Impact Quantification

Environmental Impact Comparison Project

Overview - Establishing that the environmental attributes of a product are in fact superior to the competition provides an ever-increasing competitive sales advantage in nearly all product sectors.  Unlike a traditional Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Environmental Impact Comparisons (“EIC”) are designed to provide supply chain specific data on the key attributes (such as GHG emissions, water use, and chemical inputs) associated with a specific product line, and directly compare those to other named products or an industry benchmark.

Benefits - Because an EIC is tailored to document and compare key impacts at all stages from raw material inputs to product distribution, it provides suppliers with a dynamic tool that supports product presentations that are both cost effective and relevant.  EICs also provide the supply chain transparency needed to identify opportunities for improving product footprint and realize cost savings by better understanding and managing inputs.

Recent Project - When a major European retailer sought to launch a new apparel product utilizing regenerated cotton made from pre-consumer waste streams as a replacement for virgin cotton, it sought the help of Sustain.  Utilizing the EIC approach, Sustain and its affiliated experts worked with the client to establish the key parameters of a 1:1 product comparison of a 75/25% blended regenerated/virgin cotton product to the retailer’s current 100% virgin product.  The supply chain of both were mapped from field production of raw material to point of distribution of final products, and key attributes (energy use, water use, chemical inputs) were analyzed using peer reviewed sources and agreed upon, transparent assumptions. 

The data was rolled up into a visually compelling story demonstrating a 21% reduction in carbon emissions, 59% reduction in water inputs, and over 70% less inputs of key chemicals with known toxicity to humans and the environment per unit of the new product produced.  The EIC also provided a window for the client to see opportunities for sourcing cotton at lower costs with lower environmental impacts in their current supply chain for their 100% cotton product lines.  All source materials and assumptions were available to the client’s customers, with the flexibility to modify the model to account for new assumptions regarding transport or raw material procurement.

As important to this client as the clarity, relevance, and authenticity of the results, was the fact that Sustain was able to complete the EIC in weeks and at a fraction of the cost of a traditional LCA that incorporates elaborate modeling and data gathering methodologies.  EICs most certainly do not replace the comprehensive, data rich, quantitative measurement of LCAs.  Yet, for suppliers and retailers looking for a targeted, focused, accurate comparison of the relative impacts of specific products, an EIC is often the right tool at the right price for the job.