Ref. Ares(2012)873788 - 17/07/2012 EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE Institute for Environment and Sustainability H08 Sustainability Assessment Unit Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) Guide Deliverable 3 and 4B to the Administrative Arrangement between DG Environment and Joint Research Centre No. N 070307/2009/552517, including Amendment No 1 from December 2010. European Commission (EC) Joint Research Centre(JRC) Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) Authors: Nathan Pelletier, Karen Allacker, Simone Manfredi, Kirana Chomkhamsri, Danielle Maia de Souza Project Leader and main reviewer: Rana Pant Action Leader and reviewer: David Pennington Approved by: Constantin Ciupagea CONSOLIDATED VERSION Ispra, Italy, July 17, 2012 Organisation Environmental Footprint Guide - CONSOLIDATED VERSION This page is left intentionally blank. 2 Organisation Environmental Footprint Guide - CONSOLIDATED VERSION Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................... 7 Context ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Objectives and Target Audiences ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Process and Results ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Relationship to the Product Environmental Footprint Guide ............................................................................... 9 Terminology: Shall, Should and May ................................................................................................................................ 9 1. General Considerations for Organisation Environmental Footprint Studies .......................................... 11 1.1 Approach and Applications ....................................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 How to Use this Guide .................................................................................................................................................. 13 1.3 Principles for Organisation Environmental Footprint Studies ................................................................... 13 1.4 Phases of an Organisation Environmental Footprint Study ........................................................................ 15 2. Role of Organisation Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSRs) .................................................. 16 2.1 General ............................................................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Defining the Sector that is Subject to the Organisation Environmental Footprint Sector Rules .. 17 3. Defining the Goal(s) of the Organisation Environmental Footprint Study ............................................. 19 4. Defining the Scope of the Organisation Environmental Footprint Study ............................................... 21 4.1 General ............................................................................................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Defining the Organisation (Unit of Analysis) ..................................................................................................... 21 4.3 Product Portfolio ........................................................................................................................................................... 22 4.4 System Boundaries for Organisation Environmental Footprint Studies ................................................ 23 4.4.1 Organisational Boundaries ............................................................................................................. 24 4.4.2 Organisation Environmental Footprint Boundaries ....................................................................... 25 4.4.3 System Boundary Diagram ............................................................................................................. 27 4.4.4 How to Deal with Offsets in an OEF ............................................................................................... 27 4.5 Selecting Environmental Footprint Impact Categories and Assessment Methods ............................ 28 4.6 Selecting Additional Environmental Information to be Included in the OEF ....................................... 30 4.7 Assumptions/Limitations .......................................................................................................................................... 33 5. Compiling and Recording the Resource Use and Emissions Profile (Inventory Phase) ........................... 34 5.1 General ............................................................................................................................................................................... 34 5.2 Screening Step ................................................................................................................................................................ 35 5.3 Data Management Plan (Optional) ......................................................................................................................... 36 5.4 Resource Use and Emissions Profile Data ........................................................................................................... 37 5.4.1 Direct Activities and Impacts .......................................................................................................... 38 3 Organisation Environmental Footprint Guide - CONSOLIDATED VERSION 5.4.2 Indirectly Attributable Upstream Activities .................................................................................... 38 5.4.3 Indirectly Attributable Downstream Activities ............................................................................... 39 5.4.4 Additional Resource Use and Emissions Profile Requirements ...................................................... 39 5.4.5 Modelling Transport Scenarios ....................................................................................................... 41 5.4.6 Modelling Scenarios for the Use Stage ........................................................................................... 42 5.4.7 Modelling End-of-Life Scenarios ..................................................................................................... 43 5.5 Nomenclature for the Resource Use and Emissions Profile ........................................................................ 44 5.6 Data Quality Requirements ....................................................................................................................................... 45 5.7 Specific Data Collection ............................................................................................................................................... 54 5.8 Generic data collection ................................................................................................................................................ 55 5.9 Dealing with Remaining Data Gaps / Missing Data ......................................................................................... 56 5.10 Data Gathering Related to the Next Methodological Phases in an Organisation Environmental Footprint Study. ..................................................................................................................................................................... 57 5.11 Handling Multi-Functional Processes and Facilities .................................................................................... 59 6. Organisation Environmental Footprint Impact Assessment .................................................................. 63 6.1 Mandatory Steps: Classification and Characterisation .................................................................................. 63 6.1.1 Classification of Environmental Footprint Flows ............................................................................ 63 6.1.2 Characterisation of Environmental Footprint Flows ...................................................................... 64 6.2 Optional Steps: Normalisation and Weighting .................................................................................................. 65 6.2.1 Normalisation of Environmental Footprint Impact Assessment Results........................................ 65 6.2.2 Weighting of Environmental Footprint Impact Assessment Results .............................................. 66 7. Organisation Environmental Footprint Interpretation ......................................................................... 67 7.1 General ............................................................................................................................................................................... 67 7.2 Assessment of the Robustness of the Organisation Environmental Footprint Model ...................... 67 7.3 Identification of Hotspots (Significant Issues) .................................................................................................. 68 7.4 Estimation of Uncertainty .........................................................................................................................................