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Defence Industry and Space
PECFR official
Towards a more sustainable space sector

Objectives

The project has three main objectives: 

  • Develop PEFCR for the EU Space Sector: This involves measuring environmental impacts and performance based on the EU-recommended EF method. The development should consider sector-specific characteristics and focus on significant environmental impacts. 
  • Define and acquire EF compliant datasets: Necessary datasets will be acquired to allow applying the PEFCR for the EU space sector, ensuring the information is reliable, verifiable, and comparable.
  • Engage and consult stakeholders: Throughout the PEFCR development process, stakeholders are consulted and involved. This engagement aims to encourage the industry to produce products and services with better environmental performance.
PECFR

Policy context

The increasing complexity of space missions and the environmental challenges posed by space activities, advanced technology, and international competitiveness highlights the need to measure and mitigate environmental impacts in the space sector. 

The development of a Product Environmental Footprint Category Rule (PEFCR) for the space sector aligns with key European Union policies, including the European Green Deal, Circular Economy Action Plan, and the Fit for 55 package, all of which aim to enhance sustainability and reduce environmental impacts across industries. 

By applying the PEF framework to space activities, the European Commission seeks to standardise how environmental performance is measured, promote transparency, and ensure credible green claims, addressing the sector's unique challenges. This initiative also supports the EU’s Space Policy and Sustainable Finance efforts by providing a recognised method for assessing environmental impacts, contributing to the EU's broader climate goals and regulatory compliance.

PEFCR for Space

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) helps companies not only reduce their environmental impact but also gain competitive advantages through cost savings, innovation, improved brand reputation, and regulatory compliance.

The Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint (PEF) frameworks, introduced by the European Commission in 2013 to standardize environmental performance measurements of products, improves Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies' transparency and reliability. Over time, PEF Category Rules (PEFCRs) were developed, incorporating lessons from pilot phases into the 2021 Recommendation.

PEF (and PEFCRs), as a LCA tool, provide a comprehensive method for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its entire life cycle—from raw material extraction, manufacturing, and use to disposal or recycling. 

The European Commission is now developing Space PEFCRs to provide the space industry with a recognised, reliable method for measuring and comparing environmental impacts across the sector. 

Why develop a PEFCR for Space?

The adoption of the PEFCR in the space sector is expected to deliver significant outcomes aligned with policy developments focused on sustainability. Key expected outcomes include:

  • Standardisation of environmental assessments: PEFCR provides a consistent methodology for evaluating the environmental impacts of products, processes and services ensuring comparability across the space industry. This enables informed decision-making and fosters a competitive, sustainability-focused market.
  • Improved transparency and accountability: PEFCR enhances reporting accuracy on environmental impacts, from resource use to disposal. This transparency helps to meet regulatory requirements and increases trust among stakeholders, including investors and customers, leading to better business prospects.
  • Increased innovation: The push to minimize environmental footprints will likely drive companies to innovate in materials, manufacturing, and waste management, advancing sustainability while improving the performance and efficiency of space missions.
  • Enhanced industry collaboration: By following common standards, companies can more easily share data and collaborate on solutions to environmental challenges, leading to industry-wide progress toward sustainability goals.
  • EF-compliant Life Cycle Inventory datasets for the space sector: Datasets will be developed for relevant products and processes in the space sector. These will be based on stakeholder needs, existing and collected data, and will be available for the space industry.

Overall, the PEFCR will contribute to greater sustainability, innovation, and cooperation within the space sector.

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Stakeholders in different roles 

Stakeholders will be engaged from the beginning of the project to support the project execution in multiple steps: the setup of the TS, the supporting studies, the EF datasets development, and the communication and dissemination activities. The involvement of sector experts and external stakeholders is key during the development of the PEFCRs for the space sector and will occur at multiple stages. Within the project, external stakeholders can be actively involved in several roles:

  • Technical Secretariat (TS) member (limited seats): The TS is the guiding body that is developing the PEFCRs for the space sector. It is made up of representatives of various stakeholders including market players (about 51% of the European market), NGOs, scientific experts, and governmental institutions to ensure different considerations in the decision-making process. The European Commission Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS) will co-chair the ‘Space PEFCR TS’ together with VITO and PRé Sustainability. 
  • External reviewers of the PEFCRs – a panel of at least three members with a chair (limited seats): The review panel will review all the documents created during the PEFCR development process. This includes: 
    • The PEFCRs, first, second and third (final) draft versions;
    • The PEF-Representative Products (PEF-RP) study reports, first and second version;
    • The PEF-RP models, first and second versions;
    • The PEF supporting studies, their study reports and LCA models;
    • The PEF-RP datasets, delivered in eILCD and excel format.
  • Data provider for PEF supporting studies (limited seats): The execution of PEF supporting studies is an important step within the process of developing the PEFCRs for the space sector. During PEF Supporting Studies, manufacturers test the feasibility of using the modelling rules for their products. So modelling rules written in the draft PEFCRs will be assessed by industry to determine how feasible they are. Industry can build up capacity to work with the PEFCRs.
  • Data provider for EF-compliant datasets (components/materials/operating activities/infrastructure) (unlimited seats): As a foundation for drafting the PEFCRs, first PEF studies are conducted on existing or virtual products, that represents average European market sales within the product category, so-called representative products (RPs). The results from these studies will be included as benchmarks in the PEFCRs and EF-compliant datasets will be developed.
  • External stakeholder (unlimited seats): An external stakeholder plays a crucial role in the development and refinement of the PEFCR. External stakeholders can participate in public consultations, where they review and provide input on draft versions of the PEFCR. Their feedback helps ensuring the rules are robust, practical, and aligned with industry needs, while also addressing any potential gaps or inconsistencies in the methodology. Via the TS they can also share valuable information, such as industry data, best practices, or insights into specific environmental challenges. This exchange of knowledge supports the development of more accurate and comprehensive PEFCR, tailored to the unique characteristics of the space sector.

Call for expression of interest

A first call for expression of interest (18 September - 11 October 2024) was published for the setup of the Technical Secretariat of the PEFCR for Space. It is important to note that participation in the Technical Secretariat is on a voluntary basis, and any costs incurred by participants, including travel and accommodation, will not be covered under this project. 

The selection and distribution of roles in the development of a space PEFCR will adhere to the guidance and the rules for the development of PEFCR as described in the Commission’s PEF recommendations, ensuring a balanced and effective process.

The number of seats (one per organization) within the TS will be limited to ensure smooth and efficient group discussions, and decision making. However, external experts can be invited when discussing certain space activities. In case of more interest than seats, the members of the TS will be selected based on the needs for the project to:

  • reach a 51% market coverage (based on economic turnover);
  • ensure diversity in the different market segments;
  • ensure diversity of EU geographical coverage.

Schedule and phases of the project

Project timeline: Project of 30 months, 06/09/2024 – 05/03/2027

  • Sept ‘24 – Oct ‘24: Stakeholder engagement in the development of the PEFCR, setting up the Technical Secretariat (TS) and TS meetings
    • 11/10/’24: deadline for Call for expression of Interest for engagement ADD link here to Call for expression of interest
    • 24/10/’24 (AM, online): Online Kick-off meeting with the TS
    • Jan ’25 - Sept ’25: Monthly online meetings with the TS
    • Jan ’25 – May ’25: Every 3 weeks online working group meetings at Representative Product level
    • Sept ‘25 – Dec ‘26: Bi-monthly online meetings with TS
  • Oct ’24 – Dec ‘24: Scope definition of the PEFCR with TS
    • 14/11/’24 (AM, EC premises in Brussels, BE): PEFCR scoping workshop 1 with TS
    • 10/12/’24 (PM, EC premises in Brussels, BE): PEFCR scoping workshop 2 with TS
  • Jan ’25 – Jul ’25: First draft PEFCR (incl. vertical rules and RPs) and setting up review panel
  • June ’25 – July ’26: Definition, development, and acquisition of EF compliant datasets for the PEFCR
  • Aug ’25 – Sept ‘25: External review of first draft PEFCR and first public consultation
  • Nov ’25 – March ’26: Supporting studies
  • April ’26: External review of supporting studies
  • May ’26 – Aug ’26: Second draft PEFCR (incorporating learnings from Supporting Studies)
  • Aug ’26 – Sept ‘26: External review of second draft PEFCR and second public consultation
  • Oct ’26: Analysing and answering the comments of external review and public consultation and incorporating feedbacks into a third draft PEFCR
  • Dec ’26: External review of third draft PEFCR and incorporating feedbacks into final draft PEFCR
  • Jan ’27: Submission of final draft PEFCR to Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and to EF sub-group; including meetings
  • Febr ’27: Delivering the final PEFCR

Useful Resources: 

Contact

If you have any questions, drop an email at: pefcr4spaceatvito [dot] be (pefcr4space[at]vito[dot]be)