The EU Environmental Footprint (PEF/OEF) Pilot Process Jan Christian Polanía Giese Asia Carbon Footprint Network Conference 2015 Hong Kong, 26-27 October 2015
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTING? But can it be part of the solution for SCP? A one-fits-all solution?
OVERVIEW» About the PEF World Forum & THEMA1» Policy Background» The Development Process Of The Environmental Footprint Methodology» Experiences during the pilot phase» Outlook on communication
» Berlin based think-do-tank» Key expertise: Skills Building Single Issue Alliances Facilitation/ Hosting/ Events Stakeholder Dialogue / Communications Issues Environmental Footprinting Footprinting/Energy/ Renewables/ Music/ Entertainment/ Film» Selected projects: Product Carbon Footprint Pilot Project Germany Product Environmental Footprint World Forum
Product Environmental Footprint World Forum The PEF World Forum - formerly known as 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 and environmentally sound value chains. The PEF World Forum is a network of international organisations. www.pefworld-forum.org The PEF World Forum is a project by think-do-tank THEMA1.
PEF WORLD FORUM
PEF PILOT PROJECT
POLICY BACKGROUND
WHY IS THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENGAGING?» End unfair competition: proliferation of methodologies and labels» Reduce the effort for companies to collect and provide environmental information along the supply chain -> Cost Reduction» Promote hotspot approach: support companies to address the relevant issues» End confusion on the consumer side and provide reliable consumer information» Support the further growth of the green market in the EU
WHY IS THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENGAGING?» Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe (COM 2011)» By 2020, citizens and public authorities have the right incentives to choose the most resource efficient products and services, through appropriate price signals and clear environmental information. Their purchasing choices will stimulate companies to innovate and to supply more resource efficient goods and services. Minimum environmental performance standards are set to remove the least resource efficient and most polluting products from the market. Consumer demand is high for more sustainable products and services.
Number of products in a product category WHY PRODUCT ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTING? Eco-Design Dir. EU PEF? Gap: regulation for the mass market GPP? Environmental performance of a product Ecolabel By 2020, citizens and public authorities have the right incentives to choose the most resource efficient products and services, through appropriate price signals (taxes?) and clear environmental information (label?). Their purchasing choices will stimulate companies to innovate and to supply more resource efficient goods and services. Minimum environmental performance standards are set to remove the least resource efficient and most polluting products from the market. Source: COM (2011)
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT METHODOLOGY
Single Market for Green Products (SMGP) Objective To improve the availability of clear, reliable and comparable information on the environmental performance of products and organisations How 3-year pilot 3-year phase Pilot phase PEF Commission Recommendation Communication: Building the Single Market for Green Products Communication principles OEF International dialogue UCPD Guidance
Increase METHODOLOGICAL AGENDA (Tools, Databases) Category Rules Sector rules: e.g. ENVIFOOD Protocol, CEN 15804 Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Guide reproducibility consistency comparability -> benchmarks practicality ISO Standard
PEF GUIDE AND PEFCRS PEF Guide Developed based on existing, wellestablished, tested and widely used methods, standards and guidelines PEF Guide (2013) PEFCRs
AGENDA OF THE EF PROCESS 2013 2014 2015 2016/17 Publication of Environmental Footprint Guides Pilotphase 1: Non-Food sector (Begin) Pilotphase 2: Food/Feed/Drink (Begin) Development of PEFCR Drafts Consultations Screening Studies Benchmarks Consultations Supporting Studies Evaluation of communication vehicles Final PEFCRs/OEFSRs Pilotphase end + evaluation Evaluation applicability of methodologies Regulation
EXPERIENCES DURING THE PILOT PHASE
PARTICIPATING SECTORS 1) Batteries 2) Paints 3) Pipes (Copper/Plastic) 4) Detergent 5) Intermediate paper 6) IT Products 7) Leather 8) Metal 9) Non-leather shoes 10) PV electricity 11) Stationaries (canceled) 12) Insulation 13) T-shirts 14) UPS (uninterruptable power supply) 1) Beer 2) Coffee 3) Dairy 4) Animal feed 5) Petfood 6) Fish 7) Meat 8) Olive-oil 9) Packed water 10) Pasta 11) Wine + unofficial pilots ++ OEF pilots: Retail sector & copper
PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS (SELECTION)
PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS (SELECTION)
WHO ELSE PARTICIPATES? SMEs: 10,5% Source: COM 2014
TIMELINE Kick-off 1 st wave 11/13 M03 06/14 Kick-off 2 nd wave 1 st physical consultation M05 M09 M10 Approval of scope and representative product by SC Start screening studies Send screening for quick check to EC & Helpdesk 1 st draft PEFCR ready The most challenged C o m m u n i c a t i o n t e s t M11 M13 M14 M15 M19 M22 M25 M26 Virtual consultation 2 nd draft of PEFCR ready Approval of 2 nd draft PEFCR by SC Start of supporting studies 2 nd consultation (physical and virtual) External review Final PEFCR ready Approval of final PEFCR by SC The most advanced M27 Release of final PEFCR End of pilots 12/16 Source: after COM (2014) End of pilots
STATUS PEF DETERGENT
STATUS PEF DETERGENT: DEVELOPMENT OF PEFCRS» Stocktaking of existing PCRs, guidances» Screening of environmental hotspots» Drafting of PEFCR > Public consultations» Cross cutting-issues (selection) > Electricity use (country specific EF) resolved > Ecotoxicity (normalisation issue) ongoing
SCREENING 1. Chemical ingredients sourcing and manufacturing 2. Packaging raw materials sourcing and manufacturing 3. Transport to processing plant 4. Transport to processing plant 5. HDLLD manufacture 6. Transport and distribution to retail 7. Transport and distribution to consumer homes 8. Product use Climate: electricity consumption (activity: washing temperature) Water depletion: tap water (activity water consumption) 9. Waste water treatment 10. Solid waste treatment (packaging) cumulatively contributing to 80% of any baseline impact
STATUS PEF DETERGENT: DEVELOPMENT OF PEFCRS» Stocktaking of existing PCRs, guidances» Screening of environmental hotspots» Drafting of PEFCR > Public consultations» Cross cutting-issues (selection) > Electricity use (country specific EF) resolved > Ecotoxicity (normalisation issue) ongoing
STATUS PEF DETERGENT: DEVELOPMENT OF PEFCRS» Development of communication vehicles and testing procedure» Supporting studies (testing of Draft PEFCRs on 4-5 real products from different brands) ongoing
CRITICS TO PEF PILOT PROCESS Critics over the models and indicators (i.e. Matthias Finkbeiner) Answers to critics (Michele Galatola)
CRITICS TO PEF PILOT PROCESS» In conflict to ISO 14040 > Terminology (now resolved) > Introduction of weighting between impact categories (value choices) for comparative assertion» Unapproved impact models > water scarcity > ecotoxicity
CRITICS TO PEF PILOT PROCESS» Benchmarking issues > Lack of differentiation > Normalisation» Pilot process design > Scope not sufficiently defined (communication vs product design) > Reluctance to revise PEF methodology during pilot phase
COMMUNICATION
GENERAL ISSUES» 3-4 communication vehicles» Including labelling and beyond» Have to be tested (e.g. virtual, testing facilities, focus groups, )» Include evidence/experience from: > Behavior economics > Marketing research
Source: COM (2014) Fuente: Imola Bedo, Webinar, 2014 THEMA1
STAY INFORMED» European Commission > PEF Pilot Pages http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/pef_pilots.htm > WIKI Pages (find instructions on we above) > Conference: Midterm Conference 3-4 Nov 2015, Brussels http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/conference_2015_en.htm > Twitter: #EU_EnvFootprint» PEF World Forum > Website/Mailinglist http://www.pef-world-forum.org > Conference: 17 Nov 2015, Berlin (in German) http://www.plattform-kvk.de/
STAY INFORMED» PEF Guide: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/pef_pilots.htm» Papers (selection): > M Finkbeiner, Product environmental footprint breakthrough or breakdown for policy implementation of life cycle assessment?. The Int J LCA February 2014, Volume 19, Issue 2, pp 266-271 > M Galatola and R Pant, Reply to the editorial Product environmental footprint breakthrough or breakdown for policy implementation of life cycle assessment? written by Prof. Finkbeiner (Int J Life Cycle Assessment 19(2):266 271). Int J LCA June 2014, Volume 19, Issue 6, pp 1356-1360 > A Lehmann et al., Product Environmental Footprint in Policy and Market Decisions: Applicability and Impact Assessment. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Volume 11, Number 3 pp. 417 424 > S Manfredi et al., Comparing the European Commission product environmental footprint method with other environmental accounting methods. Int J LCA March 2015, Volume 20, Issue 3, pp 389-404
CONTACT» Jan Christian Polanía Giese» polania@thema1.de» +49 30 779 0 779 18» PEF World Forum» c/o THEMA1 GmbH, Torstr. 154, 10115 Berlin, Germany» www.pef-world-forum.org