Ecologically sustainable products

An objective assessment of the environmental impact of products is neither easy nor simple. Many questions and perspectives are related to an environmental impact assessment, and there is a risk of greenwashing.

How can a representative of a customer company, let alone a consumer, an ordinary layman, better understand the varied environmental impact calculations of product manufacturers?

Various standards to calculate carbon footprint.

Lappset communicates the carbon footprint and environmental impact of its products understandably, credibly, openly and honestly.

“First, it is important to pay attention to who has done the environmental impact calculations for the product, and whether the calculations have been verified,” says Susanna Kiviniemi, Senior Manager, Sustainability Services at Greenstep Oy. Greenstep has prepared environmental impact calculations, i.e. LCA calculations for Lappset’s products.

Lappset has commissioned an EPD standard compliant LCA calculation for 14 products, and 3 of these calculations have been verified. For the verified calculations, Lappset talks about environmental impacts, and for the unverified ones, the carbon footprint is communicated.

EPD standard refers to the SFS-EN15804:12+A2 standard, the last entry of which, A2, means that calculations according to it also take biogenic effects into account.

According to Sitra, biogenic effects refer to carbon dioxide that is released when a biological material such as wood burns or decomposes.

How are the LCA calculations of Lappset’s products carried out?

The LCA calculations performed on Lappset’s products have all used EPD-compliant methods and principles.

Other standards used for LCA calculation are ISO-14040 and ISO-14044, which provide a general framework for product life cycle assessment. ISO-14025 is the standard that defines the use of the ISO-14040 standard series in the development of Type III environmental declarations programmes and declarations.

ISO-14067, on the other hand, is a carbon footprint calculation standard which is based on the life cycle assessment standard.

Other product calculation standards include the GHG protocol’s own guidelines, the PAS2050 standard and EN 15804, especially section D.

LCA and carbon footprint calculations made for Lappset’s products use both these and the previously mentioned EPD, i.e. the SFS-EN15804:12+ A2 standard. To ensure the independence, objectivity and reliability of the calculations, Lappset’s calculations are carried out by a third party, not the organisation itself.

In Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), methods and principles according to Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) have been used.

What on earth is EN 15804?

Standards and certificates have a whole set of symbols consisting of letter and number combinations that are difficult for the layperson to understand.

The EN 15804 standard specifies how companies should create Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in the European construction industry. The standard harmonises the structure of EPDs in the construction industry and makes the data both transparent and comparable.

In June 2019, the standard was revised to better align EPDs with the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidelines. The most important changes concern the coverage of life cycle stages, as modules A1–A3, C1–C4 and D must now be reported for all construction products and materials.

In particular, module D is a significant and transparency-enhancing addition to the calculation of EPDs. It includes the potential environmental benefits and loads arising from the recycling and energy recovery of the construction product at the end of its life cycle.

The EN 15804 standard is significant for Lappset’s business, as outdoor sports equipment counts as construction products.

Which results are worth looking at, and what do they tell you?

“Well, first of all, it is worth paying attention to whether any standard has been mentioned in connection with the calculation results, according to which the calculations have been made. Secondly, of course, one should check the requirements of the standard used,” Susanna explains.

For example, the Scope 1–3 calculation according to the GHG protocol gives the manufacturer a lot of freedom because the standard itself does not provide strict frameworks for the calculation.

You can also talk about as many different carbon footprints as you wish. Susanna says that greenhouse gases can be reported:

An example of a large product from our Flora series, its raw materials, and the product's negative carbon footprint

as fossil;
as biogenic;
through land use change and
as a GWP total figure, that is, the sum of all of them.

GWP total stands for Global Warming Potential and refers to the climate’s warming potential. As a simple rule of thumb, the more openly a company communicates about the LCA calculation processes of its products, the more reliable their results are.

“It is also good to read very carefully what is said about the results of the LCA calculations,” Susanna continues. “As we can see, not all carbon footprints are comparable.”

So, navigating the jungle of sustainability communication requires a conscious and critical attitude from the reader, as well as questioning the stated claims.

“Someone presents a fine-looking calculation which, in the end, says nothing about how the calculations were made and what the result means in practical terms, for example. The larger the operator doing this is, the more power it has to determine how the calculations should be made. Still, it doesn’t provide information about what the underlying framework is and what it consists of,” Susanna concludes.

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