Deployment of a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) tool
Terms of the action or commitment
To build with a specialized service provider a life cycle assessment tool for the company’s products capable of considering the variety of processes and production sites.
This tool, which is currently being finalized, is intended to to make an upstream qualification of products under development according to an evaluation grid that considers about ten impacts
Objective: 10 key products and 5 R&D projects by the end of 2018
The tool will first allow to briefly question each R&I project to evaluate its level of environmental challenge. Beyond a certain threshold, an LCA will be undertaken and documented with the inputs available at each stage of the project. The tool will first consider all internal production flows as well as all material supply schemes. It will use a database provided and updated by a specialized service provider. It will integrate operating data that will be requested from customers/end-users. It will examine the impact of products according to a dozen criteria such as emissions, energy, natural resources, toxicity, eutrophication of the environment, etc. Its implementation will be supported by training for the main project managers and marketing managers.
This tool, which is currently being finalized, is intended to to make an upstream qualification of products under development according to an evaluation grid that considers about ten impacts
Objective: 10 key products and 5 R&D projects by the end of 2018
The tool will first allow to briefly question each R&I project to evaluate its level of environmental challenge. Beyond a certain threshold, an LCA will be undertaken and documented with the inputs available at each stage of the project. The tool will first consider all internal production flows as well as all material supply schemes. It will use a database provided and updated by a specialized service provider. It will integrate operating data that will be requested from customers/end-users. It will examine the impact of products according to a dozen criteria such as emissions, energy, natural resources, toxicity, eutrophication of the environment, etc. Its implementation will be supported by training for the main project managers and marketing managers.
Levers mobilized for circular economy (according to Ademe)
Implementation timeline
Starting year
2017
Ending year
2018
Main actors mobilized
Internal actors
R&I project managers; Environment Department, R&D Department, Marketing Department, Process communities
External actors
Suppliers, customers
Geographic area
Key factories and R&D centers (France, Germany, USA, Brazil and China)
2022 follow-up of the action
Date of follow-up
End 2021
Methods of validation of the follow-up
Follow up done internally
Status of the action
In progress
Completed
a) Results
Achieved
Partially achieved
Not achieved
Cancelled
Comparison with the projected pace in the last publications
Keeping up with the times
In advance
Delayed
Partial / Final results
The tool, which is now operational, has helped renew the environmental certification of five sites (ISO 14001) and has been used for five R&D projects in 2020. A complementary approach with specialized partners has led to the completion of two additional analysis in 2020 and five additional ones in 2021.
Company's comments
The tool makes sense in the context of new production routes (as a result of the redesign of the Group’s industrial footprint) and in view of the customer demands that are being expressed. The tool takes into account internal production flows as well as supply patterns, uses a database updated by a specialized service provider, and integrates operating data requested from customers/end-users. It examines the impact of products according to a dozen criteria such as emissions, energy, natural resources, toxicity, and environmental eutrophication.
