Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint Case study of Nordic textile and IT companies Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint Case study of Nordic textile and IT companies Hanna Salo, Johanna Suikkanen and Ari Nissinen TemaNord 2019:542 Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint Case study of Nordic textile and IT companies Hanna Salo, Johanna Suikkanen and Ari Nissinen ISBN 978-92-893-6254-2 (PDF) ISBN 978-92-893-6255-9 (EPUB) http://dx.doi.org/10.6027/TN2019-542 TemaNord 2019:542 ISSN 0908-6692 Standard: PDF/UA-1 ISO 14289-1 © Nordic Council of Ministers 2019 This publication was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the Nordic Council of Ministers’ views, opinions, attitudes or recommendations Disclaimer This publication was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. 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Photo rights (further permission required for reuse): Any queries regarding rights and licences should be addressed to: Nordic Council of Ministers/Publication Unit Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen Denmark [email protected] Nordic co-operation Nordic co-operation is one of the world’s most extensive forms of regional collaboration, involving Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. Nordic co-operation has firm traditions in politics, economics and culture and plays an important role in European and international forums. The Nordic community strives for a strong Nordic Region in a strong Europe. Nordic co-operation promotes regional interests and values in a global world. The values shared by the Nordic countries help make the region one of the most innovative and competitive in the world. The Nordic Council of Ministers Nordens Hus Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen [email protected] Download and order Nordic publications from www.norden.org/nordpub Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................... 7 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 9 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 11 2. Materials and Methods ...................................................................................................... 13 3. Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Stimuli for acting greener ........................................................................................ 15 3.2 Barriers standing in the way of ecodesign ................................................................ 17 3.3 Innovative targets and mechanisms ....................................................................... 19 3.4 Use of ecodesign tools ............................................................................................ 21 3.5 Product Environmental Footprint ........................................................................... 22 4. Conclusions and recommendations .................................................................................. 25 References .............................................................................................................................. 27 Sammanfattning ..................................................................................................................... 31 Appendix I ............................................................................................................................... 33 Appendix II ............................................................................................................................. 45 Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint 5 6 Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint Foreword In order to make contemporary society more ecologically sustainable, much emphasis is placed on the production of goods. Design is a crucial dimension of proactive planning with the aim of improving existing systems and transforming them into or creating completely new ones. Design is considered to be the most crucial step when improving the environmental performance of a product. Multiple approaches have been developed to help designers make more environmentally sustainable choices – including ecodesign and green innovations. How many companies use different eco-design tools in the Nordic countries? How much do they already know about the new methodology developed by the EU, i.e. Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), and how do they see it? These were identified as important research questions in the project “Nordic Swan, Circular Economy and Product Environmental Footprint” (2016–2019) funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) as one of the projects of Finland’s Presidency of the EU in 2016.1 We decided to focus on the textile and IT sectors, as both have Swan ecolabel criteria and PEF category rules, and both sectors are the subject of ongoing discussion about ecologically sustainable products and evidently much interest in and activities related to ecodesign. In preparing the questionnaire used in this research, and in identifying companies in the sectors, we received significant help from many stakeholders, especially from the industrial associations in the Nordic countries. This report is based on the material used by Hanna Salo for her master’s thesis “Implementing green innovations and ecodesign in companies: Differences among the Nordic textile and IT sectors” (Salo, 2019).2 For details about the methodology and many results dealing with the ecodesign tools, the reader is advised to see her thesis. However, results about PEF are dealt with only in this report. We are grateful for the funding from Nordic Council of Ministers and the help from many stakeholders, and the companies that responded to the research. These efforts made this interesting insight into the implementation of ecodesign in many Nordic countries possible. Helsinki, July 2019 The authors 1 https://www.syke.fi/projects/scepef 2 http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019052817566 Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint 7 8 Use of ecodesign tools and expectations for Product Environmental Footprint Executive Summary The report examines how ecodesign and green innovations are implemented in textile and IT companies that manufacture and/or design products in the Nordic countries. The textile sector is here defined as textiles and wearing apparel. The IT sector includes electronic components, computers, communication equipment and consumer electronics. The IT sector was limited in this report to the manufacturing of hardware, excluding games and software, programming and repair of IT equipment. The report looks at how and why ecodesign and green innovations are promoted by companies, what barriers they have faced, what tools they use to support their work and how they perceive the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). It applies this framework in the context of the Nordic countries, which are perceived as forerunners in environmental matters. Green innovations are defined as an approach to developing and implementing product, process, marketing, organisational or institutional innovations that reduce environmental impact in relation to a stated common reference. Ecodesign is a collaborative, proactive and systematic design and management process that integrates environmental issues into product development processes. The data used in the report was collected using a structured questionnaire to gather a broad overview of the situation. The questionnaire was conducted in Webropol and sent by the national industrial