Eco-design: The State of Implementation in Europe Conclusions of a State of the Art Study for IPTS

摘要

In support of the development of an Integrated Product Policy (IPP) in the EU, six leading institutes in the field of sustainable product development (SPD) have analysed the state of the art in Europe. For each EU member state, four elements reflecting the demand and supply side of SPD were analysed. These concerns were method development, dissemination, and education (supply side oriented) and practical application (demand side oriented). A structured, qualitative indicator system (based on so-called 'maturity profiles') was developed that were used and by a panel of (inter)national experts as basis of judgment on a per-country basis. To get additional insight in practical application, a study of the Fortune 500 companies was performed. The results showed that the EU countries can roughly be divided in three groups: 'front runners', who have set the scene for about 10 years with regard to method development and dissemination; 'intermediates', who have been setting up their programmes for 5 years now; and 'inactives', where SPD is practised only in individual cases. It was striking, however, that even in the front runner countries practical application was still quite limited. Even in these cases, eco-design is mainly practised by several dozen 'champion' firms, which mainly concentrated on incremental improvements rather than re-design or system innovations. The front runners are mainly advanced in terms of method development and, to some extent, dissemination and education. Concerning method development, dissemination of knowledge should take place from front runners to other EU countries. New method development should mainly concentrate on issues still new for them (e.g. methods aimed at functional innovation). Dissemination should be given more emphasis. Above all, analysis should be conducted on how the demand side of SPD can be strengthened.