GMEF guideline
Development of the Growing Media Environmental Footprint (GMEF) guideline
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The GMEF guideline is the result of an extensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) project that started in 2018 when Growing Media Europe decided that the industry needed one common tool to calculate the footprint of all growing media. The guideline that has been developed by Mérieux NutriSciences | Blonk provides a set of recommendations and best practices that help companies calculate their environmental impact when producing growing media, but also aids down stream users of growing media to incorporate the footprint of the growing media into their own product. The first version of this guideline was published in 2021.
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In September 2024, Growing Media Europe published V2.0 of the GMEF guideline, which was developed by Mérieux NutriSciences | Blonk with the help of a technical secretariat and a public consultation.
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The new LCA standard enables all growing media producers to calculate their product's environmental impact using the same calculation rules, considering the same impact categories, aligned with the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology developed by the European Commission.
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The GMEF guideline also builds upon the following guidelines:
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2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands
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PAS2050-1:2012
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PAS2050:2011
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The latest GMEF guideline (V2.0):
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To access the previous version of the GMEF guideline (V1.0), click here.