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Indicators and Evaluation of Effects - Development of Indicators for the Effect of the Programme for Cleaner Products

Summary and conclusions

A wide variety of environmental indicators are currently in use, and the area is rapidly growing.

However, the practical application of the indicators is almost exclusively related to a description of significant developments, e.g. the development in annual emissions of climate gases, in the number of environmentally certified companies or in the number of ecolabelled products on the market.

This project did not succeed in identifying international experience gained with application of indicators describing the effects achieved via productoriented environmental policies, e.g. in assessing the effect of a subsidy scheme on the number of ecolabelled products on the market, or whether a reduction of emissions of a climate gas can be linked to specific productoriented measures.

Still, at international level there is a great wish to develop indicators describing such links. Many institutional bodies have developed theories and models describing the connection between:

• the framework and driving forces causing an environmental impact, e.g. the increased use of information technology
• the impacts caused by resource pressure and emissions of substances, such as brominated flame retardants
• the descriptions of the current state, e.g. the concentration of brominated flame retardants finding their way into the atmosphere
• the impact on Man and nature, e.g. the increased incidence of cancer in human beings and endocrine disruption in polar bears
• the political reactions such as bans or subsidy schemes set up to influence the behaviour of producers and consumers.
  

We have based this project on such models, to develop an initial prototype of an IT tool that can be used to obtain data on Danish IPP actions. These data can be used as the basis for the indicators on the effect of performance achieved via the Danish EPA Programme for Cleaner Products.

The project is based on a request made by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency that the development and application of indicators require as few resources as possible from the Agency. Thus, the aim of the project is to obtain the data, which forms the basis of the indicators, from the programme beneficiaries, i.e. the data are based on selfassessment, with the strengths and weaknesses this may cause.

The projects covered by the Programme for Cleaner Products include a combination of different types of projects and focus areas, some of which are aimed at direct improvements of the environment – e.g. in the form of subsidies for product development or restructuring of productions – whereas others (most of them) are projects which in themselves do not have a direct environmental impact. The aim of these projects is to form the basis for subsequent activities that will result in an improvement of the environment. So far the main objective of the programme has been to provide a foundation for measures to be implemented both within and outside the programme to reduce the environmental impact caused by production, use and disposal of various products.

The environmental impact of the programme should therefore be seen as the result of different measures that all lead to a concrete improvement of the environment. And the measures that trigger actual improvements of the environment are not always financed by this programme, but may be achieved as a result of activities financed by a previous programme.

In order to elucidate the different findings this project focuses on various types of projects across the programme, and examines closely the sub programmes/activities for:

• Textiles
• Chemical substances
• Waste
• Environmental management

According to the concept of the prototype, identical questions are answered by the beneficiary at the start and at the end of the project, assuming that the expectations of the benefits will differ. Furthermore, the findings of subsequent evaluations can be entered into the data collection, which will make it possible to compare and draw conclusions, on the environmental impact as well as on projects that have more effect than others – and why.

Apart from the expectation that this concept will make it possible to document the expected environmental effect of the programme, the aim of developing indicators was to clarify how to improve the knowledge about the measures which have a positive effect and the ones which have only modest effect. I.e. what makes some projects have a significant effect on the behaviour of a target group, and what makes other projects less successful.

The original aim of the project was to concentrate on certain areas only, but in practice the project has spread to large parts of the programme, which in 2002 consisted of 27 different sub programmes and focus areas aimed at various players and various links in the chain of production, although with overlapping environmental aims. E.g. efforts to reduce the use of unwanted chemicals is a recurrent theme.

A significant challenge in the project was to identify the factors to examine in order to obtain replies that would contribute to an understanding of the impact or the benefit of the various measures and types of projects. For example, one question of great interest is the project’s ability to involve and communicate to the target group and to do it in such a way that the findings of the project can be used. The factors that are found to be important to examine were discussed with a number of key players in the IPP area.

Three workshops with representatives of 25 players were held as part of the project. The workshops resulted in a number of recommendations for relevant effect targets from projects under the Programme for Cleaner Products. Furthermore, potentials and barriers related to developing indicators were discussed and the participants pointed out possible pitfalls in the project.

In the prototype of the project 15 to 20 questions are listed that are considered relevant to ask all the beneficiaries (depending on the type of project). Furthermore, additional questions are relevant to specific focus areas. According to the concept the letter of funding forwarded to the beneficiaries will ask the beneficiary to click www.renereprodukter.dk and answer the questions in the specified boxes, which the case officer responsible for the project may find relevant for that project. In principle, the concept makes it possible to combine the questions according to the nature and contents of the individual project.

Furthermore, the checklist is designed so that quantitative replies can be supplemented by qualitative evaluations, which will improve the quality of subsequent evaluations of a programme period.

Finally, it is vital to maintain continuous dialogue between the Danish EPA and the beneficiary (players in the IPP area) about further development of the concept, including also adjustment of the questions and reply options and introduction of new questions that are considered relevant for selecting the right indicators for the programme.

Thus, the result of the project is not a list of indicators that can be used in identifying the environmental effect of the programme, but rather a proposal for an overall concept – including a prototype – on how to obtain relevant data with minimal resources for individual projects in such a way that the data can be aggregated and selected as indicators across the programme or parts of it.

The development of the first prototype to obtain data on the projects under the Programme for Cleaner Products should be considered a first generation model, which needs continuous development.First, it is crucial that the prototype is tested on a number of projects and that appropriate adjustmentsare made.

If the system is to cover all the projects under the Programme for Cleaner Projects, a further development of the system will be needed, also for more than the four areas selected, in order to include the remaining focus areas and types of projects. The system is designed in a flexible way, to enable gradual extension with new focus areas and types of projects.

This will be relevant when the new action programme is in place. This evaluation project was carried out at the same time as a new Cleaner Products programme was drafted, and therefore it has not been possible to include the new programme in the development of the prototype.

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