The development and use of
footprint methodologies for environmental assessment
are significantly important for both the
scientific and political communities.
The ecological footprint approaches, developed since the beginning
of the 1990s, focus on challenging environmental impacts
including resource consumption, CO2 emission leading to climate change,
and water consumption. However,
despite the widespread use of
toxic chemicals in many products and services, no method of assessing a
"chemical" footprint has yet been designed.
In the study
"Chemical Footprint: A Methodological Framework
for bridging life cycle assessment and planetary boundaries for chemical
pollution",
researchers from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (Serenella Sala and Malgorzata Goralczyk), developed a conceptual framework for
assessing chemical footprints
that combines three concepts in sustainable chemical management:
life cycle assessment (LCA), risk assessment for human and ecological
exposure, and the
precautionary principle that addresses uncertainties
associated with the impacts of chemical pollution.
Based on these concepts, the researchers suggest there could be at
least two steps to determining chemical footprint.
The first step, based on LCA,
assesses emissions of chemicals
released directly and indirectly into the environment as well
as the potential harm of these to the environment,
as determined by a risk assessment. The second step links the chemicals released into the environment
with the
capacity of affected ecosystems to recover from the harm caused
(the ‘carrying capacity’ of the ecosystem). This capability is linked
to the
planetary or ‘safe’ boundaries for chemical pollution, although
no targets have yet been set.
An additional step might contribute to the wide discussion on
planetary boundaries for chemical pollution:
the
thresholds that should not be surpassed to guarantee a sustainable use of chemicals
from an environmental safety perspective.
The definition of what the planetary boundaries for chemical pollution
are and how the boundaries should be identified is an on-going
scientific challenge for ecotoxicology and ecology.
To illustrate the development of a chemical footprint,
the researchers used the first step to assess the
impacts on
freshwater ecosystems in the EU-27, as a case study.
This can be calculated using LCA from the perspective of
production
or consumption of a product. The assessment considers the
domestic chemical emissions, as well as those related to the
products imported to and exported from a single country.
Analysis revealed that
impacts on freshwater ecosystems
from domestic consumption in the EU-27 were mainly caused
by pesticide emissions, in particular, endosulfan
emitted to the water and air, and cyhalothrin and a‐cypermethrin
emitted to water. Metal emissions (e.g. copper and vanadium emitted
to the air) were responsible for the majority of impacts on freshwater
ecosystems from import and export-related consumption in the EU-27. Work on resolving uncertainties associated with step one and linking step
one with the carrying capacity of ecosystems (step two) is on-going.
To stimulate further research and discussion on the topic, the study highlights a
number of issues that must be resolved
to further develop the chemical footprint concept.
These include identification of which
source types
(e.g. point or diffuse sources) to evaluate;
identifying
priority chemicals and dealing with
new contaminants.
Related links:
-
JRC publication: "Chemical Footprint: A Methodological Framework for bridging life cycle assessment and planetary boundaries for chemical pollution"
Source internet file
-
EU Commission
"Science for Environment Policy" Issue 358 (23/01/2014)
