Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)

The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is a life cycle assessment (LCA) based method to quantify the environmental impacts of products (goods or services). It builds on existing approaches and international standards. The overarching purpose of PEF information is to enable to reduce the environmental impacts of goods and services taking into account supply chain activities (from extraction of raw materials, through production and use and to final waste management). This purpose is achieved through the provision of detailed requirements for modelling the environmental impacts of the flows of material/energy and the emissions and waste streams associated with a product throughout its life cycle. The rules provided in the PEF method enable to conduct PEF studies that are more reproducible, comparable and verifiable, compared to existing alternative approaches. However, comparability is only possible if the results are based on the same Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR).

Zampori, L. and Pant, R., Suggestions for updating the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method, EUR 29682 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-00654-1, doi:10.2760/424613, JRC115959.

Source category: EC Technical Documents

The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and the Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) are life cycle assessment (LCA) based methods to measure and communicate the potential life cycle environmental impact of products (goods or services) and organisations, respectively. Together they form the basis for the EU Environmental Footprint. The technical details of the EF methods are laid down in the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279 (Annexes I-II-III-IV). Additional guidance documents on the EF methods have been developed during the first applications of the PEF/OEF in the pilot phase (2013-2018) and in the transition phase (2019-2022).

Damiani, M., Ferrara, N. and Ardente, F., Understanding Product Environmental Footprint and Organisation Environmental Footprint methods, EUR 31236 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022, ISBN 978-92-76-57214-5, doi:10.2760/11564, JRC129907.

Source category: EC Technical Documents