How to support SMEs in the sustainable design of their products. the LiMaS project approach

This paper shows the results of the LiMaS project (www.limas-eup.eu), co-funded by EACI in the CIP Eco-innovation programme. The project has defined a methodological approach to draw a global picture of the environmental performance of products & organisations, taking advantage of the data synergies between different environmental topics (e.g. Life Cycle Assessment, legal requirements, Eco-labelling, etc.). This methodology has been implemented in some desktop tools (i.e. EXCEL applications and a simplified LCA software tool), and after testing, integrated in the beta-version of a web-based software tool (offered free-of-charge for being used by SMEs). During the project, the tools have been tested in five companies and more than 550 users have obtained access to the tools (after registration in the project website). The tools enable 'technical staff', not necessarily 'environmental experts', to better know the environmental performance of their products and decide wher e to locate their efforts on sustainable design.