Environmental Communication & PEF Flashcards

1
Q

How many greenwashing sins are there?

A

7

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2
Q

What is the definition of greenwashing?

A

The act of misleading consumes regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

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3
Q

Analyze the greenwashing sins of the starbucks case:

A
  • Thicker plastic
  • Use more plastic overall
  • “less toxic plastic”

Sins:

  • lesser of two evils (all plastic is bad)
  • irrelevance (not all materials are even recycled)
  • hidden tradeoff (thicker non degradable plastic)
  • no proof (no explicit third party source given)
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4
Q

What should all labels and declaration be?

A
  1. Be accurate, verifiable, relevant not misleading
  2. Not create barriers to trade
  3. Be based on scientific methods
  4. Follow transparent rules
  5. Consider all relevant aspects of a product’s Life Cycle
  6. Support environmental innovation
  7. Limit bureaucracy to conformance with program rules
  8. Use participation of stakeholders
  9. Result in transparent claims
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5
Q

What are type II claims?

A

X Self-declared claims X:

  • Established by the manufacturer
  • Based on single environmental criteria
  • No verification
  • No threshold criteria
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6
Q

What are type I labels?

A

Ecolabels:

  • Life Cycle based thinking
  • Points to best alternative in a product category
  • Threshold criteria
  • Third party verified
  • Transparency
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7
Q

What are type III labels:

A

Environmental Product Declaration (EPD):

  • Life Cycle Assessment based
  • Analogy: Nutritional facts
  • Third party verified
  • Register trademark
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8
Q

What is the last type of labeling?

A

Type ?: Footprint Communication

  • Life Cycle Based
  • Usually based on a single environmental aspect (area of concern)
  • Third party verified
  • Ex. carbon footprint, water scarcity footprint
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9
Q

What are environmental labels similar to type I?

A

FSC, Energy Stare, Marine Stewardship Council:

  • Indicates the environmental preference in a product category
  • Focus on a specific impact
  • Threshold criteria
  • Third party verification
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10
Q

What are GEN members?

A

Have attained the status of “Type I” this means:

  • Ecolabelling programs are voluntary
  • Their standards address multiple environmental criteria over the life cycle of a product or service
  • standards are public and transparent
  • Ecolabels are awarded using independent third-party verification
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11
Q

What is the main difference between environmental label and declaration?

A

Label: “OK” according to a defined criteria
Declared: Presented information is comparable and transparent

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12
Q

What are the system boundaries for a recycled material? What are the benefits?

A

There are two life cycle considers: pre and post recycling

Benefits:

  • Promotes product systems that use recycled materials
  • Promotes products that may be are recycled
  • Possible to collect verifiable data
  • Possible to explain
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13
Q

What type of LCA (attributional vs consequential) do all EPDs use?

A

Attributional

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14
Q

What is a PCR?

A

Product Category Rules (PCRs): have been developed to ensure consistency in LCA calculation methods, make it easier to compare EPDs

It must be prepared, reviewed, and approved as a part of an open and participatory consultation process

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15
Q

What is an example of an EPD?

A

Azur trains from STM

  • PCR used? (divides it into main groups)
  • Functional unit used? (how many people over how long the train will move them)
  • Additional aspects to trains?
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16
Q

How can you communicate a footprint?

A

You can communicate your footprint as one value as long as you find a name for it (except environmental footprint)

17
Q

Functional unit vs declared unit

A

Functional unit: quantified performance of a product system for use as a reference unit

Declared unit: quantity of a product for use as a reference unit in a footprint communication based on LCA for the expression of environmental information in footprint information modules

18
Q

What does the name of the footprint need to address?

A
  • accurately reflect the area of concern
  • be aligned to the scope of the supporting footprint study
  • not be misleading
19
Q

What information does the footprint need to include?

A
  • A clear indication of the area of concern addressed
  • The functional unit or declared unit to which the footprint communication refers
  • Identification of the life cycle stages that are covered by the footprint communication
  • An unambiguous indication on how to access the supporting info
20
Q

What are the PEF and OEF?

A

PEF: product environmental footprint
OEF: organizational environmental footprint

  • LCA based standards
  • Similar to Type III
    Goals:
  • Strengthen EU market for green alternatives
  • Ensure impacts are assessed
21
Q

What does PEFCR provide? (related to PEF)

A

Most relevant:

  • impact category
  • life cycle stages
  • processes
  • elementary flows

The environmental profile of the average product sold in EU
List of mandatory company specific data
List of default datasets to be used
Classes of environmental performance

22
Q

What is the procedure to identify the most relevant impact categories?

A
  • Primary data required
  • Based on normalized and weighted results
  • Minimum 3 impact categories
  • Cumulative total of at least 80% of total
23
Q

What is the procedure to identify the most relevant life cycle stages?

A
  • Primary data required
  • Cumulative contribution of at least 80% of any of the most relevant impact categories identified
  • Default stages are:
  • raw materials acquisition + pre-processing
  • production of main product
  • distribution and storage
  • use
  • end of life
24
Q

What are the main lessons learned from communication pilot phase from PEF?

A
  • Traffic light and performance scales are easy to understand
  • Comparisons with everyday situations appreciated
  • Negative statements are powerful
25
Q

What are the ultimate questions when it comes to communicating LCA info to the public?

A

Will the population really:

  • Understand the information provided
  • Care about this information
  • Change their decision based on the environmental performance
26
Q

What are the 7 greenwashing sins?

A
  1. hidden tradeoff
  2. irrelevance
  3. no proof
  4. fibbing
    5, vagueness
  5. lesser of two evils
  6. fake labels