Environmental Communication & PEF Flashcards
How many greenwashing sins are there?
7
What is the definition of greenwashing?
The act of misleading consumes regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.
Analyze the greenwashing sins of the starbucks case:
- 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)
What should all labels and declaration be?
- Be accurate, verifiable, relevant not misleading
- Not create barriers to trade
- Be based on scientific methods
- Follow transparent rules
- Consider all relevant aspects of a product’s Life Cycle
- Support environmental innovation
- Limit bureaucracy to conformance with program rules
- Use participation of stakeholders
- Result in transparent claims
What are type II claims?
X Self-declared claims X:
- Established by the manufacturer
- Based on single environmental criteria
- No verification
- No threshold criteria
What are type I labels?
Ecolabels:
- Life Cycle based thinking
- Points to best alternative in a product category
- Threshold criteria
- Third party verified
- Transparency
What are type III labels:
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD):
- Life Cycle Assessment based
- Analogy: Nutritional facts
- Third party verified
- Register trademark
What is the last type of labeling?
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
What are environmental labels similar to type I?
FSC, Energy Stare, Marine Stewardship Council:
- Indicates the environmental preference in a product category
- Focus on a specific impact
- Threshold criteria
- Third party verification
What are GEN members?
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
What is the main difference between environmental label and declaration?
Label: “OK” according to a defined criteria
Declared: Presented information is comparable and transparent
What are the system boundaries for a recycled material? What are the benefits?
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
What type of LCA (attributional vs consequential) do all EPDs use?
Attributional
What is a PCR?
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
What is an example of an EPD?
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?