PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Europe faces the challenge of maintaining economic viability in global markets, while minimising the adverse impacts of a wide range of environmental pressures and using resources in a sustainable way. Overcoming the problem of inefficient resource use is an important element of the EU’s approach to delivering sustainable growth. One of the most significant market failures in this respect is the limited uptake of greener products and services. This is mainly due to a lack of information about their environmental benefits, and the cost savings and business opportunities enabled by improved resource efficiency. In particular, more environmentally-friendly products and services cannot be valorised by the market if producers do not provide timely, complete, accurate and easy-to-understand information about their environmental performance.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE EFFIGE aimed to improve the environmental performances of organisations in four major supply chains (furniture, foundry, agrifood and catering services) through the implementation of the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), as described in EU Recommendation 179/2013. By using PEF as a tool for supporting decision-making processes within companies, and by removing information asymmetries, EFFIGE would support resource efficiency within companies, especially SMEs, by helping to introduce products and services to the market in a more sustainable way.
In particular, the project would draft PEF Category Rules (PEFCR) for the four targeted sectors and would test them in different pilot companies. The results of these actions would serve to develop a series of support tools to boost the adoption of PEF methods by companies. The replicability of the project results would be guaranteed by the implementation of the EFFIGE methodology in at least two additional sectors not covered in the initial pilot studies.
Policy-wise, the project would directly contribute to the implementation of EC Recommendation 2013/179/EU on the use of common methods to measure and communicate the lifecycle environmental performance of products. From an economic point of view, the project results would serve to reduce the environmental impact of the targeted sectors, thus improving their competitiveness. This is in line with the objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
RESULTS
LIFE EFFIGE identified improvement measures for pilot companies involved in demonstration activities.
The project team carried out the following key activities:
- Organised training courses for the pilot companies, and for the related sectors, to foster the diffusion of the PEF methodology, and the related potential benefits for the companies.
- Defined draft PEF Category Rules (PEFCR) for the sectors addressed.
- Identified potential improvement plans with the pilot companies to reduce environmental impacts while guaranteeing economic benefits.
- Implemented part of the identified improvement measures (about 30 completed by project end) and calculated the related environmental benefits achieved, through detailed LCA in line with the PEF method.
- Organised events and workshop to involve and influence stakeholders at policy and industrial level on key aspects of the environmental assessment (e.g. green washing, PEF, etc.).
The main project outputs were:
- Draft PEFCRs for furniture, foundry, mustard, nougat and catering services.
- A series of improvement plans and related PEF analyses for some of the pilot companies' products.
Other impacts included improved environmental awareness in the involved pilot companies, and support to national/international actions on environmental footprint, like the "Made Green in Italy" initiative.
Environmental benefits were evaluated, confirming:
- Reduction of atmospheric emissions, evaluated at about 1 500 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions avoided by the pilot companies in the different sectors.
- Reduction of water consumption, evaluated at almost 3 000 cubic meter of water saved by the pilot companies in the agrifood and catering services sectors.
- Reduction of waste, evaluated at almost 25 tons of waste not produced, mainly coming from the improvement measures adopted in the furniture sector.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
