The Call for Volunteers for the upcoming EU pilot projects on Product and Organisational Environmental Footprinting has been published today.

The call is addressed to stakeholders who want to propose a product /sector for which to develop specific Environmental Footprint Rules (so called Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRS) and Organisation Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSRs). Stakeholder can also volunteer to be a leader of a pilot on a specific product / sector.

The EF pilot phase aim to test:

• a process for the development of Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) and Organisation Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSR). These are product group and sector-specific rules for calculating Product Environmental Footprints and Organisation Environmental Footprints;
• the development of a “product benchmark” for a given product group or an “organisation benchmark” for a given sector;
• the application of PEFCRs and OEFSRs to concrete cases;
• different compliance and verification systems, in order to set up such systems in a proportionate, effective and efficient way;
• how to communicate life cycle environmental performance information to various target audiences (e.g. PEF information through business-to-business and business-to-consumer communication tools; OEF information in sustainability reporting)

The PEFCRs resulting from the EF pilot phase will become the product rules valid under the PEF, to be used by all stakeholders in the sector in the EU or internationally who decide to measure the performance of their products based on PEF.

Please note that this call is not open for food/feed/drink products sector. A dedicated call for these products and sectors will be open in 2014.

It is not necessary to fill in the application form at this stage in case your objective is to be involved in the consultation process that will be organised for each pilot. Once the final decision is taken on which products / sectors to establish a pilot, the list will be communicated through the Commission website by the end of September 2013 and a specific registration mailbox will be made available by the European Commission.

All documents can be found on the European Commissions website on the Communication on “Building the Single Market for Green Products”. Application deadline is 26th July 2013 at 17:00 CET

More background information is available through the presentations and video recordings at the PCF World Forum PEF Policy Conference that we hosted in Berlin in April.

On 21st May 2013, the International Stadardization Organization (ISO)  published the requirements and guidelines for product carbon footprint (PCF) studies as the Technical Specification ISO/TS 14067. The document comprises principles, requirements and recommendations for the quantification and the communication of complete as well as partial product carbon footprints. ISO/TS 14067 also delivers guidance for the development of or the alignment with already existing product category rules (PCRs).

Contrary to the initial planning the 14067 document has evolved into a ISO/TS Technical Specification instead of a ISO Standard. The Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) did not get sufficient support by participating countries, which lead to the publication of a Technical Specification. This normative document also builds on consensus within the ISO committee but follows different approval criteria.

The follow-up process has not been communicated yet. By May 2016 the Technical Specification shall be reviewed and either be confirmed for another three year period, be revised, be withdrawn or enter the development process of an international standard again. It is recommended by ISO that after six years a Technical Specification should be either withdrawn or converted into an international standard.

With the publication of the Communication “Building the Single Market for Green Products” and the corresponding Recommendation, EU Environmental Footprinting has reached the next level. It is now being discussed among an increasing number of companies, policy makers, NGOs, LCA practitioners and further stakeholders. Due to the relevance of the issue and to support the upcoming environmental footprinting pilot phase we decided to make two informative sessions of the PEF Policy Conference publicly available.

Follow this link to find the complete videos and slides of:

The European Environmental Footprinting Initiative

EU environmental footprinting: Policy context, rationale and recent decisions | Michele Galatola (DG Environment, European Commission)

PCR and PEFCR development – Outlook on the upcoming EU pilot project

Outlook on the EU pilot and testing project on environmental footprinting and the development of Environmental Footprint Category Rules | Michele Galatola (DG Environment, European Commission)

Technical challenges in the development of Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) | Rana Pant (DG Joint Research Centre, European Commission)

Guidance for the development of Product Category Rules | Mark Goedkoop (PCR Guidance Development Initiative)

The call for volunteers and the publication of further details on the PEF Pilot Phase is scheduled for May 2013. On Day 2 of the PEF Policy Conference Michele Galatola (DG Environment/ European Commission) already shared relevant insights on how the pilot phase will look like. In his presentation Michele refers inter alia to the groups and organisations that are allowed to apply, explains the governance structure of the pilot and describes how representativeness of PEF Category Rules can be secured.

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Today, Michele Galatola from DG Environment, European Commission, elaborated on the recently published Environmental Footprinting Methodology. This included insights on expectations and success criteria for the pilot phase as well as possible policy applications. See the entire presentation recorded at the PEF Policy Conference today in Berlin below. Another video on the EU Environmental Footprinting pilot phase will follow tomorrow.