Environmental Impacts

Measuring the carbon footprint of pet food is important, and UK Pet Food has been working with partners to develop a system to do just that.

UK Pet Food supports the development of a harmonised legislative framework proposal based on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology. 

Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) for pet food

UK Pet Food are a member of FEDIAF, which is part of the European Commission’s initiative “Building the Single Market for Green Products”. The initiative aims to develop a harmonised method to monitor and report the environmental performance of products (PEF).

In 2018, as pioneers of this approach in Europe, FEDIAF developed the Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) for pet food, which was endorsed by the European Commission. This officially adopted methodology gives clear guidelines for calculating the product environmental footprint of prepared pet food for cats and dogs – from ‘cradle to grave’, including the following life stages: ingredient sourcing, packaging production, pet food manufacturing, distribution, use and packaging ‘end of life’ (EOL).

Furthermore, it provides detailed guidance on the use of primary and secondary data, data quality, and allocation rules, as well as the most relevant impact categories to be included when communicating on the ‘EF’ of prepared pet food for cats and dogs.

More about the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF):

The official EU methodology to calculate the environmental footprint of products for cats and dogs.

Through FEDIAF, UK Pet Food will continue collaborating with the EU institutions and Member States involved in this project to determine how this methodology should be used under future policy frameworks.