Benchmarking and additional environmental information in ... - ANEC

elated impacts often are important and should be used to make the “good”
choice wherever possible and relevant. It is, however, evident from the
screening of eight product groups made in the current project that the order of
magnitude of the life cycle impacts (e.g. contribution to climate change,
acidification, energy consumption, etc.) differ significantly between product
groups. Using a personal computer thus accounts for about 2% of the
environmental impacts caused by a consumer while the average use of a
mobile phone only constitutes about 0.1%. It is therefore a very basic
conclusion that efforts should primarily be devoted to choosing the best product
in a life cycle perspective when it is known that the product group as a whole is
known to give a significant contribution in the impact categories conventionally
addressed in life cycle assessments. This is in accordance with the finding that
consumers are more willing to make environmental considerations when
purchasing relatively expensive and complex products.
For less complex products with relatively small life cycle environmental impacts,
the consumer needs simple tools to make an informed choice. However, the
information should still be sufficiently comprehensive and precise for the
consumer to make the “right” choice. In order to meet the needs of different
types of consumers in relation to different types of product groups, a range of
tools were developed and implemented in what is called Environmental Data
Sheets (EDS). The EDS-concept as presented in the project is a first
suggestion of how environmental information can be presented in a condensed
way, which is still comprehensive and readily understood by most consumers.
In short, the outlined EDS consist of two pages. On the first page,
environmental and technical information related to the specific product is
presented. On the second page, a brief overview of the most environmental
aspects related to the product group is provided, together with a table putting
the life cycle environmental impacts of an “average” product in the product
group into perspective by comparing it to other product groups. The second
page is thus fixed for all products within the product group, giving the possibility
of pinpointing which environmental issues, the individual consumer finds most
important.
The first page of the EDS combines technical information (“the sales
arguments”) with different types of environmental information, as appropriate.
The following elements are available for inclusion of environmental information:
• A checklist, where the product properties are related to relevant eco-label
criteria as they appear in multinational (EU, Scandinavia) and national
(German) eco-labelling schemes. In general, these eco-label schemes
address a wide range of environmental aspects, and by stating whether a
product complies with each specific criterion, the consumer is provided
with a quick overview of its environmental performance. Using colour
codes for illustrative purposes (green for compliance, red for noncompliance)
directs the attention to potentially problematic issues, but is
also helpful in providing the quick overview (e.g. checklists with only
green codes signals that the product is “good” in environmental terms).
• Energy-labelling schemes are used where relevant to give a quick
indication of life cycle performance. There is of course a certain overlap
8