ACMA Unveils New Climate Impact Project

The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) will launch its Climate Impact Project. The new initiative will equip manufacturers of fiber-reinforced-polymer composite and cast polymer products with tools, education, and technical resources to provide their customers with important information about the climate impacts associated with the production of their products and raw materials. The project will launch mid-April 2022 with an expected completion date in October 2023. The Climate Impact Project will start with an updated and expanded ACMA Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), providing estimates of the climate impacts associated with the production of unsaturated polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy and polyurethane resins, and glass and carbon fiber reinforcement, and with the manufacture of composite products using the compression molding, open molding, open mold casting, vacuum infusion and pultrusion processes, and lastly, with secondary bonding. Additional components of the project include: • Three new model Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) that demonstrate how manufacturers of composite products can use information about their processes together with data from the LCI to prepare reliably authoritative estimates of the energy use and environmental impacts associated with the production of their products and raw materials. • The launch of a new online LCA tool that will efficiently, reliably, and confidentially use company specific information together with data from the LCI to prepare customized LCAs for their products. • A new Product Category Rule for composite construction and infrastructure products that specifies how information from a product’s LCA is presented in an Environmental Product. The Climate Impact Project is funded through ACMA’s Composites Growth Initiative Fund.