Environmental Consulting

We prepare Environmental Product Declarations that comply with the requirements of product category regulations (PCR) and international standards ISO 14044 and ISO 14025.

What is an environmental product declaration?

An environmental product declaration (EPD) is a document that reports on a product’s characteristics and how it affects the environment throughout its life cycle.

EPDs are prepared after a product’s life cycle analysis has been done, obtaining the associated environmental impacts. They must comply with product category regulations (PCR) and abide by international standards, such as ISO 14044 and ISO 14025.

Preparing a verified EPD has certain advantages, such as gaining access to certifications, like the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in construction; in addition to getting a jump on the digital product passport, a project the European Commission is working on to implement tracking for product composition in the European market.

Knowing the water footprint of your product and organisation makes it easier to propose improvements for responsible consumption through actions for its efficient use, thus lowering water stress.

Water is a valuable limited resource that must be protected. Its extraction and management have an impact on CO² emissions, owing to the energy required to treat and distribute water. Therefore, a water footprint aims to encourage responsible, effective consumption that avoids losses or overuse of water resources, while also contributing to combat climate change.

That is why the FI Group calculates the water footprint of your product or organisation, to assure compliance with all applicable regulations, while abiding by the global standard of the Water Footprint Network (WFN) and ISO 14046.

To calculate a water footprint, we quantify the volume of water (in cubic meters or litres) used either to make a product or during the activities performed at your organisation. This process not only considers the water included in the product itself but also all the water that in any way is involved in the process, such as wastewater or the water evaporated during all stages. In this way, we are able to distinguish between three water footprints associated with colours depending on the water’s provenance, and a final result that is equal to their sum:

• Blue water comes from surface or ground sources.
• Green water comes from precipitation.
• Grey water assimilates pollutants before it is returned to the environment.

We prepare custom circularity plans that focus on five strategic points: Water, Waste, Food, Materials, and Energy.

We support customers in preparing and implementing a circularity plan. It contains two essential elements: a circular plan aimed at outlining actions and making them operational; and a circular assessment aimed at measuring the circular strategy’s progress. Our projects begin with an initial diagnosis of circularity at the organisation, encompassing the entire value chain, along with an analysis of compliance with legal requirements and other acquired commitments, so that we can then prepare a set of customized actions and best practices to be implemented at the company, focusing on the five strategic points: Water, Waste, Food, Materials, and Energy. The organisation uses this plan to optimise its efforts to migrate to a circular business model, where losses and waste are minimized as much as possible, along with dependence on virgin materials and non-renewable energy sources.

We offer custom trainings so that companies are able to benefit from the latest knowledge on sustainability.

At the FI Group, we prepare and offer custom trainings to clients in a range of formats (in-person, hybrid, online, sessions, etc.). We transfer our team’s know-how on matters of sustainability, climate change, and environmental management for our customers’ training and self-sufficiency in carrying out projects that are increasingly demanded in these spheres.

A few examples of our custom trainings include courses such as:

• Latest regulations on sustainability and the ESG context
• Support for calculating carbon footprint throughout the value chain
• Environmental management at the company and applicable best practices

We offer an assessment of compliance with environmental legal requirements applicable to an organisation, providing a compliance report and designing a roadmap for satisfactory resolution of any requirements not yet being fulfilled.

Through this service, we evaluate compliance with environmental legal requirements applicable to the customer’s activities or facilities, which can be overwhelming, if one doesn’t have prior experience, given the diverse and diffuse breadth of current environmental regulations.

For this compliance assessment, we verify the environmental aspects and impacts applicable to an organisation through an on-site visit, after reviewing the applicable legal requirements from the organisation’s environmental legal matrix, and then we examine evidence of compliance with each legal requirement. Finally, a report is drafted and presented that will determine the percentage of compliance with the environmental legal requirements applicable to the organisation, indicating the steps to follow to address any unmet requirements and setting deadlines for reviewing each requirement.

In addition, this service is offered to assess compliance with specific obligations arising from any environmental licenses and management plans the organisation may have.

We provide you with the technical advice needed to secure the various environmental permits and licences to implement projects in a timely manner, with the greatest cost savings possible and deadlines for reaching the corresponding milestones and permits.

• Project study and its scope for defining the necessary documentation.
• Relations with the government agencies involved.
• Drafting the environmental studies and documents applicable to each case.
• Verifying or drafting detailed environmental addenda as necessary.
• Submitting project documents to administrative proceedings.
• Responding to requests and claims during the public information and evaluation phase.
• Monitoring administrative proceedings until the necessary permits and authorizations have been secured.

Our professionals’ technical capacity and experience, along with their specific knowledge of the industry’s reality, administrative proceedings, legal aspects, and their implications for companies, enable us to provide the best solution for every case.

We perform internal or customer audits to assess compliance with standards related to the company’s environment and sustainability.

It is fundamental that an organisation be aware of how its actions are impacting the surrounding environment, while implementing measures to encourage its care and protection. Many of these measures are centred on reducing energy consumption and waste generation, along with optimising internal work processes.

Environmental responsibility is not only for large companies and brands. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also generate a significant impact on the environment and must show the same commitment and proactivity to reduce their carbon footprint and adopt less polluting processes.

Carrying out multiple types of environmental audits effectively contributes to protecting the natural environment and its ecosystems.

Moreover, it leads to a series of benefits and advantages, among which are lower costs, access to certain legal exemptions, a better position compared to the competition, a strong brand image, more trust from consumers, and attracting new customers and suppliers.

At the FI Group, we are experts in management systems and have a long track record of providing environmental consulting and audits to public and private organisations across sectors.

We implement a nimble, effective system to monitor organisations in the process of obtaining environmental certifications through our consulting program.

Demonstrating responsible management and inspiring stakeholders’ trust become a competitive advantage. For this reason, as experts in implementing environmental management systems, we monitor your organisation in the process of obtaining ISO certifications (14001, 27001, EMAS Regulation etc.) by offering quality personalised service. All that to assure that the implemented system is useful, effective, simple to maintain, adaptable to customer needs, and satisfactorily exceeds the certification audit. This service entails:

• An initial diagnosis of the organisation and its procedures.
• In-person visits and interviews with staff to define the management system.
• Drafting procedures, preparing forms, and setting policies, goals, and indicators.
• Support for implementation of the required activities.
• Internal training of the staff involved in the management system.
• Internal audits.
• Support in selecting the certification body, if the customer requests it.
• Support throughout the certification process.