There’s more to life than just CO2
The measured impact goes far beyond just climate warming, which is a major issue but not the only one. Focusing solely on climate warming means overlooking all the other issues. This impact measurement method allows for covering many different impacts.
At Lagoped, we have specifically worked on these other issues from the start, and we are pleased that they are taken into account in the PEF method.
Our choice for recycled materials (organic-free) was precisely guided by the desire to move away from an extraction-based approach to preserve:
- water resources
- arable land
- biodiversity
Earth is home to between 8 and 20 million living species. One alone dominates them all: us. Yet, humans account for only 0.01% of the Earth's biomass. (The biomass distribution on Earth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - Yinon M. Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo)
We have expressed this in our brand message as “One with Nature” because we are part of a whole and not above the fray. Measuring the overall impacts of our activities goes hand in hand with the growing awareness that we save ourselves by protecting Nature.
A methodology and a database
To perform the calculations, PEFTrust uses the only method recognized and recommended by the European Commission.
The 16 impacts are assessed through the 7 stages of the clothing life cycle.
Simply put, there are 2 elements:
* A SOPHISTICATED METHODOLOGY
The PEF is a scientific and rigorous method on which more than 3000 European stakeholders have worked since 2013. Scientists, NGOs, and industry players have collaborated to create a cutting-edge method recognized worldwide.
The Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules were established by a working group with ADEME and under the aegis of the European Commission, which we invite you to read in detail if you want to see for yourself the richness and depth of the study.
* A VAST DATABASE
All life cycle calculations are based on free resources provided by the European Commission that may evolve over time. The good news is that eco-scores will evolve alongside growing knowledge about impacts.
Soil depletion
We live on 30CM of arable (cultivable) soil, which is 0.00024% of the Earth's diameter.
Every second, nearly 1 hectare of arable land disappears worldwide.
That amounts to 30 million hectares of cultivable land lost each year, equivalent to the size of Italy.
It takes between 200 and 1000 years to naturally regenerate 2.5 cm of soil. It is not a renewable resource on a human timescale.
As a brand, we do not want to add pressure on cultivable land, which must be preserved and prioritized for human food production.
That is why we do not use virgin cotton or wood pulp, as land is needed to grow them.
Freshwater shortage
When looking at planet Earth from space, the blue planet gives the impression that there is a lot of water.
But this is not really the case when you look more closely, and American scientists Howard Perlman, Jack Cook, and Adam Nieman illustrated this well by putting all the water on Earth into a single sphere.
Only 2.5% of all the planet's water is drinkable fresh water. And only 1% of that is easily accessible to us.
It is a precious resource, and as a brand, we do not want to add pressure on water resources that must be preserved and reserved primarily for human consumption, which consumes a lot of water: for example, it takes 900L of water to produce 1Kg of potatoes.
That is why we do not use cotton or wood pulp, as it takes a lot of water to grow them.
Collapse of biodiversity
We can see for ourselves that there is less wildlife around us.
In thirty years, populations of birds in agricultural areas and those living in urban environments have decreased by nearly 30% (National Museum of Natural History, French Biodiversity Office, League for the Protection of Birds). The WWF Living Planet Index measures a 68% decline in all wild vertebrates since 1970.
A 2017 German study recorded an 80% drop in insects in Germany since 1989. Insects are the “fuel of life,” and you need to read David Goulson’s book to understand this (Silent Earth: Preventing the Extinction of Insects, Rouergue Editions).
An interesting perspective is to convert Earth’s geological history into a 24-hour scale. Knowing that Earth formed 4.567 billion years ago, this number is too large to grasp. Transposed onto a 24-hour scale, it is midnight now and Earth began at 0:00. In this case:
- dinosaurs appear at 23:00
- the first mammals at 23:25
- and the first steps of hominids occur at 23:59:30
On Earth’s scale, we have only been here for 30 short seconds.
So how many more seconds do we want to remain in good conditions?