• Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering (UniPd)

• CESQA member, Center for Quality and Environmental Studies

• ISO tables for new environmental management standards
• UNI coordinator for the development of standards on the life cycle of
products
• UNEP and FAO technical expert on environmental footprints, LCA and new
products with reduced environmental impact
• Over 100 contributions in scientific journals
• Best young Italian researcher from the LCA Italian Network Scientific
Association in 2014
• Awarded by the Olympic Academy of Vicenza for his doctoral thesis on the
analysis of the water footprint of industrial processes
• In 2017 co-founder of Spinlife, a Spinoff of the Padua University
Dr Alessandro Manzardo
What can guarantee the sustainability of a product?
Environmental labels and declaration
ISO 14020
Definition:
“claim which indicates the environmental aspects of a product or
service.”

Objective:
“The overall goal of environmental labels and declarations is,
through communication of verifiable and accurate information, that
is not misleading, on environmental aspects of products and
services, to encourage the demand for and supply of those
products and services that cause less stress on the environment,
thereby stimulating the potential for market-driven continuous
environmental improvement”.
The principles of environmental labels and declaration
ISO 14020
9 PRINCIPLES AS THE GORUND FOR CORRECT AND
NON-MISLEADING COMMUNICATION

Accuracy: Environmental labels and

declarations shall be accurate, verifiable,
relevant and not misleading.;
Transparent: Information concerning the
procedure, methodology, and any criteria
used to support environmental labels and
declarations shall be available and provided
upon request to all interested parties
The principles of environmental labels and declaration

Based on Life Cycle Thinking: from cradle to

grave to avoid the shift of potential impacts
among life cycle stages;

Based on the Scientific approach: Environmental

labels and declarations shall be based on scientific
methodology that is sufficiently thorough and
comprehensive to support the claim and that
produces results that are accurate and
reproducible.
Environmental labels and declaration in ISO

Type 1 Based on minimum

(ISO 14024)
performance
requirements

Type 2 Self-declared claims

(ISO 14021)

Based on verified Life Cycle

Type 3 Assessment studies performed
according to third party product
(ISO 14025)
category rules

Based on verified Life Cycle

Other Type Assessment studies performed
according to first or third party
(ISO 14026)
product category and
communication rules
 Type 1 Labelling and declaration
CHARACTERISTICS: European labels
Other Labels

Include environmental and

quality performances
minimum requirements
Requirements are more
stringent if compared to legal The European Ecolabel
limits
Verified by a third party

(CE) N.66/2010
 Type 2 Labelling and declaration
CHARACTERISTICS:

Can be related to different

single characteristics of the
product (e.g. recyclability)
Can based for example on
laboratory testing or scientific
studies and shall verifiable
facts and information
Self declared
 Type 3 Labelling and declaration
CHARACTERISTICS:

Meant for benchmarking

managed by a third party
(Programme operator)
Does not imply high quality
and high environmental
performances
Based on Life Cycle
Assessment studies and
Product Category Rules
Third party verified
 Other type Labelling
CHARACTERISTICS:

Meant for benchmarking

managed by a third party
(Programme Operator) or the
company itself
Does not imply high quality
and high environmental
performances
Based on Life Cycle
Assessment studies and Product
Category Rules
Third party verified

www.passaportoambientale.it
 3 main elements of environmental communication

1 Claim
3 Supporting
- 60% Carbon Footprint compared Information
2. Supporting Information
to the previous version of the 70
60
same product
50
40
mPt
30
2 Explanatory statement
20
10
0
Carbon Footprint is one of the
-10 Carbon Footprint_Benchmark Carbon Footprint_Improved
potential environmental impacts. Product
As such it does not imply overall
environmental superiority of the
product compared to the baseline
www.passaportoambientale.com