European Flax-Linen fibre Life Cycle data are now integrated into the version 3.10 ecoinvent database

The Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp is committed to providing reliable environmental impact data on European Flax™ fibre representing  3/4 of world Flax fibre production, with its specificities. The data for European Flax-Linen fibres, long and short, are accessible in the yearly release of ecoinvent database which took place in November 2023.

STRATEGIC DATA FOR TEXTILE AND TECHNICAL MARKETS

Faced with environmental and climate emergency, societal and consumer expectations and upcoming regulations, industries and brands need robust environmental data from their value chains, particularly raw materials, in order to calculate the impacts for their semi-products, components and, finally, finished products.
This release underscores the importance of industrydatabase collaboration and the willingness of the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp to share Flax-Linen sector data in a transparent manner.

European Flax™ fibre data is now present in major and complementary database:

• ecoinvent, a global leader publishing the world's most comprehensive environmental life cycle inventory database. It has +5000 users from all industry sectors and is used in connection with all major LCA softwares. This collaboration was governed by a dedicated agreement.

• The official EF 3.1 database from the European Commission, released in January 2023 as part of the framework PEF (Product Environmental Footprint). This inclusion results from collaboration between the Alliance and a consortium including ecoinvent and Blonk consulting. The Alliance is also involved as a voting member of PEF Apparel to co-construct sectorial rules for fashion and footwear. A key initiative on which upcoming European Union regulations shall be built.

• The Higg MSI, an initiative launched by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

These collaborations were also supported by the expertise of agronomic institutes, referent for Flax-Linen cultivation: respectively Arvalis for France and Inagro for Belgium and the Netherlands.

By adopting a flexible approach, the data remains adaptable to the industry’s future needs and evolving methodologies.

NO DATA REPRESENTING FLAX-LINEN FIBRE LEADING GEOGRAPHY - WESTERN EUROPE - EXISTED PREVIOUSLY IN THE ECOINVENT DATABASE

copyright Alliance

The newly released ecoinvent data, including both inventory and impact, enables all players in the Flax-Linen sector, industry, and brands to calculate the impacts of their products made from European Flax certified fibre. No such data existed previously in the ecoinvent database.

It is representative of cultivation and scutching practices in Western Europe (France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, of world Flax fibre production) such as no irrigation barring exceptional circumstances, low pesticide and fertiliser use, dew retting, etc.

And therefore representative of the blends typically operated in pre-processing and spinning stages to ensure Linen yarn and textile consistency over time.

TO GO FURTHER:

This partnership underscores the importance of industry-database collaboration, allowing data to serve multiple purposes, including life cycle assessments (PEF) and inclusion in ecoinvent.

By adopting a flexible approach, the data becomes accessible to different profiles of users and markets.

NEXT STEPS:

In order to provide comprehensive data for the Flax-Linen sector and final users, the Alliance is currently co-constructing average data at European Union level for each transformation process of long and short fibres: hackling, carding-combing,preparation, and wet spinning, etc.