Sometimes you’ll need to collect data about your supply chain’s environmental impact
You are feeling some pressure from your customers about the environmental impact of your product(s), and you are wondering how to get started to collect the data for a life cycle assessment (LCA) of your product(s), or perhaps you have to complete an environmental product declaration (EPD) in order to be selected on an RFQ or simply to be compliant with regulations?
The challenge you face
To create your LCA or EPD you will need to collect data from the manufacturer of your product and/or sub-suppliers, but are you able to do so easily from the various suppliers in your Asian supply chain? Do you even know exactly which environmental impact information is required?
Also, unfortunately, suppliers often won’t cooperate or are unwilling to share their own supplier information, especially if you aren’t there in person.
Your solution
Sofeast supports you to collect the necessary data from your suppliers in China, India, or Vietnam if that’s where manufacturing is taking place by deploying our local experts on your behalf who understand the information you require and speak your supplier’s language.
We also assist the supplier(s) to gather and provide the information and data you require and can give you guidance and support in creating your life cycle assessment and/or environmental product declaration.
- Regulations are pushing a lot of companies to report the environmental impact of their products. For example, if you sell construction materials or textile products in the EU or in the UK, the Ecodesign Regulation (coming into force in 2024 for all products) and the EN 15804+A2 standard (for the construction industry) will force you to collect data about your supply chain sooner or later.
- Unfortunately, most small and midsize suppliers in Asia are unsure where to start, and they often don’t even know where & how to collect the data needed. They need guidance and support.
Here’s how we help you to collect information about your product’s environmental impacts:
- We clarify with you how you intend to collect the data, and what software is a good fit to turn them into an LCA and/or EPD report.
- From there, we send the form to fill out to your supplier(s), and we guide them on what data to collect and how to input it in the form. Sofeast has developed resources to make them aware of what they need to do.
- We typically plan several on-site visits as well as Zoom/Teams/Skype/Wechat calls, to push things ahead.
- In the case of an EPD, which is a formal document provided to a customer or to a government, the source of the key data needs to be verified. We try and provide an assessment of how robust the data are, and we point out any red flags to you if we find them.
- The company that designed the products (for example, the importer) will also need to input some of the data, especially if they are the design authority. We can also provide guidance to you if you are the design authority.
- After your needs have been clarified, the project typically starts by sending the manufacturer a form to fill out for each of their products (or closely similar product families).
- We review their progress over time and we report on how much of the form they have completed, as well as what seems to be challenging them most.
- Finally, if that’s within the scope of the project, we review the sources and point to unsubstantiated or very poorly backed data.
What does it cost?
The cost of this support varies as it depends on your unique situation (the number of products to be investigated, the familiarity of the supplier with LCA concepts, and cooperation from the actors of the supply chain, etc…).
We need to have a consultation with you to understand your situation and the data you require, and then we’re able to provide a cost.
