Product environmental information and product policies : how Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) changes the situation?

Abstract

Foreword -- Definitions -- -- Summary -- The Product Environmental Footprint PEF -- Introduction and the aim of the report -- Material and methods -- Three analyses about eco-design tools and the relations between the PEF/OEF and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel -- References -- The past challenges of LCA and the potential of the PEF -- Types of Product Environmental Information PEI -- Considerations about the use of the PEF in policies -- Environmental information basis in the policy instruments of IPP, SCP and the CE -- Conclusions.Reliable information is needed to drive the market towards ecologically sound products. Product Environmental Footprint has many properties that are new to the Life Cycle Assessment tradition, increasing the consistency, accuracy and comparability of the results. It is important to start the organization of the PEF scheme, and invest in efforts to rapidly increase the number of product and service groups and actual product-specific PEF reports involved in the PEF scheme. Possibilities for common information basis and coordination between environmental information sources for the various product policy instruments and the PEF should be explored. Cooperation between type 1 eco-labels like the Nordic Swan and the forthcoming PEF scheme(s) is important