Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2015 Jul;11(3):417-24. doi: 10.1002/ieam.1658. Epub 2015 Jun 16.
In April 2013, the European Commission published the Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint (PEF/OEF) methodology--a life cycle-based multicriteria measure of the environmental performance of products, services, and organizations. With its approach of "comparability over flexibility," the PEF/OEF methodology aims at harmonizing existing methods, while decreasing the flexibility provided by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards regarding methodological choices. Currently, a 3-y pilot phase is running, aiming at testing the methodology and developing product category and organization sector rules (PEFCR/OEFSR). Although a harmonized method is in theory a good idea, the PEF/OEF methodology presents challenges, including a risk of confusion and limitations in applicability to practice. The paper discusses the main differences between the PEF and ISO methodologies and highlights challenges regarding PEF applicability, with a focus on impact assessment. Some methodological aspects of the PEF and PEFCR Guides are found to contradict the ISO 14044 (2006) and ISO 14025 (2006). Others, such as prohibition of inventory cutoffs, are impractical. The evaluation of the impact assessment methods proposed in the PEF/OEF Guide showed that the predefined methods for water consumption, land use, and abiotic resources are not adequate because of modeling artefacts, missing inventory data, or incomplete characterization factors. However, the methods for global warming and ozone depletion perform very well. The results of this study are relevant for the PEF (and OEF) pilot phase, which aims at testing the PEF (OEF) methodology (and potentially adapting it) as well as addressing challenges and coping with them.
2013 年 4 月，欧盟委员会发布了产品和组织环境足迹（PEF/OEF）方法——一种基于生命周期的产品、服务和组织环境绩效的多标准衡量方法。该方法采用“可比性优于灵活性”的方法，旨在协调现有的方法，同时减少国际标准化组织（ISO）标准在方法选择方面提供的灵活性。目前，正在进行为期 3 年的试点阶段，旨在测试该方法并制定产品类别和组织部门规则（PEFCR/OEFSR）。尽管在理论上，统一方法是一个好主意，但 PEF/OEF 方法存在一些挑战，包括混淆风险和在实践中的适用性限制。本文讨论了 PEF 和 ISO 方法之间的主要区别，并强调了与 PEF 适用性相关的挑战，重点是影响评估。发现 PEF 和 PEFCR 指南中的一些方法学方面与 ISO 14044（2006）和 ISO 14025（2006）相矛盾。其他方面，如禁止库存截止，不切实际。对 PEF/OEF 指南中提出的影响评估方法的评估表明，由于建模人为因素、库存数据缺失或特征化因子不完整，用于水消耗、土地利用和非生物资源的预设方法并不充分。然而，用于全球变暖与臭氧消耗的方法表现非常出色。本研究的结果与 PEF（和 OEF）试点阶段相关，该阶段旨在测试 PEF（OEF）方法（并可能对其进行调整），以及应对挑战并应对挑战。
