ABB – ABB publishes first Environmental Product Declarations in industrial sensor segment

EMR Analysis

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EMR Additional Notes:

• The International Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) System: https://www.environdec.com/home
  • The International EPD System (IES) is a global programme for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), a Type III environmental declaration based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) following the principles of ISO 14025. The International EPD System is operated by EPD International AB, a subsidiary fully owned by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
  • The International EPD System is one of the leading global EPD programmes operating in accordance with ISO 14025, ISO 14040/44 (LCA standards), and applicable Product Category Rules (PCRs), which are developed according to ISO 14027. For the building and construction sector, manufacturers’ EPDs also comply with EN 15804 and may additionally reference ISO 21930 where applicable.
• Three Types of Environmental Declarations (ISO 14020):
  • Type I Environmental Labels (ISO 14024): Third-party verified, pass/fail “ecolabels” (such as Blue Angel or EU Ecolabel). These reward environmental leadership by certifying that a product meets a predefined set of multiple environmental performance criteria.
  • Type II Self-Declared Environmental Claims (ISO 14021): Self-declared environmental claims made by manufacturers or other economic operators, such as “100% recyclable.” They are not third-party certified under ISO 14021, although the claims are subject to specified requirements for reliability and substantiation. They may address one or more environmental attributes rather than the full life cycle.
  • Type III Environmental Product Declarations (ISO 14025): Full-scope, independently verified, data-driven disclosures (EPDs). Unlike Type I labels, they are not pass/fail certificates; they act as impartial “nutrition labels” that present quantified environmental impact information based on LCA and applicable PCRs, without inherently declaring a product environmentally superior to another.
• Environmental Product Declarations (EPD):
  • An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardized, verified, and transparent Type III document that communicates quantified environmental impacts of a product for defined life-cycle stages and a specified functional or declared unit, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
  • A verified EPD can contribute to green building certifications such as LEED by providing the documented environmental information required for certain credits or assessment criteria.
  • An EPD provides, for a specific product, information about environmental impacts such as:
    • Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂e)
    • Energy consumption
    • Resource use (materials, water)
    • Waste generation and other impact indicators defined by the applicable PCR and programme rules
• Product Environmental Profiles (PEPs):
  • A Product Environmental Profile (PEP) is a sector-specific implementation of a Type III environmental declaration for electrical, electronic, and HVAC products, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). PEPs are developed and verified according to the specific rules of the PEP ecopassport® programme.
  • A PEP includes:
    • Description of the product and its functional unit or declared unit
    • Technical performance
    • Standardized environmental impact indicators (aligned with the applicable PCR and programme rules)
  • A Product Environmental Profile (PEP) is therefore a specialized environmental declaration within a sector-specific programme, while an EPD is a broader, cross-industry Type III environmental declaration framework based on ISO 14025 and applicable PCRs.
• EPD System vs. EPD Vs, PEP:
  • EPD System: A programme and framework for developing, verifying, registering, and publishing EPDs according to defined standards and PCRs
  • EPD: A standardized, independently verified, LCA-based Type III environmental declaration for a specific product.
  • PEP: A sector-specific Type III environmental declaration developed under the PEP ecopassport® programme for electrical, electronic, and HVAC products, following its own PCR and verification rules.

 

 

 

• CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility):
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a voluntary framework or business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public.
  • The purpose of CSR is to give back to the community, take part in philanthropic causes, and provide positive social value. Businesses are increasingly turning to CSR to make a difference and build a positive brand around their company.
  • CSR encompasses a company’s policies and initiatives relating to environmental stewardship, ethical business practices, employee well-being, community engagement, and corporate governance.
  • CSR tends to target opinion formers – politicians, pressure groups, media. It is generally driven internally by the company as part of its corporate values and long-term business strategy.
• ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance):
  • ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) refers to the three key factors used to measure and evaluate the sustainability, ethical practices, risk profile, and long-term resilience of a business or company. ESG is widely used by investors, lenders, regulators, and other stakeholders when assessing a company’s non-financial performance.
  • Most socially responsible investors check companies out using ESG criteria to screen investments.
  • ESG metrics are not commonly part of mandatory financial reporting, although disclosure requirements are becoming increasingly mandatory in many jurisdictions (e.g., the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)).
  • There is not yet a standardized approach to the calculation or presentation of different ESG metrics, although several reporting frameworks and standards exist (such as GRI, SASB, TCFD, and ISSB).
  • Environmental
    • Conservation of the natural world
    • Climate change and carbon emissions
    • Air and water pollution
    • Biodiversity
    • Deforestation
    • Energy efficiency
    • Waste management
    • Water scarcity
    • …
  • Social
    • Consideration of people & relationships
    • Customer satisfaction
    • Data protection and privacy
    • Gender and diversity
    • Employee engagement
    • Community relations
    • Human rights
    • Labor standards
    • …
  • Governance
    • Standards for running a company
    • Board composition
    • Audit committee structure
    • Bribery and corruption
    • Executive compensation
    • Lobbying
    • Political contributions
    • Whistleblower schemes
    • …
  • Criteria are of increasing interest to companies, their investors and other stakeholders. With growing concern about the ethical status of quoted companies, these standards are the central factors that measure the ethical impact and sustainability of investment in a company.
  • Consequently, ESG analysis considers how companies serve society while managing environmental, social, and governance risks, and how this impacts their current and future performance.
• CSR vs. ESG:
  • CSR is a company’s internal strategy and business philosophy for sustainability and responsible corporate behavior, whereas ESG is the external framework of measurable criteria and performance indicators used to assess a company’s sustainability performance.
  • The major difference between them is that CSR is a business model used by individual companies, while ESG is an evaluation framework that investors, lenders, regulators, and rating agencies use to assess a company and determine its sustainability performance, risk exposure, and long-term investment attractiveness.
  • CSR = what a company chooses to do.
  • ESG = how outsiders measure how well the company is doing it.

 

 

 

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA):
  • A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic, science-based methodology used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts and resource use of a product, service, or process across defined stages of its life cycle, from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use, and final disposal when a cradle-to-grave system boundary is applied.
  • LCA can assess multiple environmental impact categories, including climate change, energy and resource use, water consumption, acidification, eutrophication, and other impacts, depending on the methodology, system boundary, and impact-assessment method used.
  • The principles and framework for LCA are established primarily by ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.

 

 

 

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2):
  • The primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), solid waste, biomass (e.g. wood), and also as a result of certain industrial chemical reactions (e.g. cement production).
  • Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere (or “sequestered”) when it is absorbed by plants as part of the biological carbon cycle and through ocean absorption and geological processes. In climate accounting, however, “carbon sequestration” generally refers to the removal and storage of carbon in a reservoir; natural uptake through the carbon cycle is not necessarily classified as anthropogenic carbon dioxide removal (CDR).
  • CO₂ is naturally part of the carbon cycle, but human activities have significantly increased its concentration in the atmosphere.
• Biogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO2):
  • Biogenic CO₂ and fossil-derived CO₂ are chemically identical molecules.
  • The distinction is not chemical, but source-based:
    • Biogenic carbon: CO₂ released from organic materials such as plants, wood, soil, and biomass that were recently part of the natural carbon cycle. Its accounting treatment depends on the applicable carbon-accounting methodology and whether the carbon is considered part of the contemporary biogenic carbon cycle.
    • Fossil carbon: CO₂ released from fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), which were stored underground for millions of years. This introduces additional carbon into the active atmospheric carbon cycle and is therefore generally treated as fossil CO₂ emissions.
• CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent):
  • CO₂e means “carbon dioxide equivalent”.
  • It is a standardized climate metric used to express the total climate impact of multiple greenhouse gases in a single standardized unit.
  • CO₂e converts all greenhouse gases (such as methane and nitrous oxide) into the amount of CO₂ that would have the same integrated radiative forcing / climate impact over a defined time period using a specified Global Warming Potential (GWP) value.
  • Formula: CO₂e = mass of gas × Global Warming Potential (GWP)
  • Carbon dioxide equivalents are commonly expressed as million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, abbreviated as MtCO₂e or Mt CO₂-eq; “MMTCDE” is used in some datasets but is not the preferred general notation.
  • The carbon dioxide equivalent for a gas is derived by multiplying the tonnes of the gas by the associated GWP: CO₂e = mass of gas × GWP.
  • For example, the GWP for methane is approximately 27–30 under IPCC AR6 depending on the methane source and accounting convention, while the 100-year GWP for nitrous oxide is 273. This means that emissions of 1 million metric tonnes of methane and nitrous oxide respectively would correspond to approximately 27–30 and 273 million metric tonnes of CO₂e under those GWP assumptions.
• Carbon Footprint:
  • There is no universally agreed definition of what a carbon footprint is.
  • The most widely used definition (GHG Protocol) describes it as: “The total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and indirectly through an organization’s operations and value chain.” The GHG Protocol generally refers to corporate GHG inventories and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions rather than prescribing one universal definition of “carbon footprint.”
  • A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, product, or activity.
  • It is typically measured in CO₂e.
• Decarbonization:
  • Reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the use of low-carbon energy sources and improved efficiency, with the goal of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions. More broadly, decarbonization refers to reducing the carbon intensity and/or absolute greenhouse-gas emissions of an economy, sector, organization, product, or process, potentially including CO₂ removal for residual emissions.
  • Decarbonization typically refers to system-wide transition, not only emission reduction at a single source.
• Carbon Credits or Carbon Offsets:
  • Carbon credits are tradable certificates representing the verified reduction or removal of one metric tonne of CO₂e, generally generated by a specific project or activity; terminology and quality criteria vary between carbon markets.
  • They are part of cap-and-trade systems, where:
    • A cap limits total emissions
    • Companies receive or buy emission allowances
    • Excess allowances can be traded
  • Offsets are often linked to external projects that reduce or remove emissions (e.g. reforestation, renewable energy). A carbon offset is generally a credit representing a reduction or removal outside the entity’s own emissions boundary that may be used to compensate for emissions, subject to the applicable programme or claim rules.
  • Carbon credits and emission allowances should not be treated as synonymous: an allowance is a regulated authorization to emit under a cap-and-trade system, whereas a credit/offset generally represents a quantified emission reduction or removal.
• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) – Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS):
  • CCS involves capturing CO₂ emissions from industrial processes or other concentrated sources and storing them permanently in geological formations (e.g. underground reservoirs).
  • CCUS adds a utilization step, where captured CO₂ is reused as a feedstock (e.g. fuels, chemicals, building materials). More precisely, CCUS refers to carbon capture followed by utilization and/or storage; utilization does not necessarily result in permanent carbon storage.
  • CCS = capture + geological storage; CCUS = capture + utilization and/or storage.
• Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) or Durable Carbon Removal: 
  • CDR refers to methods that actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it for long periods in geological, biological, or mineral form. CDR specifically requires an anthropogenic activity that removes atmospheric CO₂ and durably stores it in geological, terrestrial, ocean, or product reservoirs.
  • Examples include:
    • Direct Air Capture (DAC)
    • Bioenergy with Carbon Capture (BECCS)
    • Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW)
  • CDR creates net negative emissions when removal exceeds emissions. A CDR activity itself can provide a net removal only when the total emissions associated with the removal process are lower than the amount of CO₂ durably removed and stored.
• Direct Air Capture (DAC): 
  • Technologies that extract CO2 directly from the atmosphere at any location, unlike carbon capture which is generally carried out at the point of emissions, such as a steel plant. DAC can capture CO₂ from ambient air regardless of where the original emissions occurred; it is distinct from point-source carbon capture.
  • Constraints like costs and energy requirements as well as the potential for pollution make DAC a less desirable option for CO2 reduction. Its larger land footprint when compared to other mitigation strategies like carbon capture and storage systems (CCS) also put it at a disadvantage. However, DAC is a potential carbon-removal technology rather than simply a CO₂-reduction technology, and its climate benefit depends strongly on the energy source, capture efficiency, permanence of storage, and lifecycle emissions.
• Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACCS):
  • Climate technology that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the ambient atmosphere using large fans and chemical processes to bind with the CO2. The captured CO₂ is then transported and durably stored, typically in geological formations.
  • DACCS is therefore a specific form of CDR: DAC + durable CO₂ storage.
• Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS):
  • Technology that generates energy from biomass while capturing and storing the resulting CO₂.
  • Because biomass absorbs CO₂ while growing, BECCS can result in net negative emissions. It can result in net negative emissions when the full lifecycle emissions—including biomass production, harvesting, transport, processing, energy use, and capture/storage—are sufficiently lower than the amount of biogenic CO₂ durably removed from the atmosphere.
• Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW):
  • Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technique that accelerates the natural process of rock weathering by grinding silicate rocks into dust and spreading it on land, typically agricultural fields. This process enhances reactions with water and atmospheric CO₂, converting dissolved carbon into bicarbonate and, ultimately, carbonate minerals or transporting dissolved inorganic carbon to aquatic systems, where it can be stored over long timescales.
  • Its effectiveness and permanence depend on rock type, particle size, weathering rates, transport pathways, soil and water chemistry, and the emissions associated with mining, grinding, and transporting the rock.
• Limits of Carbon Dioxide Storage: 
  • Carbon storage is not endless; the Earth’s capacity for permanently storing vast amounts of captured carbon, particularly in geological formations, is limited, potentially reaching a critical limit of 1,460 gigatonnes at around 2200, though storage durations vary significantly depending on the method, from decades for some biological methods to potentially millions of years for others like mineralization. Estimates of geological storage capacity vary widely and depend on geology, reservoir characteristics, storage efficiency, infrastructure, economics, regulation, monitoring, and permanence.
  • While some methods offer very long-term storage, the sheer volume needed to meet climate targets requires scaling up storage significantly beyond current capacity, raising concerns about the available volume over time. The practical constraint is therefore better described as the need to develop sufficient safe, permanent, economically and technically accessible storage capacity rather than a single known global physical limit.
• Carbon Impregnation: 
  • Carbon impregnation is the process of treating activated carbon with chemical agents (such as metals, acids, or bases) to enhance its ability to adsorb specific, hard-to-remove pollutants. By loading substances like silver, sulfur, or potassium hydroxide into its pores, this material combines physical adsorption with chemical reaction for improved, targeted filtration in water and air. This is a materials engineering process, not a climate accounting concept.

 

• Global Warming: 
  • Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere. Global warming refers specifically to the long-term increase in Earth’s average surface temperature; climate change is the broader term encompassing associated changes in climate systems, including precipitation, extremes, sea level, and ecosystems.
• Global Warming Potential (GWP): 
  • A measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas contributes to climate warming relative to CO₂ over a specific time period (commonly 100 years).
  • CO₂ has a GWP of 1.
  • GWP is the scientific basis for converting gases into CO₂e.
  • GWP was developed to allow comparisons of the global warming impacts of different gases. The numerical GWP depends on the selected IPCC assessment, time horizon, and, for some gases such as methane, the emission source and accounting convention.
• Greenhouse Gas (GHG):
  • Any gas that absorbs and emits infrared radiation in the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect.
  • Main GHGs include:
    • CO₂
    • Methane (CH₄)
    • Nitrous oxide (N₂O)
    • Fluorinated gases such as HFCs, PFCs, SF₆ and NF₃
  • Water vapor is a GHG but is not directly controlled by human emissions at scale. It is primarily a feedback in the climate system rather than a direct target of conventional anthropogenic GHG inventories.

• GHG Protocol Corporate Standard Scope 1, 2 and 3: https://ghgprotocol.org/ + The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard provides requirements and guidance for companies and other organizations preparing a corporate-level GHG emissions inventory. The Corporate Standard itself is voluntary, although companies may be required by applicable legislation or regulation to report using the GHG Protocol or equivalent requirements.
  • Scope 1: Direct emissions:
    • Direct emissions from company-owned and controlled resources. In other words, emissions are released into the atmosphere as a direct result of a set of activities, at a firm level. More precisely, Scope 1 covers direct GHG emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the reporting organization.
    • It is divided into four categories:
      • Stationary combustion (e.g from fuels, heating sources). All fuels that produce GHG emissions must be included in scope 1. This applies when the combustion source is owned or controlled by the reporting organization.
      • Mobile combustion is all vehicles owned or controlled by a firm, burning fuel (e.g. cars, vans, trucks). The increasing use of “electric” vehicles (EVs), means that some of the organisation’s fleets could fall into Scope 2 emissions. For example, fuel combustion in an owned/controlled vehicle is Scope 1, whereas electricity purchased to charge an EV is generally Scope 2; an EV itself does not create Scope 2 emissions—the purchased electricity does.
      • Fugitive emissions are leaks from greenhouse gases (e.g. refrigeration, air conditioning units). It is important to note that refrigerant gases are not uniformly “a thousand times more dangerous” than CO₂; some refrigerants have GWPs of hundreds or thousands of times that of CO₂, while others have much lower values. Companies are encouraged to report these emissions.
      • Process emissions are released during industrial processes, and on-site manufacturing (e.g. production of CO2 during cement manufacturing, factory fumes, chemicals). These are direct emissions resulting from physical or chemical processes other than fuel combustion, such as calcination in cement production..
  • Scope 2: Indirect emissions – owned:
    • Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, from a utility provider. In other words, all GHG emissions released in the atmosphere, from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling. Scope 2 covers indirect GHG emissions associated with the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heat, and cooling consumed by the reporting organization; “owned” is therefore misleading because the emissions source is owned or controlled by another entity.
    • For most organisations, electricity will be the unique source of scope 2 emissions. Simply stated, the energy consumed falls into two scopes: Scope 2 covers the electricity consumed by the end-user. Scope 3 covers the energy used by the utilities during transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. More precisely, Scope 2 covers the generation-related emissions associated with purchased electricity, not the physical electricity itself. T&D losses are generally accounted for in Scope 3 Category 3 for an energy consumer that does not own the T&D system, although the treatment can vary depending on ownership and accounting circumstances.
  • Scope 3: Indirect emissions – not owned:
    • Indirect emissions – not included in scope 2 – that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. In other words, emissions are linked to the company’s operations. According to the GHG protocol, scope 3 emissions are separated into 15 categories. Scope 3 therefore captures other indirect value-chain emissions, upstream and downstream, across the 15 defined categories of the Scope 3 Standard.