Nicole Unger

A review of ecodesign and environmental assessment tools and their appropriateness for electrical and electronic equipment

The electrical and electronic equipment sector is a steadily growing one and thus also environmental considerations about it become more and more an issue. There is a large number of tools that can be used for ecodesign and environmental assessment, but not each tool is equally suitable for all products. Although electrical and electronic equipment are often mentioned together, they show major differences and thus tools will be used differently. The choice of an adequate tool depends on many aspects and thus no single rule on how to choose a tool can be given. However, this paper gives an overview of different well-known tools. Case studies from literature and new ones illustrate the process of choosing tools and furthermore show their use on particular products. The applicability of tools for electrical and electronic equipment is then thoroughly discussed.

How to Measure and Manage the Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Impact of a Global Multinational Company

Unilever has recently launched its Sustainable Living Plan. It includes a target to halve the average per consumer use greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of the business by 2020. To set the GHG impact baseline for this target approximately 1600 representative products across 14 countries were measured, representing about 70 % of Unilevers sales. The results showed that less than 5 % of the product life cycle impacts occur in Unilevers own operations; the main contributors occur either with raw material suppliers or in the consumer phase. Thus, whilst programmes to reduce GHG emissions from manufacturing will continue, the largest reduction opportunity exists across the value chain. This paper will describe the approach taken to measure the GHG baseline and the challenges encountered as well as how the information and insights gained has helped guide Unilevers actions on GHG management across the value chain.