Do you want to gather data representative of a sector in order to :
• Perform a benchmark of environmental footprints and practices?
• Identify opportunities?
• Allow your stakeholders to progress in a process of continuous improvement whether they belong to :
– supply chain,
– customers,
– consumers?
Data collection is the essential foundation for building relevant indicators, identifying new opportunities, and creating sustainable value.
We collect Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data, respecting strict confidentiality rules towards data owners. We aim for maximum effectiveness by prioritizing hotspots in the value chain. We work on key environmental impacts of the specific sector, and can rate the quality of the collected data.
When data collection is carried out for an industrial group or professional federation : an individualized benchmark can be shared with each contributor, to allow them to identify their strengths and improve weaker points.
We are also able to link with international initiatives on databases, such as the GLAD initiative.
For example, we led the construction of the Agribalyse® 3.0 database for the French EPA (ADEME). This database tracks the environmental footprint of 2,500 food items « from farm to fork ».
Contact us for further information :
contact [at] marine-biodiversity-footprint.com
Do you want to gather data representative of a sector in order to :
• Perform a benchmark of environmental footprints and practices?
• Identify opportunities?
• Allow your stakeholders to progress in a process of continuous improvement whether they belong to :
– supply chain,
– customers,
– consumers?
Data collection is the essential foundation for building relevant indicators, identifying new opportunities, and creating sustainable value.
We collect Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data, respecting strict confidentiality rules towards data owners. We aim for maximum effectiveness by prioritizing hotspots in the value chain. We work on key environmental impacts of the specific sector, and can rate the quality of the collected data.
When data collection is carried out for an industrial group or professional federation : an individualized benchmark can be shared with each contributor, to allow them to identify their strengths and improve weaker points.
We are also able to link with international initiatives on databases, such as the GLAD initiative.
For example, we led the construction of the Agribalyse® 3.0 database for the French EPA (ADEME). This database tracks the environmental footprint of 2,500 food items « from farm to fork ».
Contact us for further information :
contact [at] marine-biodiversity-footprint.com
FOCUS: collection of life cycle inventory (LCI) data for a sector or an industrial sector
The work for collecting data for a specific sector takes place in 5 stages. In green, the work of the industry and its contributors, in blue our work as a consultant-expert. In gray, the first bipartite task, the confidentiality agreement. It is the starting point of the work which constitutes the basis of mutual trust.
1) NDA
This is a key first step. We work on sensitive data, related to industrial know-how. We position ourselves as a non-competing third party. Data is stored on a protected server, saved periodically, and we explicitly name the people on our team who have access to it.
This agreement is generally concluded with the industry union or federation, with the agreement of its members.
2) Contributors questionnaire: be simple without being simplistic
Our business know-how plays a crucial role within this step. We put together a questionnaire to be sent to each manufacturer. We account for the latest scientific advances in terms of environmental indicators.
The questionnaire has to be clear and unambiguous to allow the collection of quality data. We also ensure that it is of reasonable length, by prioritizing sector’s hotspots within its value chain.
3) Contributors’ responses feedback
We go through each manufacturers’ responses as they come in. We carry out immediate consistency checks and come back to contributor in case of misunderstanding or possible inconsistency.
4) Data compilation
Once all the responses have been received, we anonymize them and calculate an « industry » average.
We calculate the geographic, technical, temporal representativeness, as well as a data quality indicator of the proposed average result, using the internationally recommended method for this assessment.
5) Final reports
We produce an overall report, in which we describe our compilation method, the average results and the quality of these in a summary report for the sector; this report only contains anonymous average data. Subject to the agreement of the industry and these members, this report may be disclosed and related data published in LCI databases.
We also produce a confidential report for each contributor comparing their data to the average, with recommendations for improvement.
This work can be iterative, on a time period to be determined. This allows to trace over time:
• for the sector, its overall improvement;
• for each contributing industry, its individual improvement.
Publications:
Agribalyse® 3.0: the French database for agriculture and food. Asselin A. C., Broekema R., Teulon H., Gastaldi G., Wermeille A., Colomb V. Agribalyse® 3.0: the French database for agriculture and food. Publication in progress on the ADEME website.
Updating and road-testing Life Cycle Inventory data review criteria: towards global consensus and guidance on data quality assessment. Sonnemann G., Shrijvers D., Asselin A, Poolsawad N., Mungkalasiri J., Grant T., Loyola C., Vigon B. (2020). Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.
Review of LCA datasets in three emerging economies: a summary of learnings. Vigon B., Sonnemann G., Asselin A., Shrijvers D., Ciroth A., Chen S.S., Braga T., Poolsawad N., Mungkalasiri J., Boureima F., Milà I Canals L. (2017). International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
Towards a global network of interoperable LCA databases.
Milà I Canals L., Asselin A., Ciroth A., Fazio S., Goedkoop M., Ingwersen W., Suh S., Tahara K., Tivander J., Vigon B., Wernet G., Braga T. and Leite C. (2016). SETAC Europe conference
