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Promoting greener products through Environmental Product Declarations - 2 May 2012.

EMAS registered organisations are successfully addressing indirect environmental aspects, such as the environmental impact of product life cycles.

Acting as a responsible organisation involves systematic and strategic management of both direct and indirect environmental aspects. EMAS provides registered organisations with practical tools to address both direct environmental aspects such as CO2 emission reductions or waste management and indirect ones such as supply chain or product-related matters. 

Especially in the production sector, a product’s life cycle, such as design, packaging, transportation or possibilities for recycling, can cause significant environmental impacts. In order to promote the development of environmentally-friendly products, information about their life cycle impact should be collected and communicated to customers and consumers. 

EMAS registered organisations can publish Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) (e.g. based on ISO 14025 – environmental labels and declarations, and ISO 14040 – life cycle assessment). These contain information about the environmental impact that products have on the environment. These EPDs can be validated externally by the independent environmental verifiers in the context of validating the companies’ environmental statements.

The international rail systems manufacturer Bombardier, whose German and an increasing number of other EU sites are EMAS registered, uses EPDs to provide product-related information to stakeholders. Depending on their main use, many of these EPDs are validated according to EMAS requirements.

Further information on Bombardier’s approach can be found at:http://www.bombardier.com/en/transportation/sustainability

 

Source: www.ec.europa.eu

2 May, 2012.