Sustainable Consumption of Resources; Eco-

Labeling & Eco-design

Lecture (Week-07)
Jamal ud Din Qureshi (Lecturer)
DES, IIUI.
Definition of Sustainable Consumption & Production
(SCP)
A commonly used definition is: “the use of services and
related products which respond to basic needs and
bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of
natural resources and toxic materials as well as the
emission of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the
service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs
of future generations” (ISSD 1994).
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• Another widely used and more recent definition is
provided by UNEP: “SCP is a holistic approach to
minimizing the negative environmental impacts from
consumption and production systems while promoting
quality of life for all” (UNEP 2011).
 Key principles of Sustainable Consumption
1. Improving the quality of life without increasing environmental
degradation and without compromising the resource needs of
future generations.
2. Seprate economic growth from environmental degradation
by:
• Reducing material/energy intensity of current economic
activities and reducing emissions and waste from extraction,
production, consumption and disposal.
• Promoting a shift of consumption patterns towards groups of
goods and services with lower energy and material intensity
without compromising quality of life.
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3. Applying life-cycle thinking which considers the impacts
from all life-cycle stages of the production and consumption
process.
4. Guarding against the re-bound effect, where efficiency
gains are cancelled out by resulting increases in
consumption (UNEP 2011).
Introduction to Environmental labelling
• Environmental labels and declarations are one of the tools of
environmental management, which is the subject of the ISO 14000
series.
• Environmental labels and declarations provide information about a
product or service in terms of its overall environmental character, a
specific environmental aspect, or any number of aspects. Purchasers and
potential purchasers can use this information in choosing the products or
services they desire based on environmental, as well as other,
considerations. The provider of the product or service hopes the
environmental label or declaration will be effective in influencing the
purchasing decision in favor of its product or service. If the environmental
label or declaration has this effect, the market share of the product or
service can increase and other providers may respond by improving the
environmental aspects of their products or services to enable them to use
environmental labels or make environmental declarations, resulting in
reduced environmental stress from that product or service category.
Eco-labelling
Environmental ecolabelling:
In order to characterize and label environmentally
acceptable products, authorities and institutions in different
countries have developed environmental labelling schemes
and special signs and labels. It is the aim of these signs to
draw the attention of users to environmentally acceptable
products.
Environmental labels are an internationally recognized
means of communicating the environmental credentials of
products in response to consumer demand for information.
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The framework for product environmental labelling and
declaration is standardized in BS EN ISO 14020. This is a
general principles document which further identifies three
‘Types’ of label/declaration/claim. A summary of this
framework is provided in Table 1.1. Each declaration ‘Type’
is supported by a separate ISO Standard which has been
developed to further harmonize practice. BS EN ISO 14020
and its complementary standards are intended to help an
organization gather the information needed to support
planning for, and decision making on, its product/service
and to communicate specific environmental information
about that product/service to its stakeholders.
Type I Third Party Environmental Label: a voluntary, multi-criteria based third party
labelling BS EN ISO 14024:2001 programme/standard that awards a license which authorizes
the use of environmental labels on products indicating overall
environmental preference of a product within a particular
product category based on life cycle considerations. These are
commonly referred to as ′ecolabels′

Type II Self-declared environmental Claim: a self-declared environmental claim is a statement,

claims BS EN ISO 14021:2001 symbol or graphic that indicates an environmental aspect of a
product (e.g. self-declaration claiming a material or product
such as a brick or concrete block to be recyclable, or
alternatively to incorporate recycled content)

Type III Third Party verified Declaration: a set of quantified environmental data consisting
Environmental Product of pre-set parameters (so-called ′nutritional label′) based on
Declaration (EPD) BS EN ISO LCA according to the BS EN ISO 14040 series of standards,
14025:2006 with at least a minimum set of parameters for the product
group (e.g. EPD with a mandatory third party validation: SGS,
SBS Green Sol etc.
ISO labels and environmental product declaration
• ISO 14020:2000 gives distinct requirements on the
principles of environmental labels as follows:
• Testable, objective, not deceptive
• Procedures and requirements without unnecessary
obstacles for international trade
• Based on scientific methodology according to the
demands. Precise and reproducible results
• Consideration of the entire life cycle of products and
services, where deserved
• No obstacles for sound environmental innovations
• Reduce administration and information on necessary
and useful criteria for agreement
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• Procedures for development by consulting the
interested people involved, search for consensus
• Provide sales departments with information on
environmental aspects of products and services
• Provide interested people involved with
information concerning procedures, methods and
criteria used.
• Emphasis is set on fair trade, transparency and
consumer information.
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ISO also developed a system for label types according to
the compliance with ISO standards (ISO 14020) or other
standards (see Fig. 1.2). Following the outlined decision
path, it becomes evident to customers how reliable a label
is. Label type I is the most stringent as it is controlled by
government and infringement with these standards means
violation of law. Label type II is embedded in the framework
of ISO 14000, certified by accredited bodies – another
stringent procedure.
Fig 1.2: Eco-environmental Labeling
Importance of eco-labelling
Eco label generally represents a holistic verdict, giving an
overall evaluation of a product’s environmental quality.
Environmental labels operate as informative and voluntary
market instruments and in some cases regulatory in nature
for the country of export. Eco-labelling can achieve several
goals:
• improving sales or image of a labelled product;
• stimulating consumer awareness about environmental
impact of products;
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• directing manufactures for the environmental
impact of their products; and
• ultimately improving the quality of the
environment and encouraging the sustainable
management of resources.
• However, the overall goal of eco-labelling is to
encourage the demand for and supply of those
products that cause less stress on the
environment, thereby stimulating the potential for
market driven continuous environmental
improvement
Eco-design
 What is eco-design?
Eco-design means the incorporation of
environmental considerations into the design
and development of products or services.
 Five eco-design strategies
1. Design for Longevity: Durable, easy to repair,
timeless

2. Design for Disposal:Simple, renewable,

3. Reduce: Optimize materials and

energy

4. Re-use: Increase re-use potential

5. Re-cycle: Design for disassembly,

remanufacture and material
reclaiming
Figure 1.Legal framework of eco-design in EU countries
 Aspects of eco-design
approach
Quality, legislation, costs, functionality,
durability, ergonomics, aesthetics as well as
health and safety considerations.
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As a result, the eco-designed products are
innovative, have better environmental
performance and are of a quality at least as
good as the market standard. This makes
the use of eco-design increasingly important
for business, and leads to clear advantages
for those companies incorporating Eco-
design.
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Eco-design adopts an integrated approach
to the relationship between products and
services and the environment on three
levels:
1st: The whole Life Cycle of the product or
service is considered
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The environmental impacts of a product do
not only arise during its manufacturing, use
or when it has become waste, but
throughout its entire life cycle.
 2nd: Product and system
All the elements that a product needs to
develop its function (consumables,
packaging, energy networks etc.) must also
be taken into account.
 3rd: Multi-criteria
All different environmental impacts are
assessed in order to avoid trade-offs
between different impact categories (e.g.
resource depletion, greenhouse effect,
toxicity etc).
This integrated structure enables the use
of eco-design in combination with other
IPP tools.
 ECODESIGN is a Strategic
management...
concerned with minimizing the impact of the
life cycle of products and services These
solutions can range from specifying
renewable materials, reducing the energy
during usage to innovating the business
model as well as controlling the end-of-life
treatment.
Benefits and opportunities of eco-design
implementation
The environmental performance of a product
improves (e.g., footprint) by optimizing inputs and
outputs of the production process, reducing
resources consumption (i.e., energy, materials,
water), the environmental impact (e.g., emissions,
waste) and increasing the efficiency of the system.
Moreover, the implementation of eco-design
methodologies might promote the application of
Environmental Management Systems (EMS).
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As external drivers, environmental data can
be used for communication-to-user and
marketing purposes while increasing the
presence of environment as a decision-
making criterion during purchase.
 Table 2. Internal and external drivers for eco-design in
companies
Internal drivers External drivers

Environmental Decrease of resources consumption Use of environmental

Decrease of environmental impact communication
Increase of efficiency Compliance with environmental
Enhance environmental management legislation
systems Contribution to global
Continuous improvement sustainability

Economic Variable cost savings Market differentiation

Fixed cost reduction Green purchasing
Introduction into new markets Supply for new green market
Development of new products demands
Improved product quality Enhance of supply chain
information

Social Improved company image Environmental awareness

Enhance of innovation and Environmental responsibility
entrepreneurship
Increased staff motivation
 The scope of eco-design
Design for Environment (DfE) or Eco-design is
defined as the integration of environmental
aspects in the product design process during its
life cycle (Directive 2009/125/EC). Eco-design can
be applied with different goals depending on the
product life-cycle stage which must be improved.
In this sense, different “Design for X” tools were
developed.
Overview of the eco-design methodology

Several tools were developed to implement

eco-design (Bovea and Perez- Belis 2012,
Le Pochat et al. 2007, Pigosso et al. 2010),
this methodology was used and improved
during the development of real pilot projects
and, therefore, was optimized for the
participation of companies.
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The methodology is divided in four main steps (Figure).
First, the product is defined in order to approach the
goals of the eco-design process (I). During this first step,
a market study is also performed to observe the design
trends (insights and norms) that can contribute to the
design requirements. Then, a product evaluation (II) is
performed through the application of a Qualitative
Assessment of Life Cycle Criteria (QALCC) (CPRAC
2012) and a quantitative analysis through Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) (ISO 2006a) and Carbon Footprint
(ISO14067, PAS2050).
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The outputs of both tools are compiled in an eco-
briefing (Smith and Wyatt 2006) of the critical
points in the life cycle. As a result, the proposal of
eco-design strategies (III) can be defined and
selected by the company after a technological,
social and economic assessment.
Finally, the prototype is defined by the company
with the integration of the selected strategies
and the product is validated (V) through an LCA
and PCF. These last stages usually interact with
each other and the new design is validated and
re-designed until it is optimized.
Product Carbon footprint (PCF) (PAS 2050, ISO 14067) can be
used during the eco-design process in different steps and with
different purposes.

Figure: Steps and tools of the eco-design methodology and role of the Product Carbon
Footprint