Furniture shapes our living spaces, however it also leaves an environmental footprint from raw materials to disposal. Many companies want to reduce this impact but lack clear, data-driven insights. The Erasmus+ project FurnitureLCA: Empowering Furniture Companies with Life Cycle Assessment for Sustainable Practices equips companies with the knowledge to be able to make the lifecycle assessment that permits to quantify environmental impacts and make better environmental decisions.

Additionally, companies in furniture industry will also learn how to measure PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) and OEF (Organization Environmental Footprint) and they will get information on how to get and use the Environmental Project Declaration. This is an official statement of product environmental impact.

Project partners – AMUEBLA, INNOVAWOOD, INNORENEW, and GLOBALNET, with a special coordinating role held by FURNITRUE – are firstly gathering all available information, regulations regarding environmental declarations, rules, and available data. Then, the Knowledge hub will be developed on the tailor made website with a digital assistant – artificial intelligence tool. Furthermore, developed Master guide will be practically followed by presenting start-to-finish LCA cases. It is expected that through the realization of the project, companies will significantly increase awareness in the field of furniture Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and will be ready to face the growing market need for product environmental certifications. In addition, they will adopt this approach in their furniture design process on a regular basis.

InnoRenew CoE researchers are contributing to the project in reviewing available legal regulations, relevant standards and guidelines for LCA and EPD and other specific country relevant information which will result in the creation of the Knowledge HUB. Moreover, specific requirements, relevant to adequate data collection for LCA analyses, will be created to develop case studies and online education tools.

The FurnitureLCA project is providing a way for furniture companies to integrate sustainability into their processes and achieve environmental certification requirements.

Authors: Lea Primožič and Črtomir Tavzes, InnoRenew CoE

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.