PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
In 2019, DG Environment of the European Commission (DG ENV) awarded the Cascale the facilitation of the PEFCR (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules) for Apparel & Footwear (A&F). The Technical Secretariat was charged with developing a methodology to evaluate and benchmark the environmental performance of products in the textile and footwear sector, one of the most impactful sectors identified by the EC. The PEFCR should be an Intellectual Property free methodology available for anybody who wants to calculate the footprint of their product. This was a broad process, with a budget of more than 1 500 000 EUR, involving 13 financial contributors (Refashion, ADEME, Nike, VFC, C&A, Cotton Incorporated, H&M, Inditex, IWTO, FHCM, Decathlon, Sympatex, Gore-Tex) and multiple participants (DG ENV, EEB, FESI, EURATEX, CEC, COTANCE). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impacts on the ability of the Secretariat to mobilise funds to run the PEF project as planned and deliver by 31 December 2022, an additional LIFE grant was necessary to accelerate the delivery of supporting studies and for the communication of the overall project.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE Supporting Studies PEF A&F project had 2 objectives:
- to conduct supporting studies for a range of product categories, representative of all products in the textile and footwear value chain, to enable the Technical Secretariat to simulate the validity of the assumptions made while developing a methodology to calculate the footprint of a product
- in parallel, to develop and implement a communication strategy so that the Secretariat and all relevant stakeholders were informed of the upcoming methodology and assessment of the environmental footprint of products in the textile and footwear sectors.
The project was directly linked with the following policies and legislations:
- Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation [ESPR]: the ESPR recommends the use of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method (EU Recommendation 2021/2279), to be completed by the Delegated Act for Textiles, detailing the exact role of PEFCRs in the ESPR.
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive [CSRD]: the project provides possible methods for assessing GHG Emissions, materiality for Pollution & Water/Marine Resources, IROs in the framework of Resource Use & Circular Economy.
- Directive on the Substantiation of Green Claims [SGCD]: PEFCRs and PEF method are explicitly mentioned in recitals and articles of the current trialogue negotiation positions. Based on the trilogues positions, they may either be used for presumption of conformity for claims or to develop further substantiation rules, indicating a growing recognition of PEFCRs as a critical tool for ensuring credible and verifiable sustainability claims.
- Future legislative initiatives at the European and National level (tbc): for instance, a French eco-score is being developed with a very similar method.
RESULTS
The expected results have been achieved, and the foreseen objectives have been reached.
In terms of environmental and resource efficiency, the development of a PEFCR will allow the companies of the Apparel and Footwear industry to monitor and improve the environmental performance of their products, including intrinsic durability, fibre fragments and repairability, thanks to a standardised methodology approved by the European Commission. The project clearly demonstrated the robustness of the PEFCR, thanks to the high number of supporting studies implemented, also showing the interest of the sector for the process.
The project allowed stakeholder engagement, thanks to:
- the facilitation of technical exchanges between participants, which fostered a collaborative environment
- clear messages built and fora established for engaging NGOs, SMEs, trade organisations, brands and governments after the 2 public consultations included in the PEFCR process
- the final PEFCR A&F launch event, organised in Brussels
