In the last few years, the Environmental Minimum Criteria (EMC) assumed a crucial role in public tenders for the supply of products and services related to green contracts (Appalti Verdi) or Green Public Procurement (GPP) in Italy.
The EMC are related to specific product categories and are described in specific decrees issued by the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
In Italy, the “Collegato ambientale” and the new “Codice degli appalti” enforce in a binding way the adoption of the Environmental Minimum Criteria for 100% of the purchases through public contracts of some specific categories of products/services. This highly emphasizes environmental topics, opening to new “horizons” for environmental certifications. Owning specific environmental certification became thus crucial in order to be competitive on the market.

SERVICES FOR PUBLIC BODIES

Aequilibria provides training courses on GPP, Environmental Minimum Criteria and related environmental certifications. In addition, it also provides support for the introduction of Environmental Minimum Criteria in the technical specifications of the tenders and to the awarding Committees during the evaluation phases.

SERVICES FOR BUSINESSES

Aequilibria provides companies with specific training courses about Environmental Minimum Criteria, as well as support to identify and obtain the certifications that might be requested by the contracting authorities to fulfill the EMC (e.g. ISO 14021, Ecolabel, EPD, CFP, etc.).

The Self-declarations in accordance with the ISO 14021 standard represent a more and more widespread communication tool. This is also due to the fact that they directly recall the Minimum Environmental Criteria in the context of the Green Public Procurement, also known as GPP.
This communication strategy can be adopted either by producing a self-declaration, directly released by the organization, or by requesting a certification from an independent third-party.
However, the development of a communication strategy in compliance with the ISO 14021 standard is quite complex, and it requires a deep knowledge of the specific requirements of the standard.

Ecolabel is a European Union Regulation focused on the environmental performances of a product (either a good or a service). It identifies, through specific protocols, the minimum requirements that organizations have to fulfill to be allowed to use the label, represented by a 12 stars daisy.
The institution of this system demonstrates the EU’s intention to limit the proliferation of labels, that are spreading at countries but also at regional or at local level. The advantage of Ecolabel is that it introduces a unique label that is recognized anywhere in Europe, thus potentially addressing 500 million of customers.
In Italy, one of the sectors in which the Ecolabel is mostly developed is tourism. In fact, Italian tourism-related services welcome everyday people from many different geographical areas, for example from the central-eastern Europe, that are more and more sensitive towards environmental safeguard.
Aequilibria has always been active in this context, having supported one of the first Italian hotels in the achievement of the 12 stars daisy.

The Environmental Product Declaration, also known as EPD, is a process that leads to the elaboration of a document containing information about the environmental impacts of a product, structured in accordance with the ISO standard 14025.
The realization of an EPD occurs in two separate phases. During the first one, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study is performed, according to specific rules defined for each product category, that are detailed in specific documents called PCR (Product Category Rules).
The fact that the same guidelines for the development of the LCA within a specific category are adopted all over the world allows for an easier comparison of the obtained results.
The information gathered through the LCA study are successively described in a report aimed at external communication, called Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). This document represents a sort of technical data sheet, in which all the product environmental impacts and characteristics are highlighted.
Thanks to this tool, an organization can communicate information about the environmental performances of a product in a transparent and reliable way, supporting the choice to address the business strategy towards a sustainable economy.
Aequilibria’s expertise in this sense is proved by the development of various specific Product Category Rules and Environmental Product Declaration. In addition, Daniele Pernigotti was directly involved in the internalization phase of the EPD scheme, and also supported ACCREDIA, the National Accreditation Body, during the development of rules to be followed during the certification process.

LCA is the abbreviation known all over the world to refer to Life Cycle Assessment. This methodology is able to identify and quantify the environmental impact of a product during its whole life cycle or, as it is usually defined, from the cradle (namely the raw material extraction) to the grave (final disposal of the product).
In this way it is possible to identify which ones are the most critical phases in detail, allowing organizations to select planning strategies or specific interventions able to reduce the impacts over time. Usually, the achievement of real benefits is due to a reduction of wastes, or to an increased efficiency. This is also presents, usually, important economic consequences.
Performing LCA means to achieve a deeper knowledge of each own’s products, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from other ones as, for example, the energy one.
Once the LCA study is completed, the effect that single process choices can have on the whole life cycle of the product are clear and easier to identify.
In addition, the Life Cycle Assessment is based on a detailed evaluation of the current situation, that can act as a starting point for the development of other tools for the environmental impacts analysis such as the Environmental Product declaration (EPD) and the Carbon Footprint of Product (CFP).
The implementation of LCA studies also involves a higher reliability and credibility of the organizations, that have to find their place in markets more and more demanding and selective.

Massive amounts of water are used every day for drinking, cooking, washing. Anyway, water consumption is devoted to a higher extent to produce food, paper, cotton based clothes and many other consumer goods.
Water scarcity problems are often closely related to the global economy structure.
Many countries significantly externalized their water footprint, by importing from other areas goods that require impressive amounts of water during the production phase. This exerts considerable pressure on the water resources of the exporting countries, where often few mechanisms for a proper water management and conservation are ensured.