Applicability of the European Environmental Footprint (EF) methodology in Southern Mediterranean countries—learnings and recommendations for enabling EF-compliant studies in regions outside of Europe

Abstract

Purpose

The European Commission is thinking about policy options for the European Environmental Footprint (EF) method and aims for a broad support. The SwitchMed initiative is a programme with the overall objective to facilitate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production in the Southern Mediterranean region. One of the objectives of this initiative, carried out in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, is to facilitate access of companies from this region to the outcomes of the EF Rules pilot phase.

Methods

The project was composed of three consecutive phases: (I) awareness raising; (II) local pilots; and (III) dissemination events. The awareness raising and technical workshop activities were meant to expose national stakeholders to the potential impact of the EF system for the national economies. Next, nine environmental footprint studies for selected product categories (so-called PEF pilot studies) were performed to create local capacity and expertise. These were leather and intermediate paper product for Egypt; two studies on wine and one on intermediate paper product in Lebanon; olive oil for Morocco; and pasta, olive oil, and dairy for Tunisia. The learnings from the pilot studies were shared in national dissemination events and used to formulate recommendations for enabling EF-compliant studies in regions outside of Europe.

Results and discussion

There was high attendance to the awareness events in each country. The pilot studies showed many similarities with the European screening studies, but also important differences in the identification of most relevant impact categories, life cycle stages, and processes (‘hotspots analyses’), e.g. related to the local scarcity of water. Based on their pilot study, the local experts made concrete suggestions for shifting towards more sustainable consumption and production. One of the biggest successes of this project is that a couple of these recommendations have already been taken into account by the companies.

Conclusions and recommendations

In Egypt, Lebanon, and Tunisia, a few local experts with a significant level of LCA expertise could be identified and through this project we managed to create local PEF capacity too. In Morocco, more assistance was needed to finish the pilot study. This project made clear that the current ‘PEF and OEF methods’ have serious drawbacks for regions other than Europe. The rules of the EF method need to be reconsidered in order to enable EF-compliant studies in regions outside of Europe. In short, we recommend:

• 1. Developing databases with local inventory data for regions outside of Europe;

• 2. Enlarging access to EF-compliant data by extension of the free access and by facilitation of the availability of conversion tools;

• 3. Taking the local availability of data into account when setting data quality requirements;

• 4. Adapting the rules for data collection and quality to allow for more precise adaptations;

• 5. Including in the PEFCR development, supporting studies for products manufactured outside the EU and/or in a geography with unusual conditions; and

• 6. Updating existing rules specific for certain product categories regularly.