ProZero – Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Future-Proof Packaging Solutions
The future of the packaging industry starts today with ‘ProZero’, our pioneering research project to develop a prospective Life Cycle Assessment (pLCA) tool for packaging, looking ahead to the year 2050.
Why prospective LCA?
The requirements of the European Green Deal, the PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regula-tion) and the EU Circular Economy Package clearly show that packaging must become more climate-neutral, resource-efficient and recyclable in the near future. Traditional life cycle assessments pro-vide valuable insights but are primarily based on past data.
A sustainable packaging strategy requires forward-looking assessments of environmental impacts that take future regulatory, technological and social developments into account. This is precisely where ‘ProZero’ comes in.
Goal of the project:
In this project, a practical tool for the forward-looking packaging assessment will be developed, based on three scientifically grounded future scenarios extending to 2050. This approach incorpo-rates, among other things, industry roadmaps, current research, and integrated assessment models. The focus will be on packaging made of plastic, paper, glass, aluminium, and steel. To enable compa-nies to calculate the results independently in the future, the methodology will be integrated into the Packaging Cockpit – our tool for the environmental assessment of packaging – after the project is completed.
Your benefits as a project partner:
- Future readiness & competitive advantage: You will gain early, well-founded insights into how future CO₂ emissions, circularity requirements, and production factors will affect your packaging, enabling you to make informed decisions and leverage this knowledge for a sus-tainable market advantage.
- Exclusive analyses: Depending on the size of your company, you may submit up to four or eight packaging solutions (your own or competitors’) as case studies within the project. For each submitted packaging, we will calculate:
- the current environmental impacts (status quo)
- the projected CO₂ emissions for 2030, 2040, and 2050, under three distinct future scenarios, based on societal, political, and economic developments
- Strategic insights: You will receive well-founded insights into the future strengths and weak-nesses of your packaging materials or solutions (SWOT analysis).
Who should participate? The project is aimed at:
- Packaging manufacturers
- Brand owners and product manufacturers
- Retail companies
- Industry associations representing relevant packaging materials (paper, plastic, glass, alumin-ium, steel)
Framework conditions:
- Duration: July 2025 – February 2027
- Project contribution for the entire term (payable in two instalments, at the start and end of the project)
- EUR 20,000 for companies with an annual turnover of less than EUR 250 million → incl. up to four case studies
- EUR 40,000 for companies with an annual turnover of more than EUR 250 million or in-dustry associations → incl. up to eight case studies
Scientific partners:
Circular Analytics (project lead), Paul Scherrer Institute (CH), Leiden University (NL), World Packaging Organization
