The sustainability-focused initiative provides the composites manufacturing industry with essential resources to monitor and reduce climate impacts.
Later this month, the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) will launch its Climate Impact Project. The new initiative will equip manufacturers of fiber-reinforced-polymer composite and cast polymer products with tools, education, and technical resources to provide their customers with important information about the climate impacts associated with the production of their products and raw materials.
“The Climate Impact Project supports ACMA’s Strategic Plan, furthering ACMA’s vision to make composites the sustainable material of choice. Companies in industries like automotive and infrastructure that are major users of composite products increasingly need information about supply chain climate impacts,” stated the President and CEO of ACMA, Cindy L. Squires, Esq. “For example, as they move toward ‘carbon net-zero’ supply chains to meet the climate goals expressed in their Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) reports, B2C companies like automakers will need climate impact information from composites manufacturers and other component suppliers.”
“The Climate Impact Project meets an important need in our industry. Recently, the SEC proposed to require most exchange-traded firms to report the ‘Scope 3’ indirect carbon emissions from a company’s supply chain. As federal policy and state laws change, infrastructure builders like state DOTs are increasingly making decisions about construction materials based, in part, on a comparison of the climate impacts associated with the manufacture of components and materials. Our industry must be ready to respond with clear metrics and solutions,” said ACMA’s Senior Advisor to the President, John Schweitzer.
The Climate Impact Project will start with an updated and expanded ACMA Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), providing estimates of the climate impacts associated with the production of unsaturated polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy and polyurethane resins, and glass and carbon fiber reinforcement, and with the manufacture of composite products using the compression molding, open molding, open mold casting, vacuum infusion and pultrusion processes, and lastly, with secondary bonding. Additional components of the project include:
- Three new model Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) that demonstrate how manufacturers of composite products can use information about their processes together with data from the LCI to prepare reliably authoritative estimates of the energy use and environmental impacts associated with the production of their products and raw materials.
- The launch of a new online LCA tool that will efficiently, reliably, and confidentially use company specific information together with data from the LCI to prepare customized LCAs for their products.
- A new Product Category Rule for composite construction and infrastructure products that specifies how information from a product’s LCA is presented in an Environmental Product Declaration and allows a clear comparison of climate impacts across products.
The Climate Impact Project is funded through ACMA’s Composites Growth Initiative Fund, which includes contributions and support from leading composites industry raw material suppliers – AOC, Composites One, INEOS Composites, Interplastic, Jushi USA, Nippon Electric Glass Co., Olin Epoxy, Owens Corning, and Polynt Reichhold. The project will launch mid-April 2022 with an expected completion date in October 2023.
To learn more about the project, contact ACMA’s Barry Black or visit the ACMA Climate Impact Project webpage.