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As organizations work towards their sustainability goals, understanding the environmental impact of PPE is becoming increasingly important. Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and carbon footprint data provide valuable insights into the impacts associated with products throughout their entire life cycle.
This FAQ addresses common questions about LCAs, carbon footprints, and environmental data verification, helping you understand how environmental impacts are calculated, interpreted, and applied to enable more informed decision-making.
A product life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic analysis of the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle. The life cycle stages include:
Watch this video for more insight on LCAs:
LCAs help to identify the environmental impact of PPE products at different stages of the life cycle. By understanding which stages generate the most carbon emissions, we can target our sustainability efforts on those stages to make the greatest environmental improvements to our PPE's overall sustainability.
At Ansell, we analyse the life cycle from the extraction of natural resources through to the product’s end-of-life stage, known as a cradle-to-grave assessment, which is the most rigorous and comprehensive form of LCA.
We calculate LCAs from cradle-to-grave to gain a complete understanding of the environmental impact of our products across their entire life cycle—from raw material extraction to disposal. This holistic approach helps us identify opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of our PPE at all stages of a product’s life cycle, including usage and end-of-life.
However, we only share cradle-to-gate information, which covers a product’s environmental impact up to the point where the products leave our warehouses, because cradle-to-gate is where Ansell has the most control over a product and can demonstrate clear sustainability improvements. The different ways products are used and disposed of affects their overall environmental impact but use and disposal methods vary according to our customers, so we can’t always account for these factors.
Additionally, cradle-to-gate results are often more relevant to customers and suppliers, who are primarily concerned with purchasing products whose production and supply stages have the lowest environmental impact.
PPE’s carbon footprint refers to the total greenhouse gas emissions produced throughout the life cycle of a product, expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e).
Ansell calculates product carbon footprints using a systematic, life cycle-based approach, covering emissions across each stage of a product’s life. Historically, this was done through detailed LCAs in line with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards.
Ansell is now transitioning to an automated, integrated calculation system that enables us to scale carbon footprinting across all products more efficiently and consistently. This system is aligned with ISO 14067. The methodology and calculations are independently validated through ISO 14064-3, with supporting validation reports available.
External verification involves validating the carbon footprint methodology through an independent third party in accordance with ISO 14064-3.
Why is this important?
The verification provides assurance that environmental data and carbon footprint calculations have been reviewed by an independent third-party using a recognised international standard. This helps ensure results are accurate, transparent, and free from bias.
It strengthens customer and stakeholder confidence in sustainability claims and reduces the risk of greenwashing by ensuring that reported impacts are objectively validated.
No, not all LCA analyses are the same or directly comparable. Differences in goal, scope, functional unit, system boundaries, data sources, and methodologies can lead to varying results. These variations mean you must carefully align and standardize these parameters for any meaningful comparison. Without this alignment, comparisons between LCAs can result in misleading conclusions.
Key factors include:
While safety is always our priority, we’re committed to reducing the environmental impact of our PPE through a range of sustainable practices, including:
Although you can use carbon footprint information to choose products which have lower carbon emissions, it’s important to balance this with other factors like safety, durability, and waste management.
For example, a product with a slightly higher carbon footprint may still be the more sustainable choice if it’s more durable, reusable, or recyclable, because reusable PPE often has a smaller per-use carbon footprint over its lifetime.
Beyond the obvious environmental impact, carbon footprint data can also help you choose more sustainable suppliers, inform your procurement policies, and support your efforts to reduce Scope 3 emissions.
Reusable PPE products can have a lower carbon footprint when used repeatedly; however, reusable PPE is not suitable for situations where hygiene and sterility take precedence, such as in healthcare environments.
Unfortunately, greenwashing is common in the PPE industry so choose PPE that's genuinely sustainable by looking for: