Guide to Assess a Commercial Product’s Sustainability

Overview

The paper separates three label types: Type I third-party verified ecolabels (ISO 14024:2018), Type II self-declared claims (ISO 14021:2016), and Type III environmental product declarations (EPDs) following ISO 14025 and based on ISO 14040 LCA data; an EPD is normally valid for 5 years. For electrical, electronic and HVAC equipment, a Product Environmental Profile under the PEP ecopassport programme reports carbon impact across five LCA stages: manufacturing, distribution, installation, use and end-of-life.

The list of comparison mistakes is the core: ignoring the margin of error, comparing totals instead of stages, mixing emission factors or use profiles, comparing reference products of different capacity, and accepting unsupported recycling credits or missing components. Because standards allow a +/-5% margin on reported values, indicators within 10% of each other should be treated as equal. Use-stage maintenance emissions for UPSs are under 2% of total use, so comparing efficiencies at equal load is a valid proxy when emission factors differ.

Worked numbers show the method. A 95%-efficient 1,000 W UPS (9,221 kWh a year) at 0.231 kg CO2e/kWh shows 2,130 kg CO2e, against 679 kg CO2e for an 80%-efficient UPS (10,950 kWh) at 0.062 kg CO2e/kWh; the efficient unit shows 3.1 times more because the grid factors differ. Scaling a reference product, 318 kg CO2e of manufacturing for a 19 kg UPS gives 17 kg CO2e/kg, so a 24 kg model is estimated at 402 kg CO2e, with use-stage data scaled by rated capacity. PEPs may exclude expected components, and Module D recycling credits require evidence of a 100% take-back programme.

Key points

1. Type I labels follow ISO 14024:2018 (third-party), Type II ISO 14021:2016 (self-declared), Type III EPDs ISO 14025 and ISO 14040 LCA data; an EPD is normally valid for 5 years.
2. PEP carbon impact is reported for five LCA stages: manufacturing, distribution, installation, use and end-of-life.
3. Standards allow a +/-5% margin of error on reported values, so indicators within 10% of each other should be treated as equal.
4. Example: a 95%-efficient 1,000 W UPS (9,221 kWh/yr) at 0.231 kg CO2e/kWh shows 2,130 kg CO2e vs 679 kg CO2e for an 80%-efficient UPS (10,950 kWh/yr) at 0.062 kg CO2e/kWh, 3.1 times greater for the efficient unit.
5. UPS use-stage maintenance emissions are under 2% of total use, so efficiency at equal load is a valid proxy when emission factors differ.
6. Scaling: 318 kg CO2e manufacturing for a 19 kg UPS gives 17 kg CO2e/kg, so a 24 kg model is about 402 kg CO2e; use-stage data scale by rated capacity.
7. PEPs may exclude expected components (batteries in a UPS PEP, circuit breakers in switchgear/panel PEPs); Module D recycling credits require evidence of a 100% take-back programme.

Using it in design

• Add EPD/PEP fields to each catalogue product: programme operator, PCR/PSR version, validity date, functional unit, reference product weight and rating, per-stage kg CO2e, emission factor used and exclusions such as batteries.
• In the embodied-carbon calculator scale manufacturing emissions by the reference product's weight and use emissions by rating, and recompute the use stage with the project's own grid emission factor instead of the PEP's.
• In comparison UX treat differences under 10% as a tie, block comparisons across different programme operators or PCR versions, and warn about excluded components.

Who should read it

Procurement engineers and sustainability analysts comparing product carbon declarations during equipment selection.

Related standards

• ISO 14020
• ISO 14021
• ISO 14024
• ISO 14025
• ISO 14040
• EN 45552
• EN 45554

Publication details

Authors

Victor Avelar; Raymond Lizotte

Publisher

Schneider Electric

Year

2025

Document number

WP 70

Document language

English

Source type

Manufacturer

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation