Requirements on Consumer Information about Product ... - ANEC

Consumer Information about PCF
The use phase of a car dominates its PCF with about 80 to 90% (Quack and Rüdenauer
2004). Besides the principal features of the car (e.g. size, weight, fuel consumption), the PCF
is highly variable due to the use pattern: the more kilometres are driven the higher the PCF,
the more inner-city driving the higher the PCF, the more anticipatory the driving the lower the
PCF. As a consequence the value given by the obligatory label only can be an aid to
orientation but will not correspond to specific usage behaviour. Also there is a methodological
problem in that the European driving cycle does not correspond to the driving practise
of consumers; additionally it is measured under laboratory conditions, which again does not
correspond to real life situations 11 . Therefore, it would be important to develop a petrol
consumption test that is more in line with real driving. Additionally, an approach for testing
has to be defined for electric cars too.
The preparation of a PCF covering the whole life cycle of a car including production and endof-life
for each model or product line of each producer would be far too costly compared to its
benefit. The guidelines can be made clear on the basis of in-depth PCF studies covering
typical products: In order to reduce the PCF of cars it is important to produce lightweight
vehicles with efficient engines and low fuel consumption. Besides that, there are two other
reasons not to request for the display of the PCF of the whole life cycle of a car:
• As different car models differ significantly in their CO 2 emissions during the usage
phase, expressed in gCO2/km, and there is no indication that this CO2 indicator may
point into the wrong direction, in principle, this figure supports consumers buying an
environmentally friendly car.
• As the CO 2 emissions support the purchase decision in the “right way” it makes more
sense at the moment to concentrate on a better communication of these figures: How
to reach consumers in a better way so that they really consider it in their decisions? In
later steps one might include other life cycle phases and address then reduction of
material, reduction of energy for production, enhanced durability, best recycling
options, waste minimization, chemicals, etc.
As fuel consumption is directly linked to the PCF during the usage phase of a car, it would be
an alternative to communicate the specific fuel consumption instead of CO2e emissions.
However, one has to be aware that different fuels have different values in kg CO2e/liter
(diesel: 2,6 kg CO2/Liter; benzine: 2,4 kg CO2/Liter). This would be similar if addressing
electric cars.
It has to be kept in mind that also environmental impacts other then climate change are of
relevance when talking about cars: Noise, non greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. NOx,
particles). Indirect effects due to infrastructure for the use of cars (e.g. roads, bridges): land
use, fragmentation of ecosystems, biodiversity losses.
11 See www.spritmonitor.de (in German) for data on CO2 emissions measured under real life conditions.
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