Environmental indicators for ICT products - a practical approach based on four steps

Abstract

Societal concerns on pollution, hazardous materials, global warming and sustainability provoke responses from society. Public policy or changes in consumer behavior are specific examples. For electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) the released EU directives such as the WEEE (directive on waste of electrical and electronic equipment) and RoHS (restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in EEE) and future directives such as EuP (ecodesign of energy-using products) are already having and will have a significant impact on how products are designed, built, used and treated at their end of life. To bear this challenge, measurable and understandable criteria for assessing and demonstrating the environmental performance of products are needed. Key methodology for a holistic and reliable environmental evaluation of products is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This scientifically established approach leads to useful and reliable results regarding environmental evaluation of the entire life cycle of products. From the acquisition of raw materials, over the use of the products to the end of life management all life cycle stages are considered. Product characteristics (such as weight and materials used, energy consumption during use) and all relevant inputs and outputs (such as energy, raw materials, emissions) occurring throughout the entire life cycle are regarded. To improve products from an environmental point of view, eco-design recommendations for product designers need to be reliable and easy to handle. Environmental performance indicators based on technical product characteristics and based on LCA permits to efficiently ameliorate the environmental profile of a product. Efficiently, since only a fraction of information input is needed, this approach provides a tailored and simplified method using environmental performance indicators. This paper introduces a consistent methodology for the development of environmental performance indicators for information and communication technologies (ICT) products.