Action 22005 - Environmental Assessment and the Sustainable Use of Resources (ENSURE)
The ENSURE Action contributes to the knowledge base of the European Commission’s 2020 Flagship on Resource Efficiency by developing and demonstrating new approaches for integrated social, economic and environmental assessments. The Action focuses on what is needed in order to quantify environmental footprints in policy and business. Its activities build on achievements made under the European Commission’s Integrated Product Policy Communication, the Sustainable Consumption and Production/Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan, and the thematic strategies on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and on Waste Prevention and Recycling.
Many policy and business instruments in the European Union are based on environmental assessments. The environmental profiles, sometimes termed footprints, of goods, services, organisations and even Member States are increasingly quantified using life cycle analyses. These assessments account for the entire life cycles of goods and services: the resources used and the environmental pressures associated with their supply, use, and end-of-life. They consider different pressures such as resource scarcity, climate change, toxic effects and acidification.
ENSURE focuses on two main objectives:
- Methodologies for Environmental Footprints/Assessments - Guidance is provided at the general level, as well as in more detail at the product-group specific level, for calculating the environmental footprint of goods, services, organisations and even Member States. Support is given to assessments of the current situation and future scenarios.
- The European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - The data required to implement life cycle based assessments must be accessible, coherent and robust. This is facilitated through the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment developed by the ENSURE Action.
Contact Info:
David Pennington - Tel.: +39-0332-785880 E-mail: david.pennington(at)jrc.ec.europa.eu
European Platform on LCA: lca(at)jrc.ec.europa.eu
