Overview
In today's environmentally conscious production and consumption landscapes, availability of accurate and trustworthy information regarding the environmental impacts of products and organisations plays a pivotal role in decision-making of businesses and consumers.
Companies, especially SMEs, often lack the necessary knowledge and tools to quantify and convey their environmental performance in a reliable way. This is where the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) methods, collectively known as Environmental Footprint methods, come into play.
The Environmental Footprint methods provide meticulous guidelines for modelling, calculating, and reporting life cycle environmental impacts of products and organisations. The Environmental Footprint methods build upon established international practices and standards, such as ISO 14040/44. These methods are instrumental in advancing towards a more sustainable economy by providing producers and buyers with the tools they need to make informed and more sustainable choices.
BusinessesEnvironmental Footprint methods provide businesses with tools to assess, quantify, communicate and reduce the environmental impacts of their products or of the organisations.
Learn how to apply the Environmental Footprint methods to your business
ConsumersWhen businesses adopt harmonised, reliable, and transparent approaches to calculate the environmental performance, and effectively communicate about it, consumers can make informed choices, contributing to the development of more sustainable and responsible consumption patterns.
Check out the Environmental Footprint methods factsheet
Policy MakersPolicy makers can use the Environmental Footprint methods to analyse and design policies in a more systemic way, understanding environmental hotspots and possible trade-offs across value chains and impact categories.
ResearchersResearchers can use the Environmental Footprint methods to conduct life cycle assessment studies in a more harmonised way. For instance, these methods can be used to support development of sustainable technologies or improve the production and consumption systems.
Learn more here
Publications
To measure your footprint, you need reliable data from the correct sources. This quick guide tells you what you need to know about EF data.
Find out how your business can benefit from using the EF methods!
The Environmental Footprint (EF) methods are scientific tools and rules designed to calculate the environmental impact of products and organisations.
News
The European Commission has published transitional guidance on the use of alternative datasets in Environmental Footprint (EF) studies where EF-compliant datasets are not yet available.
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) establishes the European Union's framework for setting sustainability requirements for products placed on the EU market.
Understanding a product's or an organisation’s environmental impact can be challenging. This month, we explore the European Commission's Environmental Footprint methods, which help businesses accurately measure and improve their sustainability while providing consumers with reliable information and