UK industry unites behind TM66
The UK lighting industry appears to be increasingly uniting behind TM66 as an agreed measure of the circular principles of a luminaire.
The metric received repeated endorsement at a gathering of leading manufacturers and specifiers at the inaugural Circular Lighting Live event in London last week on a day when 10 brands formed a steering group to develop it with guidance, training and assurance.
Now the Society of Light and Lighting – part of Cibse and the developer of TM66 – has announced a partnership with the Lighting Industry Association to contribute to the launch of a TM66 assured scheme, increasing its traction in the sector.
TM66 Circular Economy Assured scheme will provide a quality mark for the design and manufacture of lighting products. It combines work from CIBSE members in developing tools and guidance on embodied carbon and transitioning to net zero, and the LIA’s Quality Assurance systems and its independent UKAS accredited laboratory.
It’s designed to provide confidence in the reliability of claims made in relation to TM66’s Circular Economy Assessment Method assessments, and to review how manufacturers and specifiers can make best use of the scheme once it goes live.
Meanwhile the steering group has as its first task the creation of a suite of assessment tools, accreditation scheme and training.
The steering group is formed of the TM66 Founding Partners, consisting of leading manufacturers from multinationals to SMEs, principal consultancies, national and international associations and a major end user.
The steering group will oversee the development of the next release of the TM66 Circular Economy Assessment Method (CEAM).
It will also oversee the development of new modules to be included within TM66, covering emergency lighting, controls and facilities management.
Andrew Bissell, President of the SLL said: ‘At the first meeting of TM66 Founding Partners, it was brilliant to see the industry uniting behind this important work.
‘It is great to see a committed, international, cross industry alliance that fits with the principles, governance and the public position of each organisation in relation to sustainability and climate change.’
The TM66 Circular Economy Assured scheme supports the recently published TM66 Creating a circular economy in the lighting industry and accompanying Circular Economy Assessment Methods (CEAM).
These are tools to support manufacturers and specifiers to assess the circular economy credentials of products.
Published in 2021, TM66 won a Build Back Better Platinum and Green Award as a bold initiative driving a circular, sustainable approach to lighting and building services engineering more broadly.
The metric is said to be still ‘in beta mode’ although many manufacturers are beginning to adopt it and some, such as Stoane Lighting, are beginning to its TM66 ratings in its advertisements.
However, observers point out that TM66 has had limited impact outside the UK so far. European brands – wary of the cost of assessments on its luminaire ranges – appear to be assessing market demand for environmental metrics before investing in certification.
In May, LightingEurope, the representative body for manufacturers’ associations, announced its backing for the PEP ecopassport environmental declaration programme.
