KANBrief 3/25
The Coordination network for German environmental NGOs on standardisation (KNU) advocates in the standardization process for the protection of nature, the environment and health. Marion Hasper, director of the KNU’s office in Berlin since 2009, talks to us about current topics and the challenges presented by her work.
Thirty years ago, three well-known organizations – the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), the German League for Nature and Environment (DNR) and the Federal Association of Citizens’ Initiatives for Environmental Protection (BBU) – determined that it wasn’t sufficient for them to be active solely at the political level. With the introduction of the New Approach, the interests of conservation and environmental protection also needed to be voiced in standards development, in order for the design of products to be made more environmentally responsible, and greater consideration to be given in standards to the conservation of resources, energy efficiency, and the reduction of pollutants. This required a dedicated body representing these interests.
The topics addressed by the work and the political and strategic interests of the KNU are determined by the steering committee and a technical subcommittee. The current three supporting bodies, i.e. the BUND, DNR and NaturFreunde Deutschland, are represented on the steering committee and also on the technical subcommittee, on the latter together with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU), the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) and the Environmental Protection Helpdesk of DIN (DIN EPH).
My tasks as director of the office include work in higher-level strategic committees, for example on the steering committee of the DIN Standards Committee Principles of Environmental Protection, and the subcommittees of DIN EPH. The core work of the KNU is performed by experts drawn from associations, currently twelve in number. These experts exert influence upon the actual content of standards in the committees at DIN and DKE. They receive their mandate through the KNU, and we support them in the event of problems. They’re open to networking with other stakeholders, such as the DIN Consumer Council or KAN, in order to attain greater influence. Wherever possible, our experts are also active at CEN/CENELEC and ISO/IEC. We coordinate closely at European level with our umbrella association, the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS).
Our achievements include the standards governing chemical wood preservatives. Our influence has resulted in precedence being given to design measures for wood preservation. This has provided architects with stronger legal reasoning for their proposals for the use of design measures to assure wood preservation, and it has also become easier to establish this precedence in construction standards and in the German regional building codes.
In addition, we’ve been successful in reducing the use of flame retardants in a standard addressing electrical appliances; these substances may cause considerable harm to health and the environment during their manufacture, in the event of damage and during recycling. Management standards, particularly ISO 14001 on environmental management and ISO 50001 on energy management, are a recurring topic. It falls to the KNU to maintain the high standard of requirements when such standards are revised.
We were recently pleased to note that adoption of a DIN SPEC for the definition of “plastic-free” was averted. Together with other bodies, including the DIN Consumer Council and the German paper industry, we persuaded DIN to terminate this project, in order to prevent greenwashing.
One challenge is the changes in the work processes of the DIN standards committees. On the one hand, we welcome the option that we’ve had since the pandemic of attending meetings virtually, as this reduces our travel overhead. However, meetings in person, attendance at which was easy to schedule in the past, have now been replaced by numerous additional online meetings. A further issue is acceleration of procedures at ISO and DIN, and the increasing adoption of DIN SPECs as proposals for standards. All this places pressure upon our experts, as they don’t do this time-consuming work on standards full-time, but alongside their regular jobs.
A major topic at present is the circular economy. DIN has drawn up a standardization roadmap on this subject, which has resulted in the formation of several new committees. In this area, we’re involved in standards for specific management and ecodesign issues, and also concerning chemical recycling and textiles. Committees addressing the consequences of climate change and the traditional topics of environmental and energy management are also important.