How is the ecoscore calculated?

At Artemisia Greentech, we believe that science is based on facts, not words. That is why we developed the ecoscore, a true "lie detector" against greenwashing. Instead of making vague promises about how eco-friendly our products are, we give you exact, proven data about the real environmental impact of our genetic tools.

For scientists, having a clear and quantified score is a solid foundation for making informed decisions.

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What is the ecoscore?

The ecoscore is a quantified indicator that evaluates the environmental footprint of our products, from design to delivery. It guarantees full transparency on the impact of our genetic tools.

It consists of several components:

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Steps of the calculation

1️⃣ The basis for this calculation is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the principle of which is to estimate the environmental impact of a product at every stage of its life cycle.

For our genetic tools, this means scrutinizing every step of our protocols: What reagents, kits, and suppliers do we use? How do they manufacture? Where do they ship from? What waste do they generate? We then evaluate our own practices, the use of our equipment, the management of our consumables and waste, the transportation of our tools, and their use by our customers.

In summary, unlike simplistic approaches, our LCA goes deeper and includes often overlooked elements:

🔬 Consumables and reagents: we analyze the origin of our consumables (chemicals, plastics, culture media...), their toxicity, their transportation conditions, their packaging, the waste generated by their own production.

⚡ Equipment usage: for each piece of equipment, we monitor its usage time, its energy consumption, and / or its water consumption. If available, its repairability index is also taken into account.

♻️ Waste generated: all waste (plastic, chemical, biological) generated by our process is taken into account and reported in our calculation, up to its treatment.

2️⃣ This data allows us to calculate the PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) score developed by the European Commission in 2021. It is the only method recognized and recommended by this institution. It takes into account 16 environmental impact criteria that are ranked in order to compare products.

The aim of this method is to limit greenwashing and ensure data transparency (we can't just give any number we want!).

This PEF score is presented in points (one point corresponds to the average annual impact of a European) and gives an overview of a product's environmental footprint throughout its life cycle.

To create a single score, the 16 environmental impact categories used in the PEF methodology are each assigned a specific weight for normalization. These weights reflect the relative importance of each impact. For example, climate change has the largest impact on the final score, accounting for approximately 21% of the score, while the other factors are proportionally balanced.

➡️ This means that a lower PEF score indicates a product with a lower overall environmental impact.

The PEF method complies with the ISO standards for life cycle assessment, namely ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.

3️⃣ From PEF to ecoscore: making environmental impact understandable and actionable

A PEF score can be difficult to interpret: for example, is a score of 300 points good or bad? That is why we compare this score to that of a reference product, so we can judge whether our product is better or not. This comparison is shown visually on the ecoscore.

In our case, we are comparing the PEF score of our genetic tool, designed according to our eco-design process, with the exact same product made using conventional production methods. This reference serves as a benchmark to contextualize the environmental performance of our own tool.

The result is a relative grade, expressed on a letter scale from A to E:

It is important to note that this is only a visual representation for ease of understanding and better visualization when making a purchase, but that we still make a point of giving the PEF score for each product to avoid any greenwashing.

➡️ By summarizing complex lifecycle data into a single score, the PEF methodology enables:

✅ Clearer comparisons between products in the same category.

✅ Actionable insights for companies looking to reduce their environmental footprint.

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Why is the ecoscore a key tool ?

If we had to sum up the benefits of ecoscore:

🔍 Transparency: the ecoscore offers laboratories reliable, traceable data to include in their environmental footprint reports.

👍 Better decision-making: it helps compare environmental performance and choose more responsible alternatives.

🔁 Continuous improvement: by quantifying our impact, we can identify where progress is possible and measure it over time.

But for us, it is more about rethinking biotechnology with common sense and measurable impact.

At Artemisia Greentech, we want to show that quantitative, science-based assessment is possible, even for multi-stage production processes, and that it can bring clarity to to ensure that efforts to combat global warming are not just a marketing exercise in vain.

We believe that transparency does not require inventing yet another label, but simply using what already exists - sound, recognised methodologies - and applying them thoughtfully.

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🌱 Want to know more? Feel free to get in touch - we would love to share our thoughts on how science and sustainability can move forward together.

References

1. European Commission – Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology

2. ISO 14040 & ISO 14044 – Environmental management — Life cycle assessment