Project Overview

Forum for the Future and AkzoNobel have developed the Environmental Impact Analyser (EIA) as a tool to help businesses develop more sustainable products, and it has already been used to help AkzoNobel launch a range of Dulux paint with significantly lower environmental impacts.

The EIA assesses each stage in the life cycle of a product, from the extraction of its raw materials through manufacture right up to the point where it leaves the factory. It allows businesses to compare an existing product against a proposed new one and quantify the change in carbon, water and waste.

A key to the success of the EIA is that its method is rigorous enough to be reliable but streamlined enough to be useable. It gives percentage savings compared to a specific baseline, not an absolute figure. A detailed life cycle analysis or carbon footprint would require a much larger investment of time and money than is often feasible, and the result would still be dependent on assumptions and conditions.

Paint

The EIA was developed after Forum for the Future started working with AkzoNobel and Carillion on a Zero Emissions Enterprise project joint funded by the Department for Trade and Industry (now BERR). The project’s aims were to identify the impacts arising across the lifecycle of paint – from raw material production, manufacturing, transport, and use to final disposal.

This work highlighted raw material production as the highest impact stage. AkzoNobel began investigating how to develop new paints from lower impact raw materials, but it needed to understand if this would achieve a sizeable improvement.

The Environmental Impact Analyser was developed to meet this need. It allowed AkzoNobel to compare new paint formulations against its existing product and quickly get meaningful answers about how well they reduced environmental impacts.

This has maximised the influence environmental considerations have had on decision-making, allowing AkzoNobel to make informed choices based on quantitative evidence. It also allowed AkzoNobel to communicate complex environmental issues in a clear way to the rest of the business and its customers.

How has the Environmental Impact Analyser been used?

AkzoNobel initially used the EIA to develop Ecosure, a high-quality alternative to standard Dulux trade paint, which has at least 25% less embedded carbon. It was launched in the UK in 2008, and has since been rolled out to France and the Netherlands.

AkzoNobel has gone on to apply the EIA to a much wider range of paints using the learning from Ecosure to begin redeveloping its highest selling mainline retail range and reduce carbon emissions by up to 30%. This will cut 7,000 tonnes a year from the CO2 emissions associated with Dulux paints in the UK (based on 2008 sales figures.)

AkzoNobel has made a public commitment to reduce the ecological footprint of its products and is investigating how it can launch lower carbon formulations across more of it product ranges in both consumer and trade markets and extending to other territories.

The project has brought the company business benefits at the same time as reducing its environmental impact, and has improved the perception of the brand among its customers.

So, how does the EIA work?