Background Over the past ten years, a number of environmental tools have been developed for the purpose of monitoring and controlling the environmental impact of industrial activities and that of separate products or product groups. Examples of such tools include risk assessment, life-cycle assessment (LCA), life-cycle cost (LCC), design for environment (DFE) and environmental product declaration (EPD). However, these methods and tools do not address the whole spectrum of the environmental impact of different products. Most of them are product- or industry-specific. Moreover, many producers, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises do not have the necessary resources to launch and perform their own environmental research or to create specific environmental assessment tools for their products. Meanwhile, the increased environmental awareness of customers and the growth in new environmental requirements, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the EU’s Strategy for a future chemicals policy, are imposing increasing demands on firms to improve the eco-efficiency of their products. Objectives The aim of the Demonstrate and Assess New Tools for Environmental Sustainability (DANTES) project was to improve internal environmental work within companies and other organisations. The project was to collect, exchange and present information and experiences gathered from using different tools for environmental sustainability. This was to be done by looking at existing tools and methods for environmental assessment and their large-scale application in companies. Sustainability tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA), Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) were to be assessed and demonstrated by applying them on different products and systems in the partners’ organisations. The new tool information platform aimed to be of benefit to large international companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises and the general public alike. The envisaged outcome of the project was an easily accessible web-based environmental management platform for producers and customers worldwide that would present assessment tools, an information exchange, a user’s manual, application guidelines and the methodology used. Results During the project, a range of studies were conducted to assess how environmental tools and methods could be put to practical use. The companies in the project team conducted individual studies and environmental projects – both individually within their own organisations and together with the other project partners - and Chalmers University contributed analyses, new structures and generalisations of how to use the tools and methods within companies. The results were published on a web site, www.dantes.info. The website presents examples of how different environmental work can be carried out. The toolbox presented on the web site can be used in many different ways by employees within companies, local and national authorities, other organisations and also within the educational system. Over the course of the project’s three-year life-span, the website was visited 53,000 times and the project and its results were presented to some 3900 people. The web site has been continuously updated since the project ended in September 2005. The website presents 23 strategies for different company roles, based on the experiences of the participating companies. A strategy is a guideline on how the methods and tools described within DANTES can be used to find information needed for environmentally related decisions. Some 14 methods are described with examples and 16 software tools are presented. A further 29 public reports covering tools such as LCA, ERA, SPI (Sustainability Performance Indicators), SDS (Safety Data Sheets)and LCC. There are also 34 Environmental Product Declarations and nine survey reports on the site. Beyond the website, results from the project were presented in internal company meetings to 1400 people and to some 2800 people at external meetings (at trade organisations, universities, international conferences, etc.).