Australian Participation in the European Union Product Environmental Footprint Technical Advisory Board

The EU has, since 2015, been developing an life cycle assessment (LCA)-based approach for assessing the environmental impact of consumer goods, including textiles. Product Environment Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) have the broad aim of ensuring that any environmental claims made about a product are based on a common methodology allowing consumers can compare like for like. An Environmental Footprint Technical Advisory Board has been established to provide overarching coordination and is the body that will determine the overall way in which LCA methodologies are interpreted for use in the PEFCR. Given this, CRDC and AWI facilitated a broader discussion amongst the RDCs with a view to establishing a broad representation from Australian Agricultural commodities, and especially those with significant trade into the EU.

This investment supports Australian representation at the Technical Advisory Board to provide input into the EU system and the methods used to ensure they are suitable for assessing Australian agricultural systems generating robust results that are valid and reasonable for Australian products.