• H2020
• Policy & Research

A process industry project backed by the SPIRE contractual public private partnership and funded by the EU has reviewed a total of 90 methods and tools as part of the first phase of the project.

The SAMT project sees the collaboration of participants in the cement, oil, metal, water, waste and chemical industries. The second phase of the venture sees the best performing methods and practices tested with real life case studies.

Commenting, SAMT project co-ordinator, Tiina Pajula from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, said: “The industries can learn from each other by sharing information on their methods and tools to evaluate sustainability. The SAMT project is offering this possibility for process industries operating in different fields by organising workshops and conducting case studies.”

As part of Horizon 2020, process industries share ambitious goals in reduction of fossil-energy intensity, greenhouse gas emissions and intensity in using non-renewable, primary raw materials. Sustainability assessment methods are crucial for evaluating and communicating the current state and the achievement of the goals related to resource and energy efficiency. The SAMT project will provide an unbiased, independent review of the lifecycle-based sustainability assessment methods and tools, and the identified best practices will serve as a benchmark.

Partners working in the SAMT project are CEMEX Research Group AG, SUEZ environnement, Neste Corporation, Bayer Technology Services GmbH, BASF SE and Norsk Hydro ASA, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH (Germany) and Tecnalia (Spain). The Spanish national standardisation body, AENOR, acts as an expert for standardisation.

Adding his thoughts, Pekka Tuovinen, director in sustainability from Neste, said: “The evaluation methods and tools are improving all the time … therefore it is important for us to thoroughly know all the impacts of our products during their lifecycle – and also the methods in evaluating them.”

The project will publish its results including identification of the best practices, cross-sectorial guidance and recommendations for future actions in 2016. Søren Bowadt, programme officer from European Commission, emphasised: “Sustainability assessment is increasingly important within European projects and society as a whole in order to establish a basis for the environmental impact of manufacturing. As such, it is a core part of the SPIRE vision for the Sustainable Process Industries.”

SAMT is one of the three projects funded under the SPIRE Public Private Partnership to co-ordinate studies related to sustainability assessment in the process industries.