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Law 7/2021 includes new features such as the obligation for companies to calculate and publish their carbon footprint

Wednesday 24, May 2023

In addition, environmental criteria are incorporated into public procurement.

Law 7/2021 on Climate Change and Energy Transition is now two years old since its publication. Regulates the calculation and publication by the company of its carbon footprint. All derived obligations will be regulated with the modification of Royal Decree 163/2014, which created the carbon footprint, compensation and carbon dioxide absorption projects register.

The list of criteria for legislative compliance at the national level is not yet final, the Administration wants to focus mainly on companies in sectors that emit greenhouse gases (GHG) such as energy companies, transportation, as well as in the sectors construction and food.

Among the changes introduced by this law, there is what is indicated in article 31 where the criteria in public procurement are discussed. The most notable is the incorporation of environmental and energy sustainability criteria in contracts with the public administration, such as the reduction of emissions and carbon footprint.

The Balearic Islands have been the first autonomous community, through Decree 48/2021, to implement a legislative model for calculating and declaring the carbon footprint, which is mandatory by 2022 for large and medium-sized companies, whose turnover is greater than 10 million Euros per year, or whose workforce exceeds 50 employees in island territory, regardless of the sector of activity in which the company operates.

Valencia has been the other Community that has also legislated in this sense, through Law 6/2022 of the Valencian Community, which requires the calculation and annual publication of the carbon footprint of the activities carried out in the territory Valencian for companies in potentially emitting sectors or of a certain size or energy consumption. All of this will be mandatory as of January 1, 2025.

In this sense, there is more and more legislation in this regard and not only in the approach to calculating and reducing the carbon footprint but also in the economic aspect with the future introduction of a tariff in the EU for products that are imported. from external countries and that are not subject to this type of controls and environmental requirements.

What can we offer to start this process?

At we carry out sustainability projects for both road transport companies (which represent 25% of our country’s greenhouse gas emissions), food and construction-related companies that want to adapt to the new regulatory framework.

In this sense, our firm has several ways to carry out the inventory and calculation of the carbon footprint, specifically, we have the two internationally recognized ways for the development of the project, such as:

  • The GHG PROTOCOL.
  • The UNE-EN ISO 16064-1:2022 standard. Greenhouse gases. Part 1: Specification with guidance, at the organization level, for the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals. (ISO 14064-1:2018).

Companies in the food sector that are committed to a local and sustainable product have also shown interest in eco-labelling, which also includes companies that manufacture vegan and vegetarian products.

Beyond the Carbon Footprint Registry and CO2 absorption projects, we have more ambitious initiatives such as the Type III UNE-EN ISO 14025:2010 Environmental Declarations or the Environmental Product Declaration (DPA/EPD).

In the development of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), the concept of Life Cycle begins to be used in order to minimize the environmental impact of the products that our clients produce.

, with more than 20 years of experience in environmental management projects, proposes EDP projects in different phases:

  • Definition of the objective and scope of the EDP;
  • Analysis of the product, its processes and activities;
  • Determination of Product Category Rules (RCP/PCR);
  • Analysis of the life cycle inventory (LCI);
  • Impact Assessment (LCIA);
  • Project report;
  • Development of the DAP/EPD;
  • Support in external verification.

What are the advantages of this type of certification?

This type of certification, among others, would provide your company with the following benefits:

  • Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, adapting to the new regulatory frameworks, both national and European.
  • Control of the environmental parameters of the products or activities carried out by the company.
  • Optimization of input costs, such as electricity.
  • Advantages in the presentation to public works or works with the Administration.
  • The development and achievement of a plan of environmental objectives (reduction of dependence on fossil fuels, implementation of new technologies, etc.).
  • Reduction of costs due to the upcoming implementation of import tariffs in the EU or taxes on greenhouse gas emission rights.
  • Improvement of the business image and transparency in environmental parameters.

A correct execution of these projects can guarantee the achievement of this certification, and at we focus on excellence in processes to help you achieve it.

Contact us now to receive information.

https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2021-8447

https://www.boe.es/eli/es-ib/l/2019/02/22/10

https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-4378

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