I was googling using the terms 'certification full life cycle product' because this question appears in the [site self-evaluation](http://meta.sustainability.stackexchange.com/q/156/99) and I one of the first hits I found is the [Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) certification](http://farm-check.com/media/doc/environmentally-preferable-product-certification.pdf). I've never heard of it and am not sure if it is used for food and how common it is, but they claim to do the following: > examines the entire lifecycle of a product and identifies key areas of improvement