GreenFlex Sustainable development strategy and roadmap Social and environmental assessment

Assessing and reducing the environmental and social impact of products

Substances, materials and products on every scale have a more or less virtuous environmental and social footprint that it is becoming essential to control. The “I didn’t know” attitude is no longer acceptable. As part of a broader approach to responsibility, it is essential to look at the impacts of our products ‘upstream’, in the same way as we look at what happens to them at our customers’ sites and beyond. And, of course, to take all the necessary steps to ensure that these impacts are minimised when they are negative and maximised when they are positive.

 

We support players in the manufacturing, consumer goods and distribution industries in implementing progress initiatives for substances, materials, products, or product portfolios.

Facing up to the growing complexity of analysing the environmental and societal footprint of your activity

Taking into account the cross-cutting issues facing manufacturers, brands and distributors requires a global vision of their activities: climate change, chemical pollution, damage to biodiversity, social conditions in production, etc.

Identifying, quantifying and qualifying the direct and indirect impacts of your activities is an essential prerequisite for drawing up ambitious socio-environmental action plans in line with regulatory requirements and growing consumer expectations.

Analyse and improve the impact of your products

In this context, our approach to health and the environment, in terms of socio-economic analysis, is necessarily multi-criteria, ranging from diagnosis to progress plans.
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Women sitting on a production chain

1. Assessing and putting into perspective impacts throughout the life cycle according to environmental, social, and economic criteria

  • Identify weak signals and controversies and monitor changes in socio-environmental issues from a regulatory/pre-regulatory point of view, whistleblowing activities and public awareness that could affect your use of substances and materials or the marketing of your products.
  • Assess the dangers associated with the substances and materials used in your products and draw up an inventory of your direct and indirect uses of these materials or controversial substances.
  • Produce product environmental footprints: using a life cycle analysis approach, characterise the environmental impacts associated with the design, manufacture, and use of your products.
  • Economic evaluation of the cost of the externalities associated with a product: integrating the economic impact of the major socio-environmental issues associated with products for an organisation, taking into account both the negative externalities and the positive services provided.
  • Develop a multi-criteria rating system for a portfolio of products, for voluntary environmental labelling or internal management.

2. Improving and managing performance

  • Recommending progress actions of all kinds: changing suppliers, partial or total substitution, changing the materials mix, redesigning products, discontinuing ranges, or changing a product portfolio, etc.
  • Managing the performance of a product portfolio in order to guide socio-environmental commitments, monitor them and prioritise improvement actions
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GreenFlex’s multi-expertise at the service of an operational vision of your socio-economic issues

Given the urgency, multiplicity, and complexity of the socio-economic issues at stake, as well as the high level of expectations on the part of legislators and consumers, the establishment of a progress approach must necessarily call on a diversity of skills and expertise.
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We have therefore placed multi-expertise at the heart of our offer and at the service of all our socio-environmental analysis missions. We deal simultaneously with issues of human and animal health and the ecosystems in which they evolve. In practical terms, we are able to bring together within a project team:

  • technical skills in socio-environmental assessment (Life Cycle Assessment, development of a multi-criteria rating system, diagnosis for due diligence, etc.)
  • extensive expertise in regulatory issues and weak signals relating to substances
  • recognised experts in specific areas (agro-economy, waste management, circular economy, water use and treatment, etc.)