One of the purposes of the environmental analysis of the life cycle of products, also called LCA, is actually the quantification and assessment from cradle to grave of the environmental impacts of that product. The comparison between products with the same function (i.e. with the functional unit itself) allows to emphasize and communicate externally the environmental benefits of the product on one or more impact indicators (e.g. climate-changing emissions, eutrophication, etc.).

The Upstream phase and Downstream reconstruction of the material and energy flows of its production cycle (core) makes it possible to identify the most resource-consuming phase of life (materials and energy, both renewable and non-renewable) or at greater risk of pollution (emissions, discharges, etc.): the so-called "bottlenecks". By intervening technically on the life cycle phase that the organization monitors (e.g. redesign of the product according to circular economy criteria, electricity from renewable sources both self-produced and acquired on the tracked and certified market), and from a management point of view (e.g. purchases of raw materials from companies with a lower environmental impact, more rational management of the distribution phase, design of a product with a more sustainable end of life), significant and especially quantifiable improvements can be introduced that can be communicated to its stakeholders in a clear and incontrovertible way over the years (technically defined activity of performance tracking).

If the competitor only declares the performance without any kind of quantification of the supposed environmental improvements, in addition to greenwashing (potentially reported to the Competition and Market Authority for improper commercial practice or misleading advertising), they are easily unusable by contrasting Environmental Declarations (certified or not) based on the LCA methodology that enhance the service offered. The mere communication of the environmental performance of its service is recognized by the market as an important competitive advantage.

LCA studies provide precisely these kinds of answers. With the same technical performance (perhaps even with improved economic performance) some technological solutions have proved in the short to medium term more environmentally impacting with significant economic repercussions during the year. A careful assessment of the life cycle of the investment to be addressed, both in the upstream (construction of the plant) and downstream (decommissioning of the plant), but especially of the operation of the plant with repercussions on the flows of matter and energy to and from the environment can lead to apparently less convenient choices, but with time more competitive and sustainable both environmentally and economically.

Having a set of data on pre- and post-investment consumption and emissions. With the same functional performance to the product realized (e.g. tons produced, square meters made, kg treated, etc.) to be established during the analysis, an LCA study can quantify on time the improvements on one (usually the Carbon footprint) or more indicators of environmental impact.

Certifications pursuant to ISO 14001:15 and the EMAS Regulation require to expand the prospects for improving the performance of organizations (improvement objectives) from direct aspects/impacts (under the direct control of the certified/registered organization) to indirect ones, i.e. those on which the organization can intervene by keeping its production chain under control (both upstream: production of m.p.,auxiliaries, packaging, and in the downstream phase: distribution, use and end of life of the product and its packaging).

Especially for companies that have been certified/registered for some years, the use of tools for analyzing the life cycle of their product /service (even if only in screening mode) always involves an increase in the audience of the possibilities for improving their environmental performance without "fossilising" in the usual and now already exploited indicators of efficiency of the production cycle (kWh/t produced, etc.).

At European level, but also at national and regional level, public administrations tend to require an assessment of the life cycle of the product or service for which the company applies for funding. The only reliable tool from this point of view are LCA studies that allow to quantify with defined margins of uncertainty the environmental performance of the product/service. Environmental communication tools such as the Environmental Declaration (which uses a set of environmental impact indicators defined for each product/service category) or the Environmental Footprints (Carbon Footprint, Water Footprint, Environmental Footprint) are always based on the LCA methodology.

Of course, you have to frame the customer's request well and understand his needs well: do you want to make a comparison with other similar products to choose the one with the lowest environmental impact? Do you want a data to carry out an LCA study on your product/service? Answering these and other similar questions is essential to choose the most effective communication tool for your stakeholdersCertainly, LCA studies are the right tool to quantify the environmental performance of your product/service to be communicated outside.

It is certainly not easy for a non-insider to extricate himself from all these terminologies and especially to fully understand the pros and cons of each of them. In this regard, in this site we have dedicated an entire web page to try to clarify these different tools as much as possible.

Sì, è vero.

L’ Indicatore di circolarità è uno strumento che serve a misurare quantitativamente il livello di circolarità di un prodotto/servizio o di un’organizzazione aziendale.

Il dato che si ottiene è il risultato di un processo di analisi e misurazione degli impatti e delle misure di mitigazione, riduzione e compensazione messe in atto dall’organizzazione e viene espresso in un valore numerico percentuale che attesta il livello di circolarità.

Questo valore viene calcolato mediante un set di indicatori di economia circolare.

Allo stato attuale non è prevista una certificazione, in quanto lo strumento è una proposta di norma: UNI1608856 “Misurazione della circolarità – Metodi ed indicatori per la misurazione dei processi circolari nelle organizzazioni”.

In attesa di ufficialità, le organizzazioni interessate che vorranno aderire al progetto potranno citare lo studio effettuato come azione di miglioramento in ottica circolare e di continuità al “Performance Tracking”, comunicando così il loro impegno e la loro trasparenza.