Developing a method for the assessment of life-cycle environmental impacts of products, and integration in or relation with the Methodology for the Ecodesign of Energy-related Products

Within the context of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (hereafter ESPR) and after its entry into force in July 2024, the present report aims to propose a method for the environmental evaluation of products. It builds upon the existing Methodology for Ecodesign of Energy-related Products (MEErP) and incorporates three main steps: a preliminary screening of the product group for the anticipation of data gaps and methodological issues, a hotspot analysis of the base case(s) and a life cycle assessment to compare the environmental impacts of base case(s) and design options. The report provides guidance for the study team conducting ESPR preparatory studies, outlining when and how each of these assessments will be performed as well as the objectives and usefulness of the expected outputs and the necessary inputs. The life cycle assessment for comparing base case(s) and design options requires careful methodological choices to determine the appropriate product parameters and the level of the requirements. In this regard, the use of the revised simplified EcoReport tool shall be the default option, while guidance is provided in this report to decide whether additional or alternative methods are necessary for a specific product. Recommendations for methodological choices depending on the product's nature and for adaptation of the Environmental Footprint (EF) methods to fit the purpose of preparatory studies under the ESPR framework are also provided. In order to investigate and validate the proposed method, three products were tested as representatives of different product categories within the scope of the ESPR: a T-shirt as a final product, steel as an intermediate product, and a printer as a product for which non-energy-related impacts over its life cycle may be relevant. The testing process helped to identify limitations and inconsistencies, leading to refinements of the method and improved product-specific guidance. The guidance provided here will need to be combined and integrated with the outputs of other ongoing work at the time of writing to build the final methodology for the definition of measures under the ESPR.