PRODUCT CARBON FOOTPRINTING PAS 2050 Lessons Learned Maureen

PRODUCT CARBON FOOTPRINTING PAS 2050 - Lessons Learned Maureen Nowak Policy Lead – Assessment & Tools Sustainable Production & Consumption Programme 17 February 2010

Content • The development in the UK of PAS 2050 as a specification for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the life cycle of a product • PAS 2050 in use • Lessons learned • PAS 2050 Review

Most environmental impacts can be attributed to goods and services (products) ……

……. . and impacts occur throughout the life cycle of a product Distribution and retail Raw materials Production The traditional flow of materials and products. . . from cradle to grave End of life Consumer use

Businesses wanted to • Understand their product supply chains • Measure their products’ impacts • Manage and reduce their GHG emissions; improve resource efficiency and reduce risks • Share information about their work internally, with their supply chains, and with customers

. . . and were therefore looking for a tool to • provide a methodology for measuring GHGs that could be applied across a wide range of products, services and their supply chains • allow a consistent and comparable approach to supply chain measurement of GHGs across different markets

PAS project underway in 2007 Objective : To develop a standard and consistent method for measuring the life cycle GHG emissions of products (i. e. goods and services) PAS = Publicly Available Specification

PAS Development Process: Managed by British Standards Institution (BSI), Defra and Carbon Trust, co-sponsors • Independent Steering Group (academics, NGOs, Government & industry representatives) • Technical expert working groups and pilot studies • Consultation with 1000 +stakeholders • Significant engagement with international stakeholders

PAS 2050 Development Process – contd. • More than 3000 comments received • Tested across a wide range of product types and sectors, including • Goods and services • Manufacturers, retailers and traders • Business to Business (B 2 B) and business to consumer (B 2 C) • UK and international supply chains

PAS 2050 published October 2008 • Available at www. bsigroup. com/PAS 20 50 (20, 000+ downloads to date) • supplemented by a Guide http: //www. bsigroup. com/en/ BSIGroup/sectorsandservices /Forms/PAS-2050 -Formpage/ • and online feedback facility www. bsigroup. com/PAS 2050

PAS 2050 – Key Elements • Builds on existing international LCA standard (ISO 14044) • Covers all GHGs specified by the IPCC • Covers whole life cycle of product (raw materials to end of life or ‘cradle to grave’) • Designed to be used on any product, by any company, in any geographic location

PAS 2050 – Meeting identified needs • For suppliers of goods and services: • Provides clarity – focus on GHG emissions • prescriptive in defining how to assess emissions = easier to achieve consistency in calculations • Allows a full internal assessment of the GHG emissions and identification of emissions “hot spots”

PAS 2050 – Meeting identified needs • Facilitates evaluation of options e. g. on purchasing and sourcing decisions, to help reduce GHG emissions • Provides benchmark for ongoing programmes for product emissions reductions • Enables comparability • Supports corporate reporting and communications with consumers

PAS 2050 – Meeting identified needs For customers of goods and services: • Offers a common basis for communicating and comparing results • Improves consumer understanding of • life cycle GHG emissions and their impact • the role of their purchasing decisions and their impact

Comparability Within an organisation, PAS 2050 is suitable for comparing • the impact of changing materials, processes, distribution, use profiles, end of life opportunities • changes over time – assessing reduction levels. • different formulations of similar products • but PAS 2050 does not provide the level of detail necessary for product comparison

User experience • Carbon Trust - many projects completed worldwide • certified footprints of over 5, 500 individual product lines with total carbon footprint of 8 million tonnes CO 2 e • products with retail sales value of £ 2. 5 Bn use the Carbon Reduction Label at the point of purchase, with a total footprint of 2 M t. CO 2 e

User Experience • Tesco – using PAS 2050 to footprint hundreds of its own-brand products across many different product categories ] • around 100 product lines carry a carbon label on the pack • Other leading retailers – many have used PAS 2050 for supply chain analyses (eg milk, strawberries) but no appetite for labels.

User Experience • Other activity: some major suppliers have footprinted all lines within a product category others have footprinted all product lines in anticipation of requests from major customers such as Tesco and others. • User trials - evaluation project : commissioned by Defra - 2 products and 1 service

Lessons Learned - General • Welcomed by business - filled market gap • Guidance document very useful. • Companies want a practical method that will let them assess the carbon footprint of their products and ensure that others are measuring in the same way • Lack of good quality secondary data in many areas –identified as a barrier to take-up.

Lessons learned - general • Some products inherently more difficult that others: • complex/variable /long, or removed supply chains • multiple actors • single ingredient vs multiple ingredients • agriculture • chemicals

Lessons learned - general • The method itself presents some challenges • Uncertainty – how to handle • Communication issues • Comparability – consider PCRs • Values can change – need good data management • Further develop the method – same process and rigour as original PAS

Lessons learned – User Trials Project (1) IBM - IT service (2) Akzo. Nobel - paint (3) Johnson & Johnson (J&J) - baby wipes Objectives : • To use the PAS 2050 method and guidance… • To record experiences…(good and bad) • To document lessons learned…

Lessons Learned – User Trials Project Summary of comments: • Step-by-step process is straightforward • Guide -clear and user-friendly, good overview BUT support needed in a number of areas. Suggested amendments to Guide. • Materiality and prioritisation step as currently described in the Guide is not intuitive - more practical approach needed.

Lessons learned – User Trials Project • Primary data requirement of the PAS can be time consuming, BUT greater insights from supply chain achieved where primary data were collected • Data collection process easier where good relationships with supply chain • Difficulties encountered in collecting secondary data;

Recommendations from User Trials Project • Simplify data prioritisation and materiality assessments - • A need for sector/category-specific rules and/or guidance • Amendments/additions to PAS 2050 Guide • Other support tools need to be identified • library of similar studies, process mapping tools

Recommendations from User Trials Project • Secondary data – need for a recognised source of full life cycle emission factors for common flows such as energy, transportation and waste management. • Secondary data sources to be accessible, as well as available. • Wider publicly available databases to be more accessible - sources very difficult to interpret for a non-LCA practitioner

PAS 2050 Review • Will consider technical aspects highlighted for further review in PAS 2050 document • Will reflect feedback provided by PAS 2050 users and carbon footprint practitioners • Will take account of developing international initiatives - ISO 14067, GHG Protocol Product Standard, plus EU work on PCF harmonisation and policy development.

Related International Developments ISO 14067 • International standard for product carbon footprinting - publication in late 2011 WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol Product Standard • an international methodology for product footprinting outside the formal standardisation arena - publication expected late 2010

Related International Developments The Commission is currently working towards • a proposal for a harmonised PCF methodology by end 2010, • a Commission communication - (PCF Policy option paper) in 2011 and • further development of the ELCD and ILCD.

Other International initiatives/schemes(1) • France - Grenelle de l’environnement; • Germany - Extension of Blue Angel label; PCF pilot • Switzerland - Migros labelling scheme • Sweden – criteria-based labelling scheme, joint initiative • EU-wide - ILCD, ELCD

Other international initiatives/schems (2) • US - Carbon Trust pilots; Wal-Mart use of CDP • China - Carbon Trust pilots • Japan - carbon label programme, national guidelines • Korea - carbon label programme • New Zealand - sector-based GHG footprinting strategy

PAS 2050 Review Process • Almost identical to the original PAS 2050 development process : wide stakeholder consultation , high level of technical expert input + extensive evidence-gathering to support changes. • Expected to take about 9 months and be completed by late 2010.

Future Policy • Assess effectiveness and where it can be improved to increase uptake by businesses. • Address practical aspects e. g. availability and accessibility of reliable and relevant data – EU development of ILCD ? • PAS 2050 to be underpinned by harmonised sector/category specific guidance/rules?

Thank you for listening. Questions?