Developing a Benchmark Tool for Sustainable Consumption: An Iterative Process

This article presents the development process of a consumer-oriented, illustrative benchmarking tool enabling consumers to use the results of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) to make informed decisions. LCA provides a wealth of information on the environmental impacts of products, but its results are very difficult to present concisely and in a way that is understandable to non-experts. A participatory co-development process was thus deemed necessary to create an easy-to-use presentation format. A brochure presenting the benchmarking tool was developed in an iterative process involving consumer focus groups, stakeholder workshops, and questionnaire-based feedback. The co-development process proved its value: in addition to learning what works and what does not, detailed suggestions on improved wording and figures were obtained, as well as a wealth of ideas for future applications. (Contains 3 figures and 3 footnotes.)