For Quantitative Environmental Product Information

Eco-LeafEnvironmental declaration

Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry
Eco-Leaf Type III Environmental labelling program Office

The investigation regarding the way for Japan to combat global warming was conducted in 1998
and the EcoLeaf environmental declaration was developed as the results of conclusions reached in
discussion on what environmental declarations should be like in an environmentally friendly society.
It is a new made-in-Japan environmental declaration whose full implementation started in April
2002, which is in conformity to ISO type III environmental declarations (ISO 14025).*

EcoLeaf environmental label use the LCA method to quantitatively show environmental informationof products through life cycle stages from the extraction of resources to manufacturing/assembly,distribution, use, and discarding/recycling.
-Why the environmental information of products through their life cycle stages is required to bedisclosed? These days one often sees “eco-friendly products” and products that are termed “environmentallycompatible.” The only way to see if a product is truly “eco-friendly” is by assessing it to see if its
environmental impacts are lessened through all stages of its life cycle. A method often used thesedays to assess the environmental impacts of a product in all its life cycles is life cycle assessment(LCA).

Environmental
impactResource extraction

Manufacturing/assembly

Distribution

Environmental
impactEnvironmental
impactEnvironmental
impactDistribution

Distribution
Environmental
impactEnvironmental
impactUse

Recycling

Environmental
impactDistribution
Environmental
impactDistribution

Environmental
impactDiscarding
What’s LCA?

Environmental
impactLife cycle assessment (LCA) analyzes and assesses products andservices through their life cycle stages from the extraction of
resources to manufacturing/assembly, distribution, use, anddiscarding/recycling according to a method that anticipatesenvironmental aspects and potential environmental impacts.

EcoLeaf environmental declarations are made publicly available using three forms:(1) Product Environmental Aspects Declaration (PEAD)(2) Product Environmental Information Data Sheet (PEIDS)(3) Product Data Sheet (PDS)(1) Global warming impact( CO2 equivalent)(2) Acidification impact( SO2 equivalent)(3) Energy consumption (MJ)○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○• We use it in corporate image advertising to show that our company is actively managed in anenvironmentally friendly way.
• Our sales activities were facilitated when EcoLeaf adopted in the purchasing guidelines formunicipalities.
• Our sales division now uses EcoLeaf to differentiate our products.
• We’re now able to compare the environmental impacts of our own products, and we now havedefinite goals for more eco-product design (DfE; Design for Environment).
• We won the President’s Award for recognition of our achievement of increasing concern for theenvironment in the company.
• As prizes to retailers for sales campaigns, we chose EcoLeaf products from among many others
and used them as a means to show how we are serious about the environment.
• The municipality recognized our active incorporation of environmental considerations into
company management, and gave us an environment prize. This was a big topic among the public.

Product registration number
The logo with the registration number
shows that this product has qualified.

Website http://www.jemai.or.jp/english/ecoleaf/outline.cfm
You can view detailed data for each product registration number.

•An EcoLeaf environmental declaration that is approved is given a product registration number andreleased. With the product registration number, anyone can obtain all the information about an
EcoLeaf environmental declaration from the EcoLeaf website.
•Businesses with registered declarations can show them to the public by posting on their websites,
affixing them to their products, putting them in their catalogs, or by other means.

The EcoLeaf environmental declaration is a future-oriented environmental label that uses LCA toprovide a multifaceted view of the environmental characteristics of products and services, including
those whose environmental information is difficult to assess with a single criterion.

In 1999, JEMAI called on western European countries, the Republic of Korea, and Canada for participation and formed
the Global Environment Product Declarations Network (GEDnet), which is working to broaden the use of type III
environmental labels.
The GEDnet website is <http://www.gednet.org>
Efforts are underway to create international standards for these type III environmental declarations.
*An official international standard (ISO 14025) for type III environmental declarations has been issued in around July01, 2006. JEMAI has been actively involved in this process in many ways including sending representatives to ISO
conferences for creating international standards