IIIEE Reports 2001:15 Environmental Product Information Flow Communication of environmental data to facilitate product improvements in the ICT sector Chris van Rossem Supervisors Dr. Mårten Karlsson Dr. Thomas Lindhqvist Thesis for the fulfilment of the Master of Science in Environmental Management and Policy Lund, Sweden, September 2001 The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics Internationella miljöinstitutet © You may use the contents of the IIIEE publications for informational purposes only. You may not copy, lend, hire, transmit or redistribute these materials for commercial purposes or for compensation of any kind without written permission from IIIEE. When using IIIEE material you must include the following copyright notice: ‘Copyright © IIIEE, Lund University. All rights reserved’ in any copy that you make in a clearly visible position. You may not modify the materials without the permission of IIIEE. Published in 2001 by IIIEE, Lund University, P.O. Box 196, S-221 00 LUND, Sweden, Tel: +46 – 46 222 02 00, Fax: +46 – 46 222 02 10, e-mail: [email protected]. Printed by KFS AB, Lund. ISSN 1650-1675 Acknowledgements I would like to especially thank Karin Thorán at the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate, KemI, for providing both financial and academic support during the course of this research. The tremendous leeway you allowed in terms of setting the research scope has been greatly appreciated. Thanks also to Ulf Rick and Göran Gabrielsson for their valuable assistance in this process. Appreciation is extended to all the organisations and companies that answered my questions and provided me with so much valuable information and direction. I’d especially like to thank everyone at Ericsson, especially Camilla von Wachenfeldt and Nicole Damen. Thanks to Jerker Åkesson for introducing my initial ideas to Ericsson. Thank you to my supervisors, Mårten Karlsson and Thomas Lindhqvist for helping to provide the initial ideas for this research and taking the time to listen to my ramblings about environmental product information flow. Thank you Mårten for helping to organise my thoughts and sifting through the multiple drafts. My gratitude is enormous to the IIIEE staff and friends of Batch 6 for providing this unique and rewarding experience with so many fond experiences to remember. To my beautiful new wife Susanne, who agreed to marry me even after my sometimes eccentric behaviour during this stressful year. Thank you for all your support, especially during the Master’s Programme at the IIIEE. Many things you said and did for me may not have always been acknowledged at the time, but have always been greatly appreciated. Your encouragement and belief in my abilities has always kept me going, even when I had wanted to give up. Just to let you know – I’m looking forward to paying you back with many hours of back massages and fine cooked meals. iii Environmental Product Information Flow in the ICT Product Chain Abstract With the shift in emphasis from process to product-oriented policies and programs within government and industry in the European Union, there is a created need to manage impacts from products throughout their entire life cycle. This has in turn has created both a demand for and supply of environmental product information to various actors in the product chain that ultimately influences and determines the environmental performance of products. This research investigates the current flow of environmental product information within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector from a product chain perspective. It examines how environmental product information flow influences the environmental performance of ICT products both from the product development and product end-of-life management perspectives. The research has highlighted that while industry is taking significant steps towards collecting product data throughout the supply chain there are current gaps in the flow to downstream actors such as retailers, consumers and end-of-life facilities. These issues need to be addressed in order to improve the overall environmental performance of ICT products. Examples found in literature and the active research that address these gaps are provided within the body and main findings of this paper. Key findings of the research are examined in the context of the “essential requirements” found within the Working Paper for a Directive on the impact on the environment of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). It was found that the requirement for estimating the lifecycle inputs and outputs and the associated environmental impacts would be most difficult to meet without a comprehensive strategy. However, the requirement for information to be passed along to downstream stakeholders provides incentives to fill the identified gaps found in this study. v Environmental Product Information Flow in the ICT Product Chain Executive Summary Within the European Union and globally there has been a recent focus of attention on the environmental impacts associated with electronic and electrical equipment (EEE). Initial government focus has begun to address the environmental impacts associated with product disposal, including the use of finite resources and hazardous waste generation. Producer responsibility legislation has been passed in eight Member States and also at the Community level, with the approval of the WEEE Directive by the European Commission. More recently product-focused policies that take a more holistic approach to environmental aspects of EEE have been articulated through the Commission’s integrated product policy (IPP) Green Paper. The Working Paper on the impacts on the environment from EEE, is considered to be a representation of many of the elements of IPP listed in the Green Paper, and focuses on improving the environmental performance of EEE by influencing design considerations. At the same time original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are developing environmental management systems and eco-design programs to manage the environmental impacts associated with the production of their products. Industry has also begun to take a more proactive life cycle approach to improving the environmental performance of EEE, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal. Public and Corporate customers are increasingly demanding that manufacturers supply components and products that have improved environmental performance. These trends have created both a demand for and supply of environmental product information along the ICT product chain. Environmental product information flow is required to improve the environmental performance of products, not only by manufacturers and their suppliers, but also customers and end-of-life facilities. However, increased data flow has inherent costs associated with it and must be weighed against the potential benefits it can provide. If environmental product data being generated are not used to improve the environmental performance of products or reduce risk, then the value of such activity is questionable. It is the aim of this research to investigate how the flow of environmental product information along the ICT product chain influences the environmental performance of finished products from a total life-cycle perspective. By determining the connection of various channels and interfaces of current environmental product data flow to pre-determined environmental improvement criteria, it is anticipated that is possible to draw conclusions on what an efficient (balance between economic, social and environmental) level of data flow along the product chain may include. To fulfil this aim a literature review is conducted to understand the relevant flows of environmental product information in the ICT product chain from the manufacturing supply chain, retailers consumers, governments, and end-of-life perspectives. This is presented in sections 3 and 4 of the research and provides a basis for comparison with the findings from actual experiences of actors in the product chain. The situation in reality is provided by interviews with actors in the ICT product chain mainly from the perspective in Sweden. What has become evident through the investigation of product environmental information flow and the linkage to product environmental improvements is that, although information is important for product improvement, it is not the driver for the change. From the findings in this research, it would appear that it is the key legislative, policy, (WEEE, RoHS, IPP, EEE, etc.) and market drivers (public & corporate purchasing) that are influencing product design, end-of-life management and subsequently environmental improvement, more directly than the actual flow of environmental product information. In addition when discussing what an efficient amount of environmental product information flow might entail, it appears that this is highly dependent on the OEM environmental strategy and the level of responsibility it assumes for the lifecycle of the product. vii Chris van Rossem, IIIEE, Lund University There has been a considerable amount of effort by numerous manufacturers to document the environmental attributes of their products. This increased demand for information from corporate and public purchasers has created the need for the ICT manufacturing sector to standardise information requests to facilitate efficient data flow. This has been demonstrated as Industry Associations in Europe, Japan, and the US have or are in the process of developing standardised formats for this