The ATIEL & UEIL Joint Sustainability Committee has published a new position paper setting out the European lubricants industry’s perspective on avoided emissions and handprint methodologies.
Developed by the Joint Sustainability Committee’s Downstream Working Group, the paper provides constructive clarification on the application of avoided emissions concepts to lubricants and greases, highlighting the need for robust, transparent and scientifically credible methodologies that reflect real-world climate benefits.
The paper explores the distinction between handprint and avoided emissions, examines the implications of the WBCSD Avoided Emissions Guidance V2 for the lubricants sector, and proposes principles to help ensure future frameworks recognise measurable efficiency improvements while maintaining methodological integrity.
Avoided emissions should be considered complementary to, and not a substitute for, corporate greenhouse gas reporting. While organisations should continue to report their own emissions and progress towards decarbonisation targets through established Scope 1, 2 and 3 frameworks, avoided emissions can provide valuable additional insight into how products and technologies contribute to emissions reductions elsewhere in the value chain and across the wider economy.
ATIEL and UEIL believe that a collaborative, science-based approach is essential to developing globally credible methodologies that accurately capture the contribution of products that deliver measurable efficiency improvements to decarbonisation.
Read and download the full position paper:
