Life Cycle Assessment
A product-oriented method
for sustainability analysis
UNEP LCA Training Kit
Module a –LCA and decision support
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Content
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Demand for environmental
information
Supply of environmental
information
Examples of environmental
information
Survey of analytical tools
LCA
– main characteristics
– main applications
– main limitations and how to
solve them
– LCA and certification
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Demand for environmental information (1)
• Possible objects of decision making
– substance, material
– product, service
– waste, waste management
– process, installation
– activity, project, building, infrastructure
– company
– technology
– societal sector
– life style
– …
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Demand for environmental information (2)
• Types of decision situations
– strategic planning and capital investments (green building,
waste management)
– eco-design, product development
– operational management (green procurement)
– communication and marketing (eco-labelling, product
information)
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Demand for environmental information (3)
• Spatial requirements
– local (site specific)
– regional (site dependent)
– global (generic)
• Temporal requirements
– snapshot
– steady state / comparative static
– (quasi) dynamic
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Demand for environmental information (4)
• Complex decision situations, yet simple information required
– simple indicators
– visualization
– aggregation
– weighting
• Simple format for final presentation
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Supply of environmental information (1)
Concepts
Decision process
Analytical tools
implementation
policy
instruments
Procedural tools
Content: technical elements / basic equations / data
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Supply of environmental information (2)
• Concepts
– life cycle thinking / life cycle management (LCM)
– design for environment (DfE)
– cleaner technology
– green chemistry
– dematerialisation
– industrial ecology / industrial metabolism
– end of life management
– eco-efficiency (or analytical tool?)
– …
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Supply of environmental information (3)
• Decision process, policy instruments and implementation
– direct implementation of activities
– legal instruments (physical regulation)
– financial instruments
– communication instruments (e.g., environmental labelling
(= eco-labelling)
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Supply of environmental information (5)
• Analytical tools
– physical metrics
• environmental risk assessment (ERA), life cycle
assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA),
energy analysis, ecological footprint, …
– monetary metrics
• cost benefit analysis (CBA), total cost analysis (TCA),
life cycle costing (LCC), input-output analysis (IOA), …
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Supply of environmental information (6)
• Procedural tools
– in-company management systems
• quality management systems (EHS), environmental
management systems (EMAS, EMS), environmental
audit, …
– permits
• environmental impact assessment (EIA),
environmental license, …
– others
• green procurement, voluntary agreements between
stakeholders, …
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Supply of environmental information (7)
• Content
– technical elements / basic equations
• mass balance models, dispersion models, dose-effect
relationships, market behavior, uncertainty analysis,
multicriteria analysis, …
– data
• sectoral emissions, product composition, chemical
persistence, LC50, income elasticity, …
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Supply of environmental information (8)
• Empirical information on the relations between noise levels
and the presence of birds
Supply of environmental information (9)
impact
• Quasi-empirical information on the relation between the
concentration of a chemical and the impact on organisms
NOEC
LC50
log concentration
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Examples of environmental information (1)
Source: http://www.pg.com/content/pdf/01_about_pg/corporate_citizenship/sustainability/reports/CBR_ProcterGamble_061.pdf
Examples of environmental information (2)
Source: http://corporate.basf.com/en/sustainability/
Examples of environmental information (3)
http://www.clw.csiro.au/publications/technical2005/tr1-05.pdf
Examples of environmental information (4)
• Ecolabeling
– criteria based
on life-cycle
considerations
– just a few
examples
Survey of analytical tools (1)
• Tools in physical metrics
– checklists and matrices
– risk-based tools
– tools for product and service systems
– regional tools
• Tools in monetary metrics
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Survey of analytical tools - checklists
• Checklists and matrices
Criterion 1:
critical
resources
Criterion 2:
CO2 emissions
Criterion 3:
hazardous
emissions
Alternative 1
---
-
---
Alternative 2
0
---
-
Alternative 3
0
++
--
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Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (1)
• Risk-based tools
– Risk Analysis (RA)
– Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA)
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Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (2)
• Risk analysis
– for assessing the risk of incidents and calamities
– focus on human health, or broader
– local, or broader
– typically for large industrial installations
– risk analysis vs. risk perception
– risk = chance  effect
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Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (3)
Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (4)
• Environmental risk assessment (ERA)
– for assessing the risk of regular emissions
– focus on emission of and exposure to toxic substances
– focus on risk to ecosystems but also for human health
(HERA)
– risk characterisation ratio: PEC/PNEC
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Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (5)
Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (6)
Survey of analytical tools –risk-based tools (7)
• Use of (H)ERA
– admission of chemicals
– prioritizing substance policy
• Non-use of (H)ERA
– drinking water quality
– food quality
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Survey of analytical tools – tools for product and service
systems (1)
• Tools for product and service systems
– Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
– Total Material Requirement (TMR), Material Input per Unit
of Service (MIPS)
– Energy analysis/cumulative energy demand (CED)
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Survey of analytical tools – tools for product and service
systems (2)
• Life cycle assessment (LCA)
– focus on comparison of products with similar functions
– from the cradle to the grave
– covering a wide range of environmental aspects
• impacts on human health (climate change, ozone
depletion, smog, toxicity, etc.)
• impacts on ecosystem quality (acidification,
eutrophication, toxicity, etc.)
• impacts on resource availability (depletion of minerals,
fossil fuels, etc.)
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Survey of analytical tools – tools for product and service
systems (3)
Source: http://www.fibersource.com/f-tutor/LCA-Page.htm
Survey of analytical tools – tools for product and service
systems (4)
• Total Material Requirement (TMR), Material Input / Unit of
Service (MIPS)
– focus on mass-flow input only (total mass input per
functional unit)
– including “rucksacks”
– what is the “weight” of a golden ring?
– focus on global, steady state
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Survey of analytical tools – tools for product and service
systems (5)
• Energy analysis/cumulative energy demand (CED)
– focuses on (fossil) energy input
– also objective to produce encompassing indicator for total
environmental burden
– objects can be product systems or regions ( regional
tool)
– focus on global, steady state
– used for, e.g., support of climate policy or resource
strategy
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Survey of analytical tools – regional tools (1)
• Regional tools
– Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
• for economy of a region, without rucksacks
• for economy of a region, with rucksacks (cf. MIPS)
– Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
• for region, with economy and environment as
subsystems
– Ecological Footprint (EF)
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Survey of analytical tools – regional tools (2)
• Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
– material balance for economy of a region (in kg) (or
country)
• focus: for a given year
– if with rucksacks, then functional approach ( MIPS)
– for economy: in = out + accumulation
– potential relevance at regional level as indicator for
dematerialisation
– typical applications:
• comparisons between countries or large economic
sectors
• changes over time for countries or sectors
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Survey of analytical tools – regional tools (3)
• Basic template
– TMR = total material requirement
– DMI = domestic material input
Survey of analytical tools – regional tools (5)
• Substance Flow Analysis (SFA)
– Flows of single substances through economy and
potentially environment of a region
• typical examples: N, P, heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pt, In,
others)
• focus on regions of any size
• focus on results for a given year
– Typical results:
• origin analysis of problem flows to environment
• risks of unnoticed accumulations in economy
• potentials of urban mining
• risks of unintended inflows
– Typical application:
• for support of substance policies
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Draf t
Survey of analytical tools – regional tools (6)
Survey of analytical tools – tools for product and service
systems (5)
• Ecological footprint
– aim: to express the total environmental pressure in terms
of space consumption (in hectare or square meters)
– for hazardous substances: dilution up to thresholds
– for energy: biomass production
– focus on global, steady state
• Status:
– large policy support, but scientifically debated
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Survey of analytical tools – tools in monetary metrics
(1)
• Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)
• Input-Output Analysis (IOA)
• Life Cycle Costing (LCC)/Total Cost Accounting (TCA)
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Survey of analytical tools – tools in monetary metrics
(2)
• Cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
– for a single activity
– all impacts expressed in monetary terms (using several
methods, particularly WtP)
– high policy profile, many applications
– severely criticised by environmental scientists because of
under-representation of ecological damage
– focus: local, steady state
• Typical application: support of decisions on governmental
investment activities (e.g., infrastructure, waste management)
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Survey of analytical tools – tools in monetary metrics
(3)
• Input-output analysis (IOA)
– established tool (Leontief, 1930-ies, Nobel prize 1973)
– monetary flows between economic sectors
– what are consequences of specific investment (policy
change) in one specific sector?
– focus: national level, given year
• Environmental IOA (EIOA)
– environmental extensions (“satellites”)
• Typical application: prioritization regarding policy support of
different economic sectors
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Survey of analytical tools – tools in monetary metrics
(4)
• Life cycle costing (LCC)/Total cost accounting (TCA)
– LCA in monetary terms (same structure; global level,
steady state)
– aims to quantify hidden costs over the life cycle (risk
management, waste management, communication,
illnesses, etc.)
– can have two forms:
• including (monetised) environmental impacts
• excluding environmental impacts
• Typical application: to be used in conjunction with LCA
– or even integrated with LCA in eco-efficiency
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Life Cycle Assessment (1)
• Life cycle assessment (LCA)
– product from cradle to grave (vertical integration)
• total picture; avoidance of problem shifting
– all types of impact (horizontal integration)
– role of functional unit
• for comparability of different product systems
– integration over space and time
– standardised in ISO (14040 series)
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Life Cycle Assessment (2)
L ife c yc le a s s e s s m e n t fra m e w o rk
G oal
a n d s co p e
d e fin itio n
D ire c t a p p lic a tio n s :
-
P ro d u c t d e ve lo p m e n t
a n d im p ro ve m e n t
-
S tra te g ic p la n n in g
-
P u b lic p o lic y m a k in g
-
M a rk e tin g
-
O th e r
In ve n to r y
a n a lys is
In te rp re ta tio n
Im p a c t
a s s e ss m e n t
Source: ISO 14040
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Life Cycle Assessment (3)
• Final result can be in terms of:
– LCI results (extractions and emissions)
– LCIA results (for separate impact categories)
– weighted results (one index)
• Weighting (subjective!) possible on basis of:
– distance to target (policy reference)
– economic values (various possibilities, incl. collectively
revealed preferences)
– social preferences (panel process)
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• Example of the results of a comparative LCA
Draf t
Life Cycle Assessment (4)
Impact category
Incandescent lamp
Fluorescent lamp
Climate change
120000 kg CO2-eq
40000 kg CO2-eq
Ecotoxicity
320 kg DCB-eq
440 kg DCB-eq
Acidification
45 kg SO2-eq
21 kg SO2-eq
Depletion of resources
0.8 kg antinomy-eq
0.3 kg antinomy-eq
etc
…
…
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Life Cycle Assessment (5)
• Main applications
– product comparisons
– product improvement, design and development
– strategy and policy development
– LCA as a process
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (1)
• Product comparisons
– by industry, government, NGOs
– also for ecolabeling (type I, type III)
• Note:
– need for authorized procedure and peer review
– “comparative assertions disclosed to the public” (ISO)
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (2)
Draf t
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (3)
• Product improvement, design and development
– by industry
– also on the basis of adapted LCA-tools
• Learning curve:
– LCA suggests rules of thumb
– rules of thumb further validated and improved by LCA
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (4)
e n v iro n m e n ta l
im p ro v e m e n t
(fa c to rs )
L e ve l o f im p ro ve m e n t
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S ys te m In n o va tio n
20
15
10
F u n c tio n a l In n o va tio n
5
R e d e s ig n
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
tim e (y e a rs )
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (5)
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (6)
• Policy and policy development
– by government, sometimes together with industries or
NGOs
– examples:
• waste management
• packaging
• EU's Integrated Product Policy (IPP)
• energy policy
• green building
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (7)
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (7)
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Life Cycle Assessment – main applications (8)
• LCA as a process
– LCA as a vehicle of discussion for various stakeholders
• producer
• supply chain
• competitors
• purchasers
• government
• NGOs
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Life Cycle Assessment – main limitations (1)
• LCA in practice obstructed by:
– data requirements
– methodological inconsistencies
– technical characteristics
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Life Cycle Assessment – main limitations (2)
• Data requirements
– only general, no specific data
– obsolete data
– only data from industrialized countries
– different data formats
– databases not connected
• Role for ISO 14048 and UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
• Role for input-output analysis (and hybrids of IOA and LCA)
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Life Cycle Assessment – main limitations (3)
• Methodological inconsistencies and debates:
– main issues in LCI:
• system boundaries
• multiple processes/allocation
• attribution versus change oriented
– main issues in LCIA
• midpoint versus damage level
• heterogeneous mechanisms (e.g., toxicity)
• regionalisation
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Life Cycle Assessment – technical characteristics (1)
• Some specific details:
– global/regional, not local
– steady state, not dynamic, no one-time transitions
– quantitative, not pass/fail criteria
– risk approach, not prevention approach
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Life Cycle Assessment – technical characteristics (2)
• Usual impact categories:
– depletion of fossil fuels and minerals
– climate change
– ozone depletion
– photo-oxidant formation
– acidification
– eutrophication
– human toxicity and ecotoxicity
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Life Cycle Assessment – technical characteristics (3)
• Potential impact categories:
– land occupation (area)
– water use
– salination
– soil erosion
– leakage of nutrients
– noise
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Life Cycle Assessment – technical characteristics (4)
• Not fitting impact categories:
– land use quality (forest, coral reefs)
– depletion of wildlife and fish stocks
– desiccation; desertification
– biodiversity
– contained toxics
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Life Cycle Assessment – technical characteristics (5)
• Need to make LCA
– broader (more impacts, also covering economic and social
aspects)
– deeper (more precise, more mechanisms)
• How to make LCA broader and deeper
– three major options:
• extension of LCA
• hybrid LCA
• use of toolbox (with additional quantitative tools, or
using pass-fail criteria)
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Pass-fail criteria – black lists
• Some examples:
– substances contained in products (lead in pencils; Cl in
PVC; plastic weakeners in toys)
– substances contained in manufacturing processes
(phosgene for PET production, isocyanate for
polyurethane production)
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Pass-fail criteria – certification
• Used for companies (ISO 14001)
• Also for natural resources:
– use of criteria
– can be included in life cycle approach
• Many examples:
– forestry
– fishery
– agriculture
– mining
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Certification - sustainable forestry (1)
• The problems:
– net loss 1980-1995: 12 mln ha / year
– decline in developing world, increase in industrialised
world
– drivers: timber and land for agriculture
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Certification - sustainable forestry (2)
• Two types of certification:
– forestry management
– chain of custody
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
– 1993, others followed
– now 6 global organisations with 3rd party review
• Effective through large companies (lumber retailers,
manufacturers, retailers), not through individual consumers
• Reasons: good image and sustainable business, not large
financial interest
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Certification - sustainable forestry (3)
Area certified forest
250
200
milion ha
MTCC
150
CSA
ATFS
SFI
PEFC
100
FSC
50
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
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Certification - sustainable forestry (4)
• Requirements for certificate
– existence of management plan
– restoration of natural forest
– diversity in tree species and age classes
– preference for native species
– part of plantation managed as natural forest
– soil and water conservation
– integrated pest management
– monitoring of ecological and social impacts
– no change of natural forest after 1994
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Certification - sustainable fishery (1)
• The problems:
– fish provides 40% of protein in developing countries
– fishing down the food chain; peak in 1989
– tragedy of the commons
– improving technology, larger distances
– by-catch (30-70%), thrown over board
– damage to marine habitats (coral reefs, sea mounts)
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Certification - sustainable fishery (2)
• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
– initiative Unilever and WWF, 1997
• Criteria setting by fishermen, fisheries managers, seafood
processors, retailers, scientists and NGOs
• Certificates deal with fish stocks and fishing methods
• Role of fishermen collectives
• Life cycle perspective: chain of custody certification
• Next step: also certification of aquaculture?
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Certification - sustainable fishery (3)
• Criteria:
– healthy fish stock
– sustainable harvest
– ecosystem integrity
– minimisation of by-catch
– clear rules and procedures
– compliance with existing laws
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Certification - sustainable agriculture (1)
• Organic versus current agriculture
– since 1927
• Limitations regarding space requirements
• Better perspectives for integrated or sustainable agriculture
– minimisation use of pesticides
– wise use of fertilizers
– enhancement of biodiversity
• Since 2002 Sustainable Agriculture Initiative
– global platform of companies in food chain, started by
Unilever, Nestlé and Danone
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Certification - sustainable mining (1)
• The problems:
– huge environmental impacts of extraction of fossil fuels and
minerals
• Not yet certificates more sustainable performing companies
– for fossil fuels: Chevron, BP, Shell
– for minerals: Rio Tinto
• In progress: sustainable mining project of ICMM
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Certification and LCA
• Double relationship to LCA
– LCA and certification completely different worlds
– but mutual support is advisable:
• LCA can support certification for “its own” impact
categories (climate change, etc.)
• certification can provide information for new LCA
impact category: amount of (non-) certified resources
per functional unit
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Conclusions
• LCA well developed, high profile tool
– developments mainly at harmonization
– broad spectrum of applications
• Also number of clear limitations, no “super tool”
– strong need for additional tools, also in life cycle context
• Mutual support advisable between LCA and certification
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