Nombre del trabajo Life Cycle approaches in SMEs · LCiP- Life Cycle in Practice is a project co-funded by the LIFE+ Environment Policy and ... core business processes of the company,

Life Cycle in Practice (LCiP)

LIFE+ 12 ENV/FR/001113

NombredeltrabajoGuidelines for implementation of Life Cycle approaches in SMEs

ot

1

LCiP- Life Cycle in Practice is a project co-funded by the LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance Programme of the EU supporting technological projects that offer significant environmental benefits. The views expressed here are purely the authors’ own and do

not reflect the views of the European Commission.

Guidelines for the implementation of Life Cycle approaches in SMEs

Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 2

1.1. Who is this document for? ................................................................................ 21.2. Actors involved in the LCiP project .................................................................. 21.3. Steps of a Life Cycle approach ........................................................................ 31.4. Why a Life Cycle approach? ............................................................................ 31.5. What prerequisites for the company? ............................................................... 51.6. Resource requirements .................................................................................... 51.7. Examples of measures that can be developed as a result of LCA: ................. 6

2. Definition of the improvement project ........................................................... 62.1. Maturity Analysis ............................................................................................... 62.2. Pursued objectives and project definition ........................................................ 7

2.2.1. Framing the approach ............................................................................... 82.3. Roles and responsibilities in the project ........................................................... 9

2.3.1. LCA Coach ................................................................................................. 92.3.2. Life Cycle Champions ................................................................................ 92.3.3. Driving the partnership ............................................................................ 10

3. Implementation of improvement projects ................................................... 103.1. Choice of environmental assessment methods and tools .............................. 10

3.1.1. Indicator selection .................................................................................... 113.2. Data collection ................................................................................................ 123.3. Data interpretation and recommendations ..................................................... 13

4. Roll out Plan ................................................................................................ 164.1. Development of an action plan within the company ...................................... 16

4.1.1. Deployment plan within the SME ............................................................. 164.1.2. Communication ........................................................................................ 16

4.2. Demultiplication phase ................................................................................... 175. Conclusions ................................................................................................ 18

ot

2



1. Introduction The implementation of Life Cycle Thinking, including ecodesign, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and environmental labelling, is an emerging reality and a growing challenge for companies in many sectors. Companies face increasing legal and commercial requirements, pushing them to optimise resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact in their processes, products and services. The EU LIFE+ project Life Cycle in Practice (LCiP) has demonstrated the potential benefits that Life Cycle Approaches can bring to SMEs through the implementation of 32 pilot projects. In addition to accompanying these SMEs, pilot projects served also as “master classes” for support organisations to help them reinforce their competencies in providing services to companies, and to gain Life Cycle experience in their sector or region. While the LCiP project focused on three sectors (building and construction, waste and recycling, and energy infrastructures), the learning shared here is widely applicable to other sectors as well. In this regard the avniR platform run by cd2e monitors Life Cycle Thinking in eight different sectors: mechanics, textile, packaging, aquatic products, industry, recycling industry, construction and wood industry. Details of this project can be found on the avniR website1.

1.1. Who is this document for? This document proposes guidelines on how to accompany the deployment of Life Cycle approaches within SMEs. As such it is aimed mainly at support organisations, but SMEs themselves may also find the explanation of how such projects are rolled out. A complementary executive summary, more suited to the level of detail required by SMEs, is also available. This document does not have the ambition to fully cover the implementation of Life Cycle approaches in SMEs, but provides an initial overview of the process to be complemented by experts during the project implementation. The document is structured around the main steps of the Life Cycle approach (see figure 1 below), and also provides recommendations from lessons learned, guidance towards further resources, and examples from the experiences of the LCiP project.

1.2. Actors involved in the LCiP project These guidelines build on lessons learned by the various actors involved in the LCiP pilot projects:

• SMEs in which the LCA pilot projects were implemented, • Coaches, who are LCA experts driving the projects, • Life Cycle Champions (LCC), who are environmental support organisations,

participating in the project in order to acquire specific skills in LCA implementation projects in SMEs.

More details on the role and involvement of each of these actors are provided later.

1 https://www.avnir.org/EN/Dynamique-filiere-227.html

ot

3



Further resources

A key feature of the LCiP project was the development of a series of resources to support all actors involved in the implementation of Life Cycle Approaches (SMEs, but also trainers, experts, policy makers, etc.). These include:

§ The LCiP Website, which provides information on the project, it’s deliverable and results.

§ An Online Resource Centre (ORC), a one-stop shop gathering an agenda of training and events, tools and other documentation on LCA capacity building, LCA tools and other resources, case studies, etc.

§ The LCiP project has also established Physical Resource Centres in each participating region to provide services to different actors engaged in implementing and supporting Life Cycle approaches (SMEs seeking guidance, support organisations providing guidance and training services, etc.). Contact details are available here.

§ A network of Life Cycle Champions and Trainer Clubs, which bring together support organisations and provide peer-to-peer networking and capacity building opportunities

1.3. Steps of a Life Cycle approach Figure 1 below describes the key steps of the LC approach implemented in the LCiP Project. Each step is later explained in farther detail below.

Figure 1: Overview of the LC Assessment projects undertaken within LCiP

1.4. Why a Life Cycle approach? Emerging legislation leads to believe that Life Cycle approaches will increasingly become part of the legal obligations of business. For now, the drivers remain more incentive-driven and voluntary in nature, but it is clear that the companies who anticipate regulation today by already engaging in these approaches will have an edge on those who wait for legal obligations to kick in.

ot

4



Environmental and economic benefits of LC approaches make it clear that these should be considered an investment rather than a cost, a risk-management strategy to ensure competitiveness and even compliance for business. Some examples of reasons expressed by companies to engage in LC approaches include:

Assesstheenvironmentalfootprintofaproduct,processorservice.

Makesurethattheeffortsofimprovementfocuswheretheimpactisthemostimportant(hotspots).

Bemorelegibleinthecommunica?oninordertodifferen?ateitselffromthecompe??on.

Innovateonthefunc?onsandimprovethequalityoftheproductsandac?vi?es.

Maketherightchoicesbyusinganapproachscien?ficallyrecognizedandstandardised.

Meetthedemandsofincreasinglyenvironmentallyconsciousandresponsibleclients

Op?misecosts

Complywiththeupcomingregula?onandstandarisa?on

ot

5



Lessons learned from LCiP

1.5. What prerequisites for the company? In order to fully benefit from this type of initiative, several aspects must be validated beforehand. Some simple but key ideas to keep in mind when mapping prerequisites are:

• Change requires resources: the financial health of the company is an important element to consider when deciding defining the project and making the investment decisions it will require.

• Change requires time: Life Cycle approaches must be implemented with a medium to long term vision in mind so as to enable adequate roll out planning.

• Change requires leadership: The motivation to implement LC approaches must be driven from the top of the organisation. Top-level buy in and adequate resource mobilisation (human and financial) are critical success factors.

• Change requires dedication: a good understanding, motivation and engagement throughout the company are critical success factors which will require information, training and empowerment of staff members at all levels.

• Change requires cooperation: Actors in the value chain (internal and external) can provide important information about the environmental performance of the products and need to be involved in their improvement, in order to attain maximum benefits.

• Change requires authority to decide: The autonomy of the company to decide and implement improvements at product, service and process level.

1.6. Resource requirements It is difficult to estimate the resource requirements for such projects, as this depends to a large extent on the ambition set by the SME. But in order to provide a ballpark figure, and based on the experience of the LCiP project, approximately 6 months were needed for the first two steps of the Life Cycle approach (see Figure 1 above): definition and implementation of the improvement project. During this period, regular meetings were organised between the Coach, LC Champions and the SME.


Overall, we estimate that the following time investments were made by the different actors involved during LCiP for steps 1 and 2 of the LC Approach:

• The Coach spent an average of 10 person days to help define the project, identify data to be collected, enter and analyse the data, and provide feedback, analysis and recommendations to the SME.

• The SME invested an average of 6 person days to participate in the meetings, collect the data and respond to questions raised by the Coach to feed the Life Cycle Analysis.

• The time investment of LC Champions was highly variable, depending on their availability to contribute to, and learn from, the exercise. In some cases LC Champions followed closely the work of the Coach, and actively engaged in research, data compilation and analysis, and in other cases they chose to participate only in regular project meetings.

ot

6



The time and financial resources required for the Step 3 of the LC approach, the Roll Out Phase, are impossible to estimate here, as they depend entirely on the scope and ambition of the SME. These may vary from very light investments of a few person days for an environmental awareness campaign for instance, to full-time investments of some staff members in the case of complete over-haul of some processes. In the long term, we can anticipate that such investments be mainstreamed into the core business processes of the company, and no longer need to be identified as separate or special investments.

1.7. Examples of measures that can be developed as a result of LCA:

2. Definit ion of the improvement project

2.1. Maturity Analysis The basis for environmental improvement projects is to establish the baseline of environmental maturity. The maturity analysis aims to assess the SME’s current capacity to implement Life Cycle approaches. This analysis will include an assessment of current eco design and LCA capacities, and establish a baseline before launching an improvement project that will either initiate or strengthen existing LC approaches. A preliminary survey will therefore be necessary. A model survey was developed and tested within LCiP, and is available on the project website (see box below). This tool can of course be adapted to suit the needs of different improvement projects. The results will enable project partners (Coaches and, where relevant, LC Champions) to knowingly communicate with SME representatives and together reflect on the definition of the improvement project. The data collected through the maturity analysis feeds into two processes: at the company level, it will provide the baseline for the dashboard which will be used to

Iden?fy"hotspots"intheproduc?onprocess,highligh?ngproblema?csubstancesorprocessesandtheirimpacts

Ecodesignofnewproducts

Op?misa?onofexis?ngprocesses

Alterna?vesubstances,produc?onprocessesses,wassteandby-producttreatment

Guidanceininvestmentdecisions(no?onofreturnontheenvironment)

Brandimageandcommunica?ontoolssuchasgreenmarke?ng,productcomparision,EnvironmentalProductDeclara?onorEcoLabels

ImplementacompleteLifeCycleManagementstrategy

ot

7



monitor the project implementation (see the implementation chapter below), and at the sector level, aggregated data will enable an overall sector analysis. A low maturity level for an SME should not be an excluding factor, but in such cases, the SME staff should wherever possible be encouraged to deepen their LCA knowledge through various training modules proposed in the region. This can actually be part of the improvement project. Training will ideally include a general introduction to LC approaches, complemented with a more in-depth approach focusing on concrete sector-based examples relevant to the improvement project. The improvement project will then become a concrete opportunity to implement environmental management and to test evaluate the potential benefits for the company.

Further resources

§ The LCiP Project has developed a Maturity Assessment tool, available on the Website or directly from your regional LCiP contact point.

§ The LCiP Online Resource Centre and LCiP contact points are available to guide SMEs towards the most suited training in their region.

§ Furthermore, LCiP has produced a training kit that can be used by trainers in developing LCA training modules. This resource is also available on the LCiP Online Resource Centre.

2.2. Pursued objectives and project definition Based on the maturity assessment and initial discussions between actors involved, potential improvements will be identified. The ambition to improve a product, service, process or combination thereof will be expressed by the SME, with inputs from the Coach and LC Champions. Together, based on resources available and the ambition of the project, they will determine the objectives, the scope, the methodology and tools / approach to be used in the project, including those for the evaluation of environmental and economic benefits.

ot

8



Some reasons for implementing improvement projects include:

2.2.1. Framing the approach

Based on this shared knowledge, framing the approach will consist in identifying the expected added value for the enterprise. Depending on its initial environmental maturity level, the SME may wish to evaluate environmental impacts of existing products, services and/or processes, or it may wish to improve environmental initiatives already underway. For instance, it may choose to act on risk management (improved image, customer loyalty, or the anticipation of future environmental regulation), on sales (new markets, differentiation, image and reputation, eco-innovation), on costs (securing the supply chain, reducing material and energy costs), or internal staff / team dynamics. At this early stage, it is already important to decide on whether a formal environmental declaration, e.g. Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) will be produced, so as to ensure adequate Goal and Scope from the start. This is particularly important for less advanced SMEs who lack knowledge on the requirements and benefits of such procedures.

Re-designa"tradi?onal"producttoreduceitsenvironmentalimpactthroughoutitslifecycleandturnitintoan"eco-designed"product

Improvedesignfeaturesand/orthesupplychainofaline/completeproductcategory,basedona"collec?ve"LifeCycleimpactassessment

Reducetheenvironmentalimpactofaproductthroughimprovedtechnicalspecifica?onsoralterna?veselec?onofrawmaterialsand/orcomponents,basedonLCAresults

Implementtoolstoquicklyassesstheenvironmentalimpactsduringtheproductdesignphase

Developcommunica?onappropriate(whererelevantsector-specific)channelstoencourageresponsibleuseanddisposalofproductsbyconsumers

ot

9



Examples from LCiP

Within the LCiP project, pilot projects were implemented in 32 SMEs. An overview of these pilot projects is available on the LCiP Website. These can be grouped under the following topics:

§ LCA of products, buildings, electricity, waste § Comparative LCA § Ecodesign § Design for sustainability § Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) § Environmental hotspots identification § Tools for ecodesign § Qualitative sustainability life cycle assessment

2.3. Roles and responsibilities in the project The mission of LCiP was primarily to support the development of LC approaches at a regional level, and therefore important elements of the project were the transfer knowledge / capacity building, the development / adaptation of LCA tools to suit the needs of SMEs, networking, and testing these approaches in a business environment. To achieve these results, the roles of the Coach and LC Champions were articulated as follows:

2.3.1. LCA Coach A coach is the provider of LCA expertise, and leads the environmental assessment project from start to finish, as defined by project partners. The Coach may be a sector-based or transversal expert, so long as he / she has necessary expertise in Life Cycle analysis and strategic guidance of SMEs. In the case of LCiP, the Coach played also an important pedagogical role, transferring knowledge to other actors in addition to providing an accompaniment service to the SME. For this reason, LCA Coaches in the LCiP project represented non-profit organisations, whose mission was oriented more towards knowledge sharing and the development of their own expertise in providing services to SMEs.

2.3.2. Life Cycle Champions LC Champions are well-established and influent sector-based or transversal actors in the region, who have vested interests in promoting environmental management within SMEs, and in particular the adoption of LC approaches in the region. LC Champions are organisations and individuals offering environmental services to companies, but are not necessarily LCA experts at the outset of the programme. These may be for instance:

• Professional organisations, such as sectorial federations or chambers of commerce.

• Excellence and competitiveness clusters. • Company networks at local or regional level. • Centres providing guidance and/or training to companies in technology,

research, design, etc. • Larger companies or public organisations which can influence the commercial

practices of suppliers or sub-contractors through the integration of environmental considerations in their supply chain.

ot

10



LC Champions play key roles in the project: 1. Maturity Assessment: As knowledgeable actors on environmental management

at the regional level, they play an important role in contributing to the baseline maturity assessment of environmental management practices at regional level.

2. Multiplier agents: At the outset, LC Champions support efforts in engaging and mobilising SMEs; during the project phase,

3. Strategic guidance on environmental management: they provide practical guidance in determining objectives and implementing improvement projects in SMEs; providing here an important leverage to actions undertaken during the project.

4. They provide expertise to adapt the tools, methods and improvement strategies to the specific needs of the sector and/or the region.

5. They will perpetuate the project impact by participating in the roll-out of Life Cycle approaches in SMEs in the sector and/or the region.

2.3.3. Driving the partnership The LCA improvement projects undertaken by the SMEs will require close cooperation between all partners involved. Regular meetings as part of SME improvement projects but also outside of specific projects will enable the exchange of experience, the identification for opportunities for improvement of all actors involved, and awareness raising among less engaged regional actors, in particular public authorities, who have a key role in providing an enabling environment for the deployment of Life Cycle approaches. Geographic proximity also facilitates exchanges between actors involved, enhancing face to face communication for both data collection and the communication of results. This point further justifies a local implantation of Physical Resource Centres.

Further resources

– On the project website, you will find a list of the LCiP Life Cycle Champions and Physical Resource Centres in your region.

– You will also have access to Case studies and videos of LCiP pilot projects

3. Implementation of improvement projects 3.1. Choice of environmental assessment methods and tools The environmental performance of a company, a product, or a process can be measured using a wide range of tools, including Life Cycle Analysis (simplified or complete), carbon footprint, water footprint, environmental labelling, product assessment, etc. The choice of which tool to use depends strongly on the goals and scope of the project, the objectives, the sector of operations, etc. Alternatives should be discussed in detail among the SME, Coach, LC Champions and other relevant stakeholders before deciding on the best one. Within the LCiP project, the chosen approach was a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This approach has the advantage of simultaneously assessing a number of environmental aspects and impacts such as the consumption of water, energy, resources; the production of waste; greenhouse gas emissions, etc.

ot

11



A number of other tools are available, for types of use and audiences, as illustrated below (this synthetic overview is developed in more detail on the avniR website comparative table of LCA tools and databases2):

LCA is the most complete environmental assessment tool, and consists in evaluating potential environmental impacts of a system including all operations relating to a product, service or process, and this throughout its life cycle. This method was standardized via the ISO standards 14040 and 14046 revised in 2006. LCA focuses on the improvement of material and energy flows, and relies on a scientifically robust method of multi-criteria assessment of potential environmental impacts. Other more restrictive tools such as the Carbon Footprint can also be chosen and applied throughout the life cycle, but will then only evaluate a selection of impacts (greenhouse gas emissions in the case of the carbon footprint). The Coach will undertake the modelisation and compile the inflows and outflows at each stage of the system’s life cycle. Results of this modelisation will help to identify environmental hotspots of the process, product and/or service. LCA is an iterative technique, where phases of trial and error guide us towards the optimal solution. Collected data and initial results may in some cases involve a modification of the scope or even the objective of the project.

Further resources

While LCA tools and methods are constantly and rapidly evolving, the LCiP Project has attempted to provide a comprehensive overview of tools available on the Online Resource Centre.

3.1.1. Indicator selection A clear definition of environmental and socio-economic indicators to measure change is key to allow for the measurement of progress and benefits which result from the implementation of LC approaches. Given the limited resources of SMEs to dedicate to such improvement projects, demonstrating impact and results is all the more important to ensure a positive appreciation of the project impacts.

2 Please note that the avniR website does not provide an exhaustive overview of all tools and databases available : https://www.avnir.org/FR/Logiciels-ACV-et-Base-de-donnees-264.html

ot

12




Choosing the right indicators to measure impact will be of critical importance. One way to help in their identification is using the acronym SMART, which refers to indicators which are

• Specific • Measureable • Achievable • Relevant • Time-bound

A simple dashboard should be used (either based on existing models or developed from scratch), so as to map indicators and track their evolution as a result of the project implementation. Indicators will be determined by the chosen LCA methodology, and will be inspired by best practices and take into account current and up-coming legislation. Indicators may include impacts such as climate change, the acidification of air, water eutrophication, human toxicity, depletion of natural resources, etc. A socio-economic assessment may also be undertaken, leading to a more complete analysis. Indicators such as economic performance of the company, jobs created or maintained, health and protection of workers, etc. can be used. For more information on socio-economic assessment, we invite you to consult the growing body of research undertaken by UNEP, among others, in this area..

Further resources

The LCiP Impact monitoring dashboard is a monitoring tool available on the project website, which helps SMEs identify and monitor environmental and socio-economic impacts of improvement projects. This tool provides examples of environmental and socio-economic indicators that can be used and / or adapted to suit the needs of the project Guidance towards further research on socio-economic assessment is available in the LCiP Online Resource Centre.

3.2. Data collection The data collection phase follows the defining project objectives / scope, and fixing the method to be used. Here, inflows and outflows of energy and matter are quantified for each of the operations (sub-systems) composing the system, as well as for the system as a whole. As for any scientific approach, this exercise begins with an in-depth analysis of the system as a whole: in this case, all relevant processes in the company must be analysed, so as to determine what data will be needed to evaluate the product, process or service which compose the system. The second step is the gathering of data relative to the system: consumption of energy and resources, waste produced, etc. This is a delicate and demanding exercise, which requires considerable efforts, since the information is often not readily available and will rely on inquiry towards a wide range of actors (within and sometimes also outside the company) involved at different stages of the system.

ot

13



Figure 2: LCA system inventory (Source: CIRAIG)

With guidance from the Coach, the SME collects the data (inflows and outflows, see Figure 2 above), which are available internally. This primary data will be complemented, wherever necessary, with secondary data, available in the literature and provided with the LCA software used by the Coach. LC Champions are of course encouraged to engage strongly during this phase, critical to enhance their learning about LC approaches and coaching SMEs.

3.3. Data interpretation and recommendations An LCA-based environmental assessment will help to characterise the nature and importance of all emission and consumption related impacts within the system. A global interpretation of these results will then be needed to obtain a more comprehensive view at the system level, to identify hotspots and determine opportunities for potential improvements in the system.

Further resources

The UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative has produced a detailed “Hotspots Analysis: mapping of existing methodologies, tools and guidance and initial recommendations for the development of global guidance”. The document can be downloaded from the Life Cycle Initiative website3. In particular, Figure 4 on p. 18 of this document provides a summary of evaluation against several parameters for key hotspots analysis methodologies, with specific reference to applicability to SMEs.

3 http://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/UNEP-Hotspots-Mapping-Project-Final-Report-Phase-1.pdf

InflowofnaturalResources ProductSystem Ou7lows

Extrac:on&transforma:on

Manufacturing&assembly

Packaging&distribu:on

U:lisa:on

EndofLife

Ironore

CrudOil

Water

Wood

SolarEnergy

Land

• CO2• SO2• PM• COV

Airemissions

• PO4• NO3

Wateremissions

• pes:cides• metals

Landemissions

• Radia:on• Heat• Noise

Otherimpacts

ot

14



At the end of this phase an improvement plan will be established to reduce the environmental impact of a product, service or process through a series of practical measures, while ensuring that properties such as quality and longevity are not negatively impacted, and negative environmental impact is not transferred elsewhere in the Life Cycle as a result.


We suggest that for first attempts at LCA improvement projects, reasonable objectives and ambitions be set. SMEs and coaches must consult stakeholders and agree together on quantified and measurable objectives. It is of critical importance that this last step not be overlooked. Without clearly defining improvement alternatives, the project should not be considered complete. A frequent weakness identified is the transfer of impact from one part of the life cycle to another. Caution must be taken in identifying new hotspots created as a result of an improvement project.

ot

15



In practical terms, measures to achieve this could include:

Other measures, less directly associated with the product, process or service, can include measures such as staff training and awareness raising on issues like sustainable purchasing, sustainability etc. To conclude, the intention to improve an existing product, process or service, combined with the implementation of Life Cycle approaches, will highlight the most significant impacts and their source (raw materials, use, recyclability…), thanks to environmental assessment methodologies. The definition of priorities, and the monitoring of environmental performance will maximise the chances of a positive outcome for these approaches.

Achangeinrawmaterialsand/orsuppliers

Replacingfossilresources(materials,energy)withrenewableresources(bio-basedorreuse/recycling)

Reducingtheweightoftheproduct

Modifica?on/op?miza?onofthemanufacturingprocess

Changingthedesignofproductstoreduceenergy/waterconsump?onduringproductusephase

ChangingthedesignofproductstoenablebeQertreatmentatendoflife(egdismantlingandrecyclingproducts)

Modifyingthepackagingmaterialorsystem,and/orreducingtheweightand/orvolumeofpackaging

Changingthemeansoftransporta?onand/ordistribu?onchannels

Recoveryofby-productsand/orwaste

ot

16



The implementation of such measures can bring about environmental gains such as reducing the environmental footprint of a product or process (resource / energy consumption, waste generation, etc.), but also economic gains for the company. For example:

4. Roll out Plan 4.1. Development of an action plan within the company A comparative environmental assessment should be undertaken regularly as the project rolls out. This can happen for instance every 6 months, and will monitor the project impact and check for any possible transfers of impact to other aspects of the product, process or service. Potential economic benefits for the company will also be assessed. Monitoring indicators that were defined during the project will be used during each project update.

4.1.1. Deployment plan within the SME Once they begin to reap the benefits of their first environmental improvement projects, SMEs will be encouraged to implement similar initiatives with other products, processes and services. Their environmental maturity and enhanced skills in environmental management will be useful to the deployment and expansion into other areas of the business, building a more systemic view of the company as an ecosystem composed of inter-related processes.

4.1.2. Communication Opportunities to communicate around environmental improvements will emerge as the company’s environmental maturity evolves. While external communication is key to many company strategies, internal communication should not be disregarded, as it provides strong employee satisfaction, motivation, and can stimulate environmental innovation and intrapreneurship at all levels of the company.

Reducedexpendituresinwastedisposal

Reducedrawmaterialexpensesbywasterecycling

Reducedexpensesforinternalhandlingandstorageofwaste

Reducedtransporta?oncosts

Reducedenergycosts

Enhancedenvironmentalriskmanagement

Increasedmarketshare

Increasedstaffmo?va?on

Increasedcustomerloyalty

ot

17



Also, the importance of demystifying LCA must not be underestimated: the process is often perceived as overwhelming, and benefits for the company are frequently under-estimated. Clear communication and persuasion is crucial to ensure motivation and engagement of staff at all levels, particularly in the data collection phase where any staff member may be needed to contribute.


Key recommendations on the presenting the results of the project link to a roll out plan development (avniR): To ensure a good implementation of their life cycle approaches, SMEs need to consider the importance of presenting their environmental improvement projects inside (and outside) of the company. A presentation of the results can be done with as many departments as possible. Experience shows that this is a good starting point to develop a wider approach within the company and further engaging employees (e.g. conducting a brainstorming session when presenting the results).”

Well-managed and transparent communication plans will build on environmental gains to enhance a company’s economic performance both internally and externally. These can be supported by environmental qualifications or recognition that the company may strive to obtain. These may include Environmental Product Declarations, Environmental labelling (local, regional, national or European), standardisation schemes such as ISO, environmental or sustainability awards, etc.

Examples from LCiP

The LCiP Awards In participating regions, LCiP Awards have been run during the project, and will continue to recognise efforts and engagements of SMEs in the implementation of Life Cycle approaches. For more information on regional award schemes, you are invited to contact your regional LCiP partner.

Further resources

The LCiP Online Resource Centre contains ample documentation, case studies, and tools on different qualification and recognition schemes on LC Approaches.

4.2. Demultiplication phase The demultiplication phase will allow for the implementation of Life Cycle approaches in a wider number of sectors and companies within a region. Based on the experience acquired by companies within their own business, they will be in a position to act as models to mobilise other companies, either within their sector, or as part of their supplier- and other business-relations. Other actors, including the LC Champions, the Coaches, and stakeholders such as clusters and public authorities can also play a key role in raising the level of environmental maturity of business throughout the region. Training, networking and other forms of interaction will ensure that skills and competencies evolve continually to meet the progressing needs and opportunities associated with sound environmental management.

ot

18



5. Conclusions The implementation of LC approaches in SMEs is a process that can be adapted to the ambition and resources available to each company. Frequently perceived as a very complex and demanding process, simplified LC approaches can allow even small companies to identify areas for improvement and act upon them, reaping tangible results in relatively short periods of time. Nevertheless, leadership and appropriate resource allocation to the process are fundamental regardless of the scale or ambition of LC approaches to be developed. Through small iterative improvement projects, SMEs can gain experience and confidence in their ability to adapt their business models and processes to emerging societal and legal limitations, but also to identify new business opportunities and efficiency measures which will enhance competitiveness. The LCiP Project has demonstrated that with adequate support and engagement, tangible first steps can be implemented, with a number of demonstrable results, including reducing costs, improving environmental performance, increasing economic performance, improving company and brand image. LC Approaches should be perceived as a journey where small improvements will progressively be integrated into the core business strategy, leading the way to more significant improvements over time. In order to sustainably support companies, LCiP has put in place a support network composed of regional LC Champions and resource centres, which will continue to grow over time. Please feel free to contact the LCiP Contact point or the LC Champions in your region for more information and to see how you can engage in supporting better environmental performance of SMEs in your region.

Documents

Nombre del trabajo Life Cycle approaches in SMEs · LCiP- Life Cycle in Practice is a project co-funded by the LIFE+ Environment Policy and ... core business processes of the company,