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Ecospace Audit SummaryWhat does the concept of sustainability mean for companies that produce the products and services today and that develop, design and produce the products and services of tomorrow? In the project "Environmental Space audit for companies: developing a practical method", funded by the Danish Environment Agency, this was the central question. To guide companies in the direction of sustainable production a questionnaire was developed which is presented in this document. Rather than focussing on outputs (pollution, waste) the Ecospace Audit focusses on the amount of resources that enter the product or service in its entire life cycle (all phases: resource extraction, production, consumption, reuse, recycle, waste). This is based on the concept of ‘fair shares in environmental space’ which aims at assessing the sustainable resource use per person, taking increasing welfare all over the world into account. Depending on the current penetration level of a product or service and expected future penetration a company can assess the sustainability challenge for its products in the field of energy, non renewable materials, water and land use. The Ecospace Audit focusses the attention of producers at the environmental and social quality of the resources they use. Labour conditions, respect for rights and participation of local people, local environmental and health performance and the democratic level in countries are important elements that a company should take into account as well when reshaping its production in a more sustainable direction. The Ecospace Audit has been thoroughly tested with the help of two companies: Xerox Europe and Ecover. The Ecospace Audit was judged as a valuable tool to assess wider sustainability questions next of the implementation of current demands of environmental management. It needs to be stressed however that the Ecospace Audit is still a tool in development. Data on where resources come from, how they are produced, the amount of energy, materials and water consumed, are still difficult to obtain. The development of software should help overcome this problem. The Ecospace Audit shows that the road for companies to produce sustainable products or services is challenging. Companies truly committed to sustainble development and preparing for the future will find it a valuable tool to critically assess current production, current thinking and current designing of products in the light of consumer demand in the 21st Century. |