Among the suggestions was noted to
define environmental requirements, risks
and specifications at the beginning of the
project, and analyse recent status of
environmental regulation. Also, it was
suggested that the project/program
should be in its draft formulation stages
when dealing with environmental issues,
later it will be very difficult and less
efficient. Furthermore, develop a
decision tree to help to estimate the
relevance of environmental issues in
materials projects and subsequently and
the need for the implementation of
environmental issues.
Aim for substitution (of harmful
materials) and improved resource
efficiency whenever it is possible. One
needs a better understanding of the
value of environmental performance in
general and resource efficiency in
particular. One should always maintain
an environmental perspective in the
development of materials, especially,
with regards to one’s choice of the
materials to exploit in any given
technological development. One must
always have an eye to the ultimate
influence on our environment once the
28 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
new materials/processes have been
developed and implemented on a larger
scale in industrial production.
Sensitise the partners about
environmental issues at the beginning of
the project in order to make them
integrate environmental concerns from
the beginning of research. At every
project start-up, a workshop should be
done between material designers,
construction designers and producers, in
which it is explained how to handle and
take into consideration environmental
issues for the studied materials and
processes. That would bring all partners
to a common level of understanding.
Projects developing new materials should
always include environmental issues
(jointly with occupational issues) as a
transversal activity, analysing potential
impacts of them, and proposing
measures to minimise and control those
impacts. For that purpose it is useful to
perform HSE and/or LCA Analysis in
combination with risk-oriented tools.
Some of examples of suggested
pertinent issues:
• Focus on how dangerous wastes are, or could be
• Emphasise the use of less harmful and more environmentally friendly chemicals and reagents.
• Protocols for safe disposal of chemicals, reagents and by-products.
• Innovation for developing sustainable and eco-friendly materials.
• Emphasis on the research and innovation for developing materials from waste products.
• Use of renewable resources or not should be mentioned in order to identify the environmental impact, not only upon LCA analyses, but also the renewable carbon-derived content.
• Address the use of environmentally sound process technologies
• Address end-life of the resulting materials to gain insights into how the materials will be handled at end-life.
• Pollution of atmosphere and environment by:
o application of new materials, o production of new materials, o waste treatment of new materials.
• A combined LCA and an assessment of recycling and exploration efforts will support the definition of the best production strategy
• How to optimise recycling processes whilst addressing the trade-off between the natural capital we decrease in mining and the capital we create by production?
• The format of LCA as set out in ISO 14040/44 is well known, however it is often not put into context in terms of economic benefit. Much effort has been made to increase and account for the environmental benefits of European projects, but the end product is often only appreciated if it can be commercialised. LCA in many respects should be combined with cost benefit analysis (CBA) to maximise the understanding and potential of the developed process or product.
29
Look at the entire value chain / life cycle
Assessment of environmental issues in a
life cycle perspective, in combination
with comprehensive safety
considerations and risk assessment of
processes, is crucial in order to optimise
the environmental performance and
commercialisation of the material
technologies being developed. Use
(mixtures of) materials which are
downwards compatible in industrial
recovery routes.
The use Life Cycle Assessment studies
should be encouraged to measure
environmental impacts. However the
value of LCA can only be guaranteed if
high quality data are collected and if the
relevant impact categories are
considered. To consider environmental
issues from the beginning of the project
(selection of raw materials, procedures,
etc.) and try to find the most real data to
develop the LCA of all the steps involved
on the development of the materials.
Whole life environmental impacts should
be considered. This means that the "LCA
Thinking Approach" is here to stay and
that the integration of the risk
considerations with and along the life
cycle is a challenge in the years to come.
Besides what is said above, some also
noted the importance to take into
account:
• the fate of materials in water, e.g. plastic waste in oceans
• aspects beyond purely chemical or biological hazards, like acoustic or light contamination and hazards related with the use of nanoparticles and other nanotechnologies
• life cycle analysis (including cost and CO2 emission)
• market perspectives, what will customers want in the next 5-10 years?
It is important to realise that the
development of a new materials typically
takes years in term of simulation,
fabrication and characterisation. Only
after this long process, this material can
eventually be ready for applications. The
subsequent introduction of such a
material in a Hazardous Substances
Directive would stop this process and put
to waste all the time and money spent
for its development. It is therefore very
important to be aware about possible
restrictions but also to support more
studies that properly establish risks and
potential toxicity.
Use recognised protocols
Environmental issues have to be
managed by using standard and
validated procedures such as LCA (e.g.
ISO 1040 or ILCD) in order to have
30 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
reliable data concerning the entire life
cycle of a specific product or
technologies. In fact the risk is that the
minimisation of the environmental load
in a single part of the global life cycle is
not corresponding to an effective
reduction of the environmental load. As
the entire life cycle is taken into account
it is necessary to have the commitment
of all the partners involved in the value
chain to provide accurate data to
perform the analysis. From a purely
operational perspective existing
regulations should be used as the
guiding principle – i.e. follow all
applicable environmental legislation so
as to minimise environmental
contamination.
Inclusion of recognised protocols such as
LCA or environmental makes it is easier
to:
• Have a clear understanding of the nature and the magnitude of the environmental issues
• Have a clear idea on how to handle any environmental issue occurring during the course of the project
• Involve participants at project partners having knowledge of EHS, LCA etc.
• Ensure clear communication and exchange among all consortium partners on the encountered issues and the way they were mitigated
Adapt to the scope of the project
It was suggested that project proposers
should be aware of the importance of
these issues and, when relevant this
should be addressed in the project,
noting that its extent depends on the
particular case. The respondents noted
two levels of distinctions to determine
when it is important to incorporate
environmental issues into research
projects: fundamental vs. applied
research, and the level of technical
maturity.
Care must be taken not to overwhelm
fundamental research with aspects that
become relevant at the application stage
because that might hinder innovative
research. For example, a quantum
mechanical study on the structure of
novel materials should not require from
the scientists to "think outside the box"
and elucidate environmental applications.
Nevertheless, environmental aspects
should be considered in projects oriented
to applications at a medium and large
scale projects.
If the project deals with a new product
or new formulations based on already
existing or adapted materials, existing
databases and literature resources are a
valuable support to find if these issues
are relevant. If yes, they must be
covered in the frame of the project. For
projects generating new materials in
large quantities or with polluting
techniques, an evaluation of risks and
benefits should accompany the project
proposal. In small projects, a precise
analysis of the intrinsic properties of
31
chemical substances might be sufficient.
Projects which are not directly involved
in environmental research but deal with
development of new materials might find
a good (or even sufficient) support from
interacting with some semi-permanent
environmental-oriented “panel”, which
could be represented by a long-term
coordinated action or similar.
Environmental issues should be
addressed in any kind of material
project; however it should be
differentiated whether an existing
material is being implemented in a new
process or product or a totally new
material is being produced. However,
such issues should not be so strict to
avoid the development of new materials
that could be optimised, with attention
to monetary and energetic costs and
eco-compatibility of synthesis and
precursors, in the last part of the
projects.
Include environmental expertise
Developing more environmentally
friendly materials and applications
requires higher standards in dealing with
environmental issues in accordance with
local and European chemical regulations
(REACH). Working with partners who
have established environmental
management systems, the R&D projects
have better chances to conduct the
generated know-how to the market.
Therefore, the generated know-how has
better chances to be in use of the society.
Because most of the know-how about
environmental issues of new materials is
gained at the project level, the pro-
active way of environmental thinking
should be implemented in the daily
routine of R&D projects. It is practically
impossible to educate all the responsible
consortium partners about the
environmental issues during the project
periods. It has also additional costs to
introduce regulatory partners for
environmental issues in the consortia
and through this way the know-how may
not be inherited in the institutions’ daily
routine after the project period. However,
it may be a realistic option to implement
competent project partners in the
consortia, who have experience with
environmental issues. To sustain the
environmental-responsible consideration
among the EU project consortia,
European Commission may consider
encouraging partners already in the
proposal status to find partners with
environmental management systems to
build an effective auto-control
mechanism in the future. In addition, it
would also be beneficial to encourage the
project partners who want to implement
environmental management systems,
and that financial resources can be
allocated for such activities.
The identification of the specialised fields
of expertise needed is essential and,
thus, the inclusion of personnel either
32 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
qualified or ready to receive specific
training on handling the relevant
environmental issues. Include industrial
partners in project because they are
aware of these issues. The
environmental overview must be
undertaken using a broad mix of
specialists and others. Mapping of
competences, capacities and project
activities can play a decisive role in order
to ensure focussing of efforts, filling the
gaps and avoiding multiplication of
efforts. Joint partnerships between
Experimental, Theory and
Simulation/Modelling groups are a pre-
requisite for a proper shaping/tailoring of
a material for environmental engineering
applications. This also helps the
participants of the projects to be aware
and/or informed of the possibilities to
improve environments issues.
Furthermore, it was suggested that EC
should encourage the participation of
industrial and academia experts on
external advisory boards to draw the
attention of the public and policy makers
to environmental issues.
Reinforce during evaluation of proposals
Organisations are increasingly under
pressure from environmental regulation,
decreasing margins and shortages of
certain resources. Combined with the
growing sustainability awareness of
customers these are important drivers
for companies to reduce the
environmental impacts of their
operations. As a result the importance of
environmental management has
significantly increased, and the inclusion
of these environmental topics highlights
the need for successful R&D projects on
materials. Thus, some of the
respondents suggested reinforcing
environmental aspects in both the calls
for proposals and the subsequent
evaluations, even during negotiation and
project follow-up. A few also noted that
this is to some extent already is done
well, at least up to the evaluation stage.
Here follows a collage of the
suggestions:
• To set a criterion or sub-criterion focussed on environmental issues for the evaluation of the proposals; covering issues such as design for successful recycling, waste minimisation, energy efficiency and increased lifetime
• If environmental issues become an essential part of projects funded by EU we would recommend that this topic is addressed by a special category (beside of RTD, Dem, Management) which is funded with 100%, perhaps as an additional budget.
• To require in every material project the presence in the consortium of an environmentally/ecologically informed partner or consultant.
• The environmental issues are of great importance especially for projects dealing with the development of novel materials. Therefore, special motivation should be given to the applicants in order to include and analyse issues related to health, safety and environmental impact.
33
• If awareness of environmental issue are linked to proposal success and evaluations in an obvious and fair way, then scientists will take them very seriously
• Need to be part of the call and the project description submitted.
• Have some environmental objectives conditional to grant (e.g. undertaking life cycle analysis)
• Include a section on environmental issues in the proposal template.
Some suggestions were also given for negotiation and project follow-up:
• It is important that the issue is discussed on a case to case basis, with the possibility of the proposers to explain their position towards this issue
• Discussions during project progress meetings together with EU officer, e.g. during workshops organised by the EU.
• Make sure that any starting EC project that handles chemicals, drugs, and new materials be aware at a minimal level of the existing rules/commonly agreed procedures in the field
34 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
Annex 1 List of pertinent websites European Commission Services
DG Research and Innovation http://ec.europa.eu/research DG Research and Innovation: Industrial Technologies http://ec.europa.eu/research/industrial_technologies/index_en.cfm Horizon 2020 http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm NMP Materials blog http://ec.europa.eu/research/industrial_technologies/materials-blog_en.html CORDIS http://cordis.europa.eu/home_en.html Participant Portal http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/home Joint Research Centre IES: Life Cycle website, LCA & ILCD/ELCD http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu DG Environment: Policies http://ec.europa.eu/environment/policies_en.htm European Chemicals Agency: CLP & REACH http://echa.europa.eu European Environment Agency http://www.eea.europa.eu EIONET: European Environment Information and Observation Network http://www.eionet.europa.eu/
International organisations and initiatives
Inclusion does not imply endorsement by the European Commission OECD Environment Directorate: Chemical Safety and Biosafety http://www.oecd.org/env/ UNEP Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management http://www.saicm.org/ WHO Environmental Health http://www.who.int/topics/environmental_health/en/ UNECE Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_welcome_e.html Substitution Support Portal http://www.subsport.eu/ ChemSec SIN list http://www.chemsec.org/list/
35
Annex 2 Examples of horizontal projects on environmental issues EeB Guide: Operational Guidance for performing Life Cycle Assessment Studies of the Energy efficient Buildings Initiative EeB.ENV.2011.3.1.5-2 Operational guidance for Life Cycle Assessment studies of the Energy Efficient Buildings Initiative http://www.eebguide.eu eLCAr: E-Mobility Life Cycle Assessment Recommendations GC.ENV.2011.3.1.3-2 Operational guidance for Life Cycle Assessment studies of the European Green Cars Initiative http://www.elcar-project.eu/ Integ-Risk: Early Recognition, Monitoring and Integrated Management of Emerging, New Technology related Risks NMP-2007-3.1-3 Integrated Risk Management in Industrial Systems http://www.integrisk.eu-vri.eu LCA-to-Go: Boosting Life Cycle Assessment Use in European SMEs ENV.2010.3.3.2-1 Boosting Life Cycle Assessment use in SMEs: development of sectoral methods and tools http://www.lca2go.eu MARINA: Managing Risks of Nanoparticles NMP-2010-1.3-1 Reference methods for managing the risk of engineered nanoparticles http://www.marina-fp7.eu
NANOIMPACTNET: European network on the health and environmental impact of nanomaterials NMP-2007-1.3-5 Coordination in studying the environmental, safety and health impact of engineered nanoparticles and nanotechnology based materials and products http://www.nanoimpactnet.eu Nanovalid: Development of reference methods for hazard identification, risk assessment and LCA of engineered nanomaterials NMP-2010-1.3-1 Reference methods for managing the risk of engineered nanoparticles http://www.nanovalid.eu NHECD: Nano health-environment commented database NMP-2007-1.3-4 Creation of a critical and commented database on the health, safety and environmental impact of nanoparticles http://www.nhecd-fp7.eu
36 Questionnaire on Environmental Issues in FP7 NMP Projects on Materials
Annex 3 List of respondents, in alphabetical order of project acronym We acknowledge the contribution of the following projects. Less than a handful of the
projects have at the time of publication not accepted to include their names in this annex.
Project: Respondent: Affiliation:
ADGLASS L. Colombi-Ciacchi Fraunhofer, DE
AMCOS G.K. Papadopoulos and D.N. Theodorou NTUA, EL
ANASTASIA Pascal Fugier CEA LITEN, FR
APPLES Riccardo Carelli, Bengt Steen, Christoph Hartnig
Sapienza Innovazione, IT; Chalmers University, SE; Chemetall, DE
ArtiVasc 3D Olga Martin; Nadine Seiler GCTM, CH; Fraunhofer ILT, DE
ATHENA Stefano Sanvito Trinity College Dublin, IE
Biodesign Jöns. Hilborn Uppsala University, SE
BioNexGen Jan Hoinkis HsKA, DE
Bioscent Elisabetta Rosellini University of Pisa, IT
CODICE Jorge Sanchez Dolado TECNALIA, ES
COMETA Enrico Tamburini Fidia Spa, IT
DYNAMAG V. V. Kruglyak University of Exeter, UK
eCAMM Gabriele Centi ERIC (INSTM, Univ.Messina), IT
ElectroGraph Urszula Kosidlo Fraunhofer IPA, DE
EPNOE CSA Patrick Navard Armines, FR
HEROMAT Jonjaua Ranogajec Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, RS
HiperSol Jesper Friis; Arthur Weeber SINTEF, NO; ECN, NL
IMS&CPS Géraldine Dupin Coexpair, BE
InForm Flor Siperstein UNIMAN, UK
InnovaBone Oskar Hoffmann UNIVIE, AT
IRON-SEA Kazumasa Iida IFW Dresden, DE
LABOHR Stefano Passerini; Elie Paillard Muenster University, DE
MACADEMIA Pamela Harling; Petr Nachtigall ICON, UK; CUNI, CZ
MACAN Wayne D. Kaplan Technion, IL
MAGISTER Valentin Dediu CNR-ISMN, Bologna, IT
MAGNONICS V. V. Kruglyak University of Exeter, UK
MASTER Olivier Klein CEA, FR
MATRANS Michal Basista KMM-VIN AISBL, BE
METACHEM Bertrand Pavageau; Mona Treguer; Miguel A. Correa-Duarte; Micheal Popall
Rhodia, FR; ICMCB, FR; University of Vigo, ES; Fraunhofer, DE
MINOTOR Jérôme Cornil Umons, BE
MORDRED Adam Foster TUT, FI
MUST Theo Hack EADS, DE
NAMASTE Bryan L Gallagher University of Nottingham, UK
Nancore Stig Irving Olsen; Steve Hankin; Joke De Geeter; Sandro Di Noi
DTU, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, DK; IOM, Institute of Occupational
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Medicine, UK; Recticel, BE; LM Wind Power, DK
NANOCLEAN Monica Solay MAIER S.Coop, ES
NANOFORART David Chelazzi; Giulio Pojana CSGI, IT; UNIVE, IT
NANOINDENT Peter M. Nagy CRC-HAS, HU
Nanointerface Olaf van der Sluis Philips, NL
NANOMAGDYE Geneviève Pourroy IPCMS, CNRS, FR
NANOMAGMA Antonio Garcia-Martin; Cesar de Julian Fernandez CSIC, ES; INSTM, IT
NANOPIGMY Pedro Mª Villasante NUBIOLA, ES
NaPolyNet Geoffrey Hunt; Clara Silvestre SMUC, UK; ICTP/CNR, IT
NEXT-GEN-CAT Fotis Katsaros NCSR Demokritos, EL
NIM_NIL Hakan Atasoy; Maria Losurdo micro resist technology GmbH, DE; CNR, IT
NOVA-CI(G)S Fabrice Stassin Umicore, BE
ONE-P Veronique de Halleux ULB, BE
OxIDes Philippe Ghosez ULG, BE
PI Robert Dorey Piezo Institute, BE
POCO
Borja Coto; Philippe Serp; Jean-Marie Raquez; Pedro M. Carrasco; José M. Kenny; Isaac Sánchez Salgado; Marc-Anton Kruft; Arie Bruinink; Sébastien Fantini
IK4-Tekniker. Spain; Ensiacet-CNRS. FR; University of Mons. BE; IK4-Cidetec. ES; ECNP. IT; ACCIONA. ES; PURAC NL; EMPA CH; Solvionic FR
POLYFIRE Ben Hargreaves NetComposites, UK
PolyZion Steven Brewer, Jon Byrne C-Tech Innovation, UK
RECATABI Carlos Semino; Manuel Monleón Pradas
IQS-URL, ES; Universidad Politécnica Valencia, ES
SIMBA Stijn Put Umicore, BE
SMALLINONE Jetta Keränen ALMA Consulting Group, FR
SOMABAT
Leire Zubizarreta; Reiner Weyhe; Eugenia Fagadar-Cosma; Alexandre Leonard; Stephane Levasseur
Instituto Tecnológico de la Energía (ITE), ES; Accurec, DE; Institute of Chemistry Timisoara of Romanian Academy, RO; Université de Liège, BE; Umicore, BE
SUPER-IRON Marina Putti CNR, IT
SUPERLION Josh Thomas Uppsala University, SE
Tailor Tool Anna Gironès Fundació CTM Centre Tecnològic, ES
With this enquiry the Materials unit of the Directorate for Industrial Technologies of the DG of Research and Innovation aimed to understand better how project consortia view environmental issues. This would refer to how they could be included and handled in FP7 NMP projects on Materials.
Two main advantages to include environmental issues were identified by the
respondents, namely; to develop less harmful materials and/or processes (by substitution or optimisation), and to make the output from projects more attractive to industry. Overall, consideration of environmental issues helps to create a technological culture that avoids future human and environmental damage, which is costly in human and economic terms. It was also perceived to
increase the need to develop new (environmentally friendly) materials and substitute materials. This would encourage industry towards innovation and exploitation resulting in technological leadership of European industries. Tackling environmental and eco-toxicity issues upstream in the innovation value chain is by the respondents overall seen as advantageous, as it allows avoid investing in research in technologies which finally would not into industrial
production, and to pave the way to accelerate industrial take-up of promising material solutions. The respondents' highlighted the value also of on non-monetary support from
the European Commission such as networking between projects and between projects and other stakeholders. The most common recommendation from
respondents for projects on materials was to include environmental issues as soon as possible to get an early view of the required research efforts and regulatory requirements so as to be able to adapt the projects accordingly, while at the same time, not losing valuable time on less sound material options.
Studies and reports
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