Environmental Footprint: RINA is now part of the Technical Advisory Board

05 Jun 2019

RINA is now onboard to follow the developments in the Environmental Footprint transition phase

Under the Single Market for Green Products Initiative, the European Commission proposed the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) methods as a common way of measuring environmental performance. The approach was tested between 2013-2018 together with more than 280 volunteering companies and organisations.

In the period between the end of the Environmental Footprint pilot phase and the possible adoption of policies implementing the PEF and OEF methods, a transition phase is established (2019-2021).

The Directorate General for the Environment and the Directorate General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission (DG ENV and DG GROW) run the Environmental Footprint transition phase. DG ENV and DG GROW will lead the work, acting in close collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and other Commission services.

A new Technical Advisory Board (TAB) is now in place to discuss methodological issues in the context of the Environmental Footprint transition phase. Our colleague Carlo Strazza, as Life Cycle Assessment expert, has been invited to become member of the first Technical Advisory Board (TAB) meeting, that took place on 15 and 16 May 2019 at Centre Albert Borschette (CCAB) in Brussels.

The TAB is meant to provide advice and expertise to the Commission. The issues to be discussed might include: analysis of the content of newly developed rules, consistency of approaches, technical advice to the Commission in case of issues related to the implementation of existing rules, and new methodological developments seen necessary within the EF context, covering all phases of the process, from the creation of datasets and models up to the review and verification procedures.

The chair of the TAB will also set up thematic working groups to deal with specific methodological issues. These shall have a clear mandate, a limited duration and a defined membership. At each meeting, a report shall be made on their progress. Once their mandate is fulfilled, the outcome of the working groups shall be discussed in a TAB meeting.

The TAB meetings will take place at least three times per year, and RINA is now onboard to follow the upcoming developments in the transition phase, together with the several actors engaged in the initiative, and bring relevant advice.