All products and services generate environmental impact throughout their life cycle: extraction of raw materials, design, manufacturing, assembly, distribution and sale, use and management as a waste product. Some years ago, the European Commission set up the Integrated Product Policy (IPP), the aim of which is to favour the environmental improvement of products and services through:

• Minimising their environmental impact "from cradle to grave", in other words, considering their entire life cycle and determining the phases in which the improvement actions would be most beneficial, both environmentally and economically.
• Integrating environmental strategies to ensure that the benefits are balanced with the cost involved in achieving the environmental objective.
• Co-operating with all the agents in the supply chain (from the suppliers to the end user) and in the related areas (administration, experts, insurance companies, etc.) to optimise the effectiveness of the efforts to reduce environmental impacts.
• Developing green markets introducing incentives and instruments that encourage producers to offer products and services that are environmentally respectful and encouraging buyers to acquire them.

The IPP does not just concentrate on some processes, but considers the entire lifecycle of products and services. Many policies focus on industrial activities (manufacturing stage), but the environmental problems continue to grow. We need to focus our efforts on the source of the problem: the products and services produced and consumed.

The IPP is a policy aimed at businesses. It combines economic, environmental and social tools that are used according to the characteristics of the supply chain and the demand of the clients in the sector in question. Thus, the instruments and incentives are voluntary or compulsory, may be used locally, nationally or at a European level and include eco-taxes, grants, eco-design guidelines, eco-labels, etc.