In the National Twelfth Five-Year Plan, China’s chemical fiber industry put forward to improve the overall competitiveness and capacity for sustainable development of chemical industry comprehensively, and established the recycling economy development model of chemical fiber industry. In order to serve the majority of domestic chemical fiber customers well and help enterprises for low-carbon transformation, Intertek Group was appointed as the partner of China Chemical Fibers Industry Association (CCFA) in 2011 to provide environmental impact assessment for the chemical fiber enterprises, which include: environmental impact assessment, cleaner production assessment, green building, energy management, environmental footprint (carbon footprint, water footprint, energy footprint) evaluation and identification, recycled polyester system and product certification and eco-certification. The Shenghong chemical fiber, Hengli chemical fiber, Yingxiang chemical fiber and Xinmin technology companies were the first batch of domestic enterprises recommended by the Institute to do carbon footprint accounting and obtained Intertek-CCFA product carbon footprint certification and green leaf mark successfully.

Picture: Shenghong chemical fiber, Hengli chemical fiber, Yingxiang chemical fiber, Xinmin technology‘s representatives awarded with the Intertek CCFA Carbon Footprint Certificate.

Product carbon footprint measurement is the first step in enterprises low-carbon transformation, which uses life cycle assessment (LCA) method to assess energy consumption, material consumption and emissions in various stages of the products life cycle. The assessment also evaluates the product environmental impact on global climate change. By doing the carbon inventory, companies can have a first glance on the emission sources. This can help companies to develop a reasonable emission reduction plans and objectives by applying new technology and new product development, and it can help companies to achieve the objective.

In recent years, the world has paid more and more attention to environmental issues. Various countries and regions have issued a number of environmental regulations and used various means to manage the economy, production and consumption activities which bring negative impact to environment. Among these, climate change, resource and energy use have become the focus. For the consumer goods produced and sold in China, some developed countries proposed carbon labeling market mechanisms by requiring manufacturers and dealers to disclose product carbon footprint to help consumers to compare carbon footprint. The market awareness has drive manufacturers to reduce the environmental footprint in the production chain. This trend gained consensus from more and more brands and retailers. This means the domestic export enterprises will have pressure from buyers and dealers to reduce and declare their carbon footprint.

After years of development, China’s chemical fiber industry has been ranked first in the world in terms of product and size. As an important raw material in textile industry, carbon footprint inventory and carbon labeling for chemical fiber become important. On the one hand, it provides support for carbon footprint inventory and carbon labeling for the downstream products; on the other hand, It is easy for companies within the industry to constantly reduce energy use, material use and improve efficiency through internal management and market competition means. The great effort of the China Chemical Fibers Industry Association on this matter also contributes to the low-carbon transformation of enterprises in the industry and establishment of the image of the industry in the international market. And it will also help China chemical fiber enterprises to grasp the right to speak in the international arena. It is reported that in the future China Chemical Fibers Industry Association will establish their own inventory platforms, databases, and category rules for product environmental impact assessment and communication.

"Transition, integration, innovation and development are the key words of the 12th Fiver year agenda of the China chemical fiber Industry.’ Mr. Duan Xiaoping,  chairman of CCFA, said, ‘Energy saving and emission reduction toward green and low carbon manufacturing are not only the important subjects of the sector transition and upgrading, but also the social responsibilities that we manufacturers shall shoulder. It will be helpful for Chinese chemical fiber manufacturers in preparing for the trend of carbon labeling in the internal market and taking a lead in low carbon transition, by applying the recognized standard and rules in the evaluation. This will also help Chinese chemical fiber industry take the dominant position in the international arena in the future. "

Christophe Liebon, Vice President of Intertek Environmental Impact Solutions, said, "We are delighted to work with the China Chemical Fibers Industry Association (CCFA), through product life cycle assessment and corporate green house gases inventory , companies are able to get the appropriate level of information to further manage their carbon footprint, develop environmental friendly technology, develop low carbon product,  increase profit by cost savings and overall transform the industry towards low carbon. We also hope our in-depth cooperation can help companies to reduce their overall environmental impact, promoting the sustainable development of the China Chemical Fiber Industry."

Intertek green leaf mark (as left) allows customers to identify the contents include:
1)   Recycled Content Certification;
2)   Restricted Harmful Substance Certification: such as SVHC in REACH;
3)   Environmental Impact based on LCA: carbon footprint, water footprint, energy footprint and so on.

Intertek green leaf mark can provide major environmental impact assessment and value approved service for products in each category.

For further information, please contact: Intertek China Jasmine Zhang at Tel: +86 21 6091 7350, Email: jasmine.zhang@intertek.com; or Global Christophe Liebon at Tel: +852 2173 8883, E-mail: christophe.liebon@intertek.com

About CCFA:
China Chemical Fibers Industry Association was founded in November 10, 1992, with 345 member enterprises, and was registered with the approval of Ministry of Civil Affairs. It was a national social organization which was formed by enterprises engaging in chemical fiber production and research.

Since its inception, CCFA has always been to safeguard members’ legitimate rights and interests, to implement the governmental industrial policy, to promote technical progress, and to promote the development of the whole industry as the main task. The Association played a role of bridge and link in business and government departments, reflected the wishes and demands of enterprises, conveyed the government’s intention and assisted the government to implement economic policies and regulations and improve industry management.

CCFA made "serve industry, serve government, serve enterprises" as the goal, and be "efficient service, honesty, innovation and development, self-harmony."

Main tasks include: to develop industrial regulations and rules and establish industry self-regulatory mechanism to safeguard the overall interests of the industry; to propose industrial development planning, industrial development policies and technical and economic policies commissioned by the government; to formulate and revise chemical fiber industry standards, promote the implementation of chemical industry standard, and identify and promote technical achievements; to study present situation and development trend of domestic and foreign chemical fiber industry; to organize technical economic and market information exchange, consultation and dissemination; to carry out market development and promotion of new product of chemical fiber, organize domestic and foreign marketing promotions and exhibitions activities, and organize domestic and foreign technical exchanges, visits, training activities; to promote exchanges and trade cooperation of domestic and foreign relative economic groups and organizations; to carry out public welfare and other activities beneficial to the development of the industry.

CCFA focuses its task on 12 special committees, 1 working committees and 2 branch offices, as Polyester filaments yarns committee, PET and Polyester staple fiber committee, viscose committee, nylon committee, acrylic committee, cord fabric committee, polypropylene committee, PVA & Vinylin committee, non-fiber PET committee, special functional fiber committee, spandex committee, recycled chemical fiber committee, industrial standard committee, shanghai office and East China office.
For more information, please visit: www.ccfa.com.cn

About Intertek:
Intertek is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world, including energy, consumer goods, electronics, minerals, food and more. Intertek has the experience, expertise, resources and global reach to support its customers through its extensive network of 1000 laboratories and offices and over 30,000 people in more than 100 countries around the world.
For more information, please visit: www.inertek.com.cn.