The PEF (EF3.1) impact categories are available for users with a full Ecoinvent license.
Environmental Footprint methods
The European Commission proposed the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Organisation Environmental Footprint (EF) methods as a common way of measuring environmental performance (EU Commission Recommendation 2021/2279). The PEF and OEF are the EU recommended Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based methods to quantify the environmental impacts of products (goods or services) and organisations.
Read more about the fundamentals of the methodology here.
EF3.1 impact categories
List of the impact categories considered in PEF/OEF you can access in Earthster with a full Ecoinvent license.
Impact category | Unit | Impact category Indicator |
Acidification | mol H+ equivalents | Accumulated Exceedance – AE |
Climate change | kg CO2 Equivalents | Radiative forcing as global warming potential – GWP100 |
Climate change-Biogenic | kg CO2-Equivalents | Radiative forcing as global warming potential – GWP100 |
Climate change-Fossil | kg CO2 Equivalents | Radiative forcing as global warming potential – GWP100 |
Climate change-Land use and land use change | kg CO2-Equivalents | Radiative forcing as global warming potential – GWP100 |
Ecotoxicity, freshwater | CTUe | Comparative Toxic Unit for ecosystems |
Ecotoxicity, freshwater (inorganics) | CTUe | Comparative Toxic Unit for ecosystems |
Ecotoxicity, freshwater (organics) | CTUe | Comparative Toxic Unit for ecosystems |
EF single score | dimensionless |
|
EF-particulate Matter | disease incidence | Impact on human health |
Eutrophication marine | kg N equivalents | Fraction of nutrients reaching marine end compartment |
Eutrophication, freshwater | kg P equivalents | Fraction of nutrients reaching freshwater end compartment |
Eutrophication, terrestrial | mol N equivalents | Accumulated Exceedance – AE |
Human toxicity, cancer | CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for humans |
Human toxicity, cancer (inorganics) | CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for humans |
Human toxicity, cancer (organics) | CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for humans |
Human toxicity, non-cancer | CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for humans |
Human toxicity, non-cancer (inorganics) | CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for humans |
Human toxicity, non-cancer (organics) | CTUh | Comparative Toxic Unit for humans |
Ionising radiation, human health | kBq U235 equivalents | Human exposure efficiency relative to U-235 |
Land use | dimensionless (pt) | Soil quality index, representing the aggregated impact of land use on: Biotic production; Erosion resistance; Mechanical filtration; Groundwater replenishment |
Ozone depletion | kg CFC11 equivalents | Ozone Depletion Potential – ODP |
Photochemical ozone formation - human health | kg NMVOC equivalents | Tropospheric ozone concentration increase |
Resource use, fossils | MJ | Abiotic resource depletion, fossil fuels – ADP-fossil |
Resource use, minerals and metals | kg Sb equivalents | Abiotic resource depletion – ADP ultimate reserves |
Water use | m3-world equivalents | Weighted user deprivation potential |
Viewing the EF3.1 impact categories
Follow these instructions to learn how to view other impact categories.