The European Person Equivalent: Measuring the personal environmental space

The European person equivalent (PE) is a quantification of the environmental impact caused annually by the activities of an average European. It comprises contributions to all the major environmental impacts from global to local as well as our consumption of resources. Similarly, the targeted European person equivalent is a quantification of the average person’s environmental impact in a near future according to the current politically set environmental targets. In addition to expressing the current societal priorities in pollution reduction, the targeted PE expresses the environmental space available to all of us according to the current environmental policy. Both concepts were developed in the mid-nineties for use in life cycle impact assessment to help comparisons across different environmental impact categories. Since then they have shown their value as a pedagogic tool in the presentation and interpretation of environmental impacts from all kinds of man-made activities, technologies and systems. The paper presents the determination of the person equivalents for different impact categories and consumption of resources. Its relation to the sustainability-based ecological space and its use as a common yardstick for industry in the presentation and comparison of environmental impact are discussed.