Handling and reporting environmental information

The structured procedure for implementing ISO/TS 14048 and PHASETS in order to handle environmental data at production sites includes 4 steps. The procedure was developed to fit the Swedish pulp and paper industry, but could be adapted also by other industry sectors. The steps are:

Figure 1: Working procedure for implementing ISO/TS 14048 and PHASETS in pulp and paper industry.

Step 1 – Survey the organization's needs for environmental data, by identifying stakeholders requesting environmental data and their requirements on that data. The survey is conducted to determine which models are needed and to prioritize further work. See example on identified stakeholders and their needs for environmental data.

Step 2 – Prepare draft models of production systems, which describe the production of the selected products or product groups based on the survey of environmental data needs. Depending on the stakeholders' requests, these models can either be simple or compiled of many sub-parts, see example of a model of a production system. In this step the parameters to be reported are also selected. An example of a reported parameter is fossil CO2. However, the system boundaries depend on the stakeholders' scope. In the European Emission Trading Scheme, only the emissions from the juridical site are included, but other related reporting schemes, e.g. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, also include greenhouse gases from external upstream sources. Examples of other parameters can be found in the report Methodology for handling forest industry environmental data – Manual, appendix 2. This report also describes how data can be collected at the production sites.

Step 3 – Process data for selected parameters. The processing includes e.g. specification of parameters and measurement systems, acquisition of measured values and compilation of measured values into mean values. In the pulp and paper industry, a great deal of environmentally related parameters are measured, however method of measurement, frequency and exact location of measurement varies and need to be documented in order to draw the right conclusions from a reported parameter. E.g. the reliability of a parameter measured continuously might be higher than for a parameter measured once a year. Allocation issues for the draft models are also investigated. Few stakeholders set specific demands on how allocation should be performed when deriving product related environmental data. Suggestions on how to allocate in these cases can be found in the report Industrial Management of Environmental Data. Allocation is the partitioning of environmental impacts on two or more products resulting from one process. Allocation is needed, when further modeling that separates the two (or more) products from another, is not possible.

Step 4 – Make a final compilation of models, based on the information that has been acquired and prepared in the previous stages of the implementation. A model in this context is a calculation procedure made from linked unit processes (please compare LCA). An example of a model is available here. The resulting models are then typically designed to correspond to the most detailed requests. Possibly, alternative calculation models can be designed for less detailed requests, e.g. when only site related information is needed.
 

Report and document
Document and report all results from the steps above in the ISO/TS 14048 LCA – data documentation format to facilitate quality assurance and verification of the procedure and data. The ISO/TS 14048 format specifies the information that is to be documented and how the documentation is to be structured. Both documentation and reporting is facilitated by using the appropriate software that is based on the ISO/TS 14048 format, e.g. LCI@CPMand WWLCAW both designed at IMI, Chalmers. The use of internationally standardized format for data documentation facilitates easier communication, verification and data quality assurance (please see LCA more about)
 

Experiences