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This guide walks you through the process of conducting your first environmental assessment in GREENZERO Journey. We’ll cover each step in detail, with practical tips to help you get meaningful results even if you’re new to environmental footprinting.

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Before You Begin

Before starting your first assessment, it helps to gather some basic information about your product:
  • Product name and description
  • Main materials used (even approximate information is helpful)
  • Approximate weights of materials if available
  • Country of manufacture
  • Any existing product documentation or specifications
Don’t worry if you don’t have all this information—GREENZERO Journey’s AI can work with whatever details you have available.

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Step 1: Create a New Product

1

Log in to GREENZERO Journey

Navigate to journey.greenzero.eu and log in to your account.
2

Navigate to Products

Click on “Products” in the main navigation menu.
3

Add New Product

Click the “Add Product” button to begin the product creation process.
4

Choose Import Method

GREENZERO Journey offers three ways to add a product. Choose the one that works best for your situation:
If your product is available online, you can simply provide the URL to the product page. The AI will extract relevant information automatically. 1. Select “Import by URL” option 2. Enter the product URL in the field provided 3. Click “Import Product” The AI will analyze the webpage, extract product details, and create an initial Bill of Materials.
This method works best with e-commerce product pages that contain detailed product information.
If you have product documentation in digital format, you can upload it for the AI to analyze. 1. Select “Import by File” option 2. Drag and drop your file or click to browse 3. Click “Upload and Import” Supported file formats include: - PDF documents - Excel spreadsheets - CSV files - Images of products or packaging - Technical drawings
Product specification sheets, technical datasheets, or existing BOMs work particularly well with this method.
If you don’t have a URL or file, you can simply describe your product in detail. 1. Select “Import by Description” option 2. Enter a detailed description of your product 3. Click “Create Product” Try to include information about: - What the product is and its purpose - Main materials used - Approximate weights or dimensions - Manufacturing location - Any special features or components
Be as specific as possible in your description. For example, “A cotton t-shirt with polyester stitching, weighing approximately 150g, made in Portugal” is better than just “cotton t-shirt.”

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Step 2: Review and Refine the Bill of Materials

After importing your product, GREENZERO Journey will generate an initial Bill of Materials (BOM). This is a critical step for accurate environmental assessment.
1

Review the Generated BOM

Examine the materials and components that the AI has identified. Check for: - Missing materials or components - Incorrect material types - Inaccurate quantities or weights
The initial BOM is based on available information and may not be complete. Your review and refinement are essential for accurate results.
2

Add Missing Materials

If any materials are missing: 1. Click “Add Material” button 2. Enter the material name and description 3. Specify the quantity and unit (e.g., 0.5 kg) 4. Add any additional information like supplier or manufacturing process 5. Click “Save”
3

Organize Components (Optional)

For complex products, you may want to organize materials into components: 1. Click “Add Component” button 2. Name the component (e.g., “Battery Assembly”) 3. Add materials to this component 4. Specify manufacturing processes specific to this component
Components help organize complex products and can make it easier to identify improvement opportunities later.
4

Specify Quantities

For each material, ensure the quantity is specified accurately: 1. Click on the material in the BOM 2. Enter the weight or quantity 3. Select the appropriate unit (kg, g, m², etc.) 4. Click “Save”
If you don’t know exact weights, reasonable estimates are better than leaving quantities blank. You can always refine these later.

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Step 3: Add Packaging Information

Packaging often contributes significantly to a product’s environmental impact. GREENZERO Journey allows you to document packaging separately from the product itself.
1

Navigate to Packaging

Click on the “Packaging” tab within your product view.
2

Add Packaging Materials

Similar to the product BOM, add all packaging materials: 1. Click “Add Material” button 2. Enter the packaging material name (e.g., “Cardboard Box”) 3. Specify the quantity and unit 4. Add any additional information 5. Click “Save”
Common packaging materials include cardboard, plastic film, paper, foam inserts, and adhesives. Don’t forget small items like labels and tape.
3

Specify Packaging Type

Indicate whether each item is: - Primary packaging (in direct contact with the product) - Secondary packaging (groups products together) - Tertiary packaging (for shipping and handling)
Currently, GREENZERO Journey focuses primarily on primary packaging, with support for secondary and tertiary packaging coming in future updates.

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Step 4: Generate the Environmental Assessment

Once you’ve reviewed and refined your product and packaging information, you’re ready to generate the environmental assessment.
1

Request Assessment

Click the “Generate Environmental Assessment” button.
2

Processing

GREENZERO Journey will process your product information and calculate environmental impacts across all eight impact categories. This typically takes just a few minutes.
During processing, the AI is: 1. Matching your materials to environmental profiles in its database 2. Calculating impacts for each material and process 3. Aggregating results across the full product system 4. Identifying hotspots and improvement opportunities
3

Review Completion

Once processing is complete, you’ll be notified that your environmental assessment is ready to view.

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Step 5: Explore Your Results

Now comes the exciting part—exploring your product’s environmental footprint and understanding what it means.
1

Overview Dashboard

The overview dashboard shows your product’s environmental performance at a glance: - Total environmental cost (monetized impacts) - Performance across all eight impact categories - Comparison to industry benchmarks (if available) - Key hotspots and improvement opportunities
2

Explore Impact Categories

Click on any impact category to see more detailed information: - What the impact category measures
  • Your product’s performance in this category - Main contributors to this impact - Potential reduction strategies
Start with the categories that show the highest impacts—these represent your biggest improvement opportunities.
3

Analyze Hotspots

The “Hotspots” section identifies materials, components, or processes that contribute most significantly to your product’s environmental impact: 1. Review the highlighted hotspots 2. Click on each hotspot to see which impact categories it affects 3. Consider the suggested improvement strategies
Focusing on hotspots gives you the most environmental benefit for your improvement efforts.
4

Save and Share Results

You can save your assessment results and share them with team members or stakeholders: 1. Click “Export” to download a PDF report 2. Use the “Share” button to invite others to view the results 3. Save specific views or insights for future reference

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Next Steps After Your First Assessment

Congratulations on completing your first environmental assessment! Here’s what you might want to do next:

Refine Your Data

Improve the accuracy of your assessment by adding more detailed information about materials, processes, and suppliers.

Explore Improvement Scenarios

Use the “Scenarios” feature to model how changes to your product might reduce environmental impacts.

Add More Products

Build your product portfolio to identify patterns and priorities across multiple products.

Learn More About Impacts

Explore the Impact Categories documentation to deepen your understanding.

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Common Questions About First Assessments

Your first assessment provides a good starting point, but accuracy depends on the quality and completeness of your input data. As you add more specific information about materials, weights, suppliers, and processes, your results will become more accurate. Even with limited data, the assessment can identify key hotspots and improvement opportunities.
Reasonable estimates are better than no data at all. GREENZERO Journey can work with approximate values, and you can refine these as you gather more precise information. The system will indicate where data quality could be improved.
Environmental impact results are most meaningful when compared to something—either industry benchmarks, previous versions of your product, or alternative designs. GREENZERO Journey provides context where available, but the most important thing is to identify your biggest impacts and focus on reducing those.
Start by focusing on the identified hotspots—these are your biggest opportunities for improvement. Consider material substitutions, weight reductions, process changes, or supplier shifts that could reduce impacts. Document your current results as a baseline, then track improvements over time.
Remember that environmental footprinting is an iterative process. Your first assessment establishes a baseline, and you can continuously refine and improve both your data and your product’s environmental performance over time.
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