ZDHC Releases Guidelines for Air Emissions, Decides Not to Focus on GHGs, Emphasises on Input Chemistry Management

ZDHC has announced the publication of its ZDHC Air Emissions Guidelines V1.0. The Guidelines follow on from the earlier Air Emissions Position Paper that was published in 2019.

THE DOCUMENT: The first version of the Guidelines concentrates on sensitising the industry, allowing suppliers to establish their baselines and understand the air emission requirements rather than testing.

• Future versions of the document will build on this, with the addition of testing.
• The focus, according to ZDHC, is on input formulations with VOC (volatile organic compounds) content and not on greenhouse gases (GHG) because many others in the industry are already setting requirements for this area.
• ZDHC expects facilities to already be actioning these requirements and reporting their data on them.

THE OBJECTIVE: The two-fold aim of this document is:

• To support suppliers to gain data to understand their current performance level.
• To guide them in establishing and implementing effective VOC emissions practices to progress from Foundational up to Aspirational Level.

THE BACKDROP: A “conscious” decision has been made not to duplicate efforts within the industry but to align with them. The idea is to work on input chemistry with the aim of managing output.

• The focus within the new Guidelines is on input chemistry management leading to cleaner output (air pollution).
• The step-by-step approach to developing these Guidelines is expected to enable ZDHC focus on input formulations with VOC content as a first step.
• In V1.0, the focus is not on GHG since many others are already setting requirements for this area. ZDHC expects facilities to already be actioning these requirements, and reporting their data on these.

MAKING USE OF THE GUIDELINES: ZDHC is expecting brands to share these guidelines with their supply chain, requesting suppliers to discover their baseline and monitor their VOCs and GHGs.

• Suppliers are expected to read and understand the guidelines, and then calculate their baseline and continually monitor their air emission discharges, recording the data on to the ZDHC platform.