Framework for analyzing transformative technologies in life cycle assessment.

The use of life cycle assessment (LCA) methods is rapidly expanding as a means of estimating the biodiversity impacts of organisations across complex value chains. However, these methods have limitations and substantial uncertainties, which are rarely communicated in the results of LCAs. Drawing upon the ecological and LCA literature on uncertainty and two worked examples of biodiversity footprinting, we outline where different types of uncertainty occur across multiple stages in LCA, from input data to the choice of biodiversity metric. Some uncertainties are epistemic, incorporating structural (e.g. the types of pressures included in models), parametric (e.g. uncertainty around characterisation factors and information gaps) and measurement uncertainty, as well as natural variability, and stochasticity. Other uncertainties are linguistic (e.g. ambiguity around definitions of biodiversity) and decision‐based (e.g. choices made when matching company data to inventory categories). Based on this review, we provide suggestions for (i) understanding, reducing and navigating uncertainties in biodiversity footprinting and (ii) ensuring the robust and appropriate use of LCA techniques as part of broader organisational biodiversity strategies. Understanding the risks posed by these uncertainties, weighing them against the costs of inappropriate action or inaction and ensuring decisions are robust to these uncertainties is vital for designing effective biodiversity strategies. By appreciating and navigating uncertainties, opportunities exist to utilise LCAs for high‐level risk screening to prioritise action and highlight areas where focused effort and more granular data are needed to track progress towards abating impacts year‐on‐year and identify low‐risk actions. However, we recommend biodiversity strategies should not be based solely on absolute LCA impact results. Instead, LCAs should be used alongside other approaches to guide location‐specific and robust action to deliver a nature‐positive future.

Context The European Commission (EC) recognised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as "the best framework for assessing the potential environmental impacts of products". It also identified "the need to improve data availability and quality worldwide by internationally cooperating on LCA data and methods". The life cycle approach is also part of the 2011 Communication on "A resource-efficient Europe – Flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 Strategy". To support these life cycle based EU policies, the EC has started the "European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (EPCLA)"[1]services (e.g. consulting or research services), tools (e.g. LCA tools, ecodesign tools), databases (e.g. LCI databases) and the corresponding developers and providers. in 2005. This Platform is implemented and coordinated by the EC Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Environment and Sustainability, in close collaboration with DG Environment. The Platform works on the basis of coherent and quality-assured life cycle data, methods, and studies. The LCA Resource Directory is one of the deliverables of the Platform. This application has been running since 2006 and it contains lists of Novelty The LCA Resource Directory has recently been further developed so that it can contain and organize LCA case studies and metadata on these studies. The new LCA Resource Directory will be launched during the Fall 2011. Methods The new functionalities of the LCA Resource Directory allow users (LCA expert and non-expert) to browse a database of LCA studies. Thanks to the searching tool, a user can sort the information available as metadata and identify relevant LCA studies according to his/her interests. Many of the fields of the template used to characterize LCA studies are based on the ISO 1404x series. Some fields of the template are mandatory (e.g. functional unit and system boundary) in order to assure that the information showed in the application fulfills most of the requirements of the ISO 14044 for reports to be disclosed to the public. Other fields of the template include: "Intended application(s)", "LCIA impact categories" and "Compliance". The LCA study has to be uploaded on the Directory. Moreover, a final verification step is performed by the web application administrator to ensure quality and consistency. The application is open worldwide (http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/directory.vm). Any research group, company, university, etc. is now able, after registration, to upload studies and give metadata on them using a template. DG JRC will be in charge of the maintenance of the application and will populate the Directory with the first set of studies during the Fall 2011. An open call to relevant research groups and institutions will be send in order to populate the Directory with registered users and studies. Conclusions With these new capabilities of the Resource Directory, the EPLCA makes progress in its aim of promoting life cycle thinking when making available to all kind of LCA practitioners a good quality database of LCA studies, together with a searching tool. [1] http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Global warming potential (GWP) has been widely used in the life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the climate impacts of energy technologies. Most LCAs are static analyses without considering the dynamics of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and changes in background GHG concentrations. This study presents a dynamic approach to analyze the life-cycle GWP of energy technologies in different timeframes and representative GHG concentration pathways. Results show that higher atmospheric GHG concentrations lead to higher life-cycle GWP for long-term analysis. The impacts of background GHG concentrations are more significant for technologies with large operational emissions or CH4 emissions than technologies with low operational emissions. The case study for the U.S. electricity sector in 2020-2050 shows the impacts of background GHG concentrations and different LCA methods on estimating national climate impacts of different energy technology scenarios. Based on the results, it is recommended for future LCAs to incorporate temporal effects of GHG emissions when (1) the technology has large operational GHG emissions or CH4 emissions; (2) the analysis time frame is longer than 50 years; (3) when LCA results are used for policymaking or technology comparisons for mitigating climate change.

Feeding a growing, increasingly affluent population while limiting environmental pressures of food production is a central challenge for society. Understanding the location and magnitude of food production is key to addressing this challenge because pressures vary substantially across food production types. Applying data and models from life cycle assessment with the methodologies for mapping cumulative environmental impacts of human activities (hereafter cumulative impact mapping) provides a powerful approach to spatially map the cumulative environmental pressure of food production in a way that is consistent and comprehensive across food types. However, these methodologies have yet to be combined. By synthesizing life cycle assessment and cumulative impact mapping methodologies, we provide guidance for comprehensively and cumulatively mapping the environmental pressures (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, spatial occupancy, and freshwater use) associated with food production systems. This spatial approach enables quantification of current and potential future environmental pressures, which is needed for decision makers to create more sustainable food policies and practices.

Globally, the building sector accounts for about one third of global CO2 emissions. In this context, life cycle assessment (LCA) serves as a strong instrument to quantify the environmental impacts throughout the complete life cycle of a building. Nevertheless, current LCA methods can be further refined from certain perspectives. For instance, the static calculation in the current LCA methods does not take temporal variations into account. Unlike analyses of life cycle cost and operational energy consumption, the dynamic changes of LCA results are rarely considered, which makes equivalent comparisons difficult. To deal with this problem, many studies were carried out in the last decade to discuss the dynamic LCA (DLCA) methodologies. Current studies on DLCA can be broadly divided into two main groups: dynamic life cycle inventory (DLCI) and dynamic life cycle impact assessment (DLCIA). However, this division is not sufficiently intuitive for LCA practitioners, complicating the integration and proper categorization of other various dynamic factors in practice. This leads to the lack of wider understanding about the concept of DLCA, especially within the building industry, which indirectly slows down the practical implementation of DLCA approaches in the building industry.In this research, we conduct a comprehensive review of dynamic factors that can potentially impact LCA results in the building industry and categorize the investigated dynamic factors into two types: background and foreground. This categorization directly addresses the difference of background and foreground databases. In addition, we introduce methods for modeling these dynamic factors. To demonstrate their practical applicability, we applied the categorized dynamic factors to one background database, ecoinvent, and one local foreground database, Ökobaudat. The results show that our new categorization of dynamic factors simplifies the modeling of dynamic factors and serves as a foundation for the further expansion of dynamic factors and for further development in DLCA methodologies.

Due to population growth, urban water demand is expected to increase significantly, as well as the environmental and economic costs required to supply it. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems can play a key role in helping cities meet part of their water demand as an alternative to conventional water abstraction and treatment. This paper presents an environmental and economic analysis of RWH systems providing households with water for laundry purposes in a life cycle thinking perspective. Eight urban RWH system scenarios are defined with varying population density and storage tank layout for existing buildings. Storage tank volume required is calculated using Plugrisost software, based on Barcelona rainfall and catchment area, as well as water demand for laundry, since laundry is a fairly constant demand of non-potable water. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methodologies are applied for this study. Environmental impacts are determined using the ReCiPe 2008 (hierarchical, midpoint) and the cumulative energy demand methods. Net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback (PB) time were used in LCC. Savings from laundry additives due to the difference in water hardness was, for the first time, included in a RWH study. LCA results indicate that the best scenario consists of a 24-household building, with the tank spread on the roof providing up to 96% lower impacts than the rest of scenarios considered. These results are mainly due to the absence of pumping energy consumption and greater rainwater collection per cubic meter of built tank capacity. Furthermore, avoided environmental impacts from the reduction in detergent use are more than 20 times greater than the impacts generated by the RWH system. LCC indicates that RWH system in clusters of buildings or home apartments offer up to 16 times higher profits (higher NPV, higher IRR, and lower PB periods) than individual installations. LCA and LCC present better results for high-density scenarios. Overall, avoided environmental and economic impacts from detergent reduction clearly surpass environmental impacts (in all categories except terrestrial acidification) and economic cost of the RWH system in most cases (except two scenarios). Another important finding is that 80% of the savings are achieved by minimizing detergent and fabric softener by using soft rainwater; and the remaining 20% comes from replacing the use of tap water.

This paper explores the critical relationship between data quality and the appropriateness and reliability of life cycle assessment (LCA) results. By analysing the user categories involved in LCA—namely academia, industry, consultancy and policy—it highlights the differing responsibilities and interpretations of data suitability and quality across these domains. The paper emphasizes that the selection of data is related to availability, suitability and quality, and that discrepancies in LCA results often stem from inconsistent documentation, improper engineering information, varied methodological approaches and misunderstandings surrounding data types. It advocates for the establishment of rigorous quality assurance processes and clear definitions of data types to enhance the reliability of LCA outcomes. The paper also discusses the implications of emerging data concepts and the potential of artificial intelligence to improve data quality while stressing the importance of appropriate methodological application. Ultimately, it underscores the necessity for stakeholders to take responsibility for their data usage to ensure that LCA serves its intended purpose effectively, thereby influencing critical decisions in sustainability and regulatory compliance.

Assessing the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of urban precincts with hybrid life cycle assessment

The aim of this study is to compare the environmental impact of liquid inverted sugar (77°Bx) produced with enzymatic hydrolysis of beet sugar and HFCS (75% DM) produced from corn in a wet milling process. Given the different sweetness equivalents of liquid inverted sugar (77°Bx) and HFCS (75% DM), the reference flows were defined as 900 kg of liquid inverted sugar or 1000 kg HFCS. The analysis was performed with the life cycle assessment (LCA) method focusing on the cradle-to-gate stage. The inventory data of liquid inverted sugar processing were supplied by a producer while the LCA of HFCS relies on secondary data (literature) which describes the material and energy flows associated with glucose production. Life cycle inventory of relevant inputs and outputs were available from the Ecoinvent 3.4 database. Environmental impacts were calculated with the ReCiPe 2016 (H) life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method. LCA results have revealed that inverted liquid sugar has a lower impact in 14 out of the 18 analysed impact categories. Consumption of inverted liquid sugar (>77°Bx) instead of HFCS (75% DM) could lead to significant reduction in GHG emissions (by 38%), fossil energy (by 31%) and water (by 95%) consumption, and reduces the required land area by 67%.

In recent year, desertification has become one of the most important environmental hazards all over the world, especially in developing countries such as Iran. Understanding the factors impacting on desertification and identifying the regions with high desertification potential are essential to control this phenomenon (i.e., desertification). The life cycle assessment (LCA) method is essential in assessing the desertification of ecosystems, especially for susceptible ecosystems with high degradation risks. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the desertification potential of Lorestan Province, Iran, based on the LCA method. We selected aridity, fire and dust as three indicators of desertification and collected data from 2000 to 2015. We divided the study area into 6 types of ecoregions according to the climate types (arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid) and dominant species (Quercus brantii and Astragalus adscendens), and calculated the characteristic factor (CF) of each indicator (aridity, fire and dust) by combining the indicator layers and ecoregion layer of the study area. In a given ecoregion, the sum of CF values of aridity, dust and fire indicators represents the life cycle inventory (LCI) desertification value (the higher the LCI value, the greater the desertification potential). Then, we obtained the desertification potential map by combining and overlapping the ecoregions and the normalized indicators based on the LCA method. Aridity and fire exhibit significant impacts on desertification in the study area compared with dust. In the study area, semi-arid ecoregion with Quercus brantii as the dominant species is the largest ecoregion, while arid ecoregion with Quercus brantii as the dominant species is the smallest ecoregion. Arid ecoregion with Astragalus adscendens as the dominant species (LCI desertification value of 1.99) and dry sub-humid ecoregion with Quercus brantii as the dominant species (LCI desertification value of 0.79) show the highest and lowest desertification potentials, respectively. Furthermore, arid ecoregion with Quercus brantii as the dominant species also has a higher LCI desertification value (1.89), showing a high desertification potential. These results suggest the necessity of proper management and appropriate utilization in these ecoregions. In general, assessing desertification potential using the LCA method on a local and regional scale can possibly provide a new methodology for identifying and protecting areas with high degradation risks.

Integrating Market Models and Price Effects in a Multiscale Sustainable Process Design Framework

Under the “dual-carbon” strategy, accurately quantifying carbon emissions in water conservancy projects is crucial to promoting low-carbon construction. However, existing life cycle assessment (LCA) methods for carbon emissions during the mechanical construction stage often fail to reflect actual processes and are limited by high costs and lengthy data collection, potentially leading to inaccurate estimates. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a carbon emission evaluation method for the mechanical construction stage, based on carbon footprint theory and discrete event simulation (DES). This method quantifies equipment operation time and energy consumption during the drilling and blasting processes, enabling a detailed and dynamic emission analysis. Using the Fumin Pumped Storage Power Station Tunnel Project as a case study, a comparative analysis is conducted to examine the carbon emission characteristics of drilling and blasting operations under different surrounding rock conditions based on DES. The validity of the proposed model is confirmed by comparing its results with monitoring data and LCA results. The results show a clear upward trend in carbon emission intensity as surrounding rock conditions deteriorate, with emission intensity rising from 8405.82 kgCO2e/m for Class II to 16,189.30 kgCO2e/m for Class V in the headrace tunnel. The total carbon emissions of the water conveyance tunnels reach 40,019.64 tCO2e, with an average intensity of 13,565.98 kgCO2e/m. This study presents a refined and validated framework for assessing the carbon emissions of pumped storage tunnels. It addresses key limitations of traditional LCA methods in the mechanical construction stage and provides a practical tool to support the green transition of hydraulic infrastructure.

Foundries represent a significant part of the world’s economy and are a large consumer of energy and producer of solid waste. Sand-handling processes can use 5–10% of a foundry’s total energy. The goal of this research was to explore source reduction and waste minimization at a foundry, using both economic and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) techniques to compare three secondary sand-reclamation options. LCA software modeled all sand processes at a mid-sized ferrous foundry in the USA. The LCA showed all secondary reclamation technologies, while more energy intensive at the foundry, lowered life cycle environmental impacts, including GHG emissions, ecotoxicity, and human health indicators, due primarily to source reduction and corresponding reduction in transportation both from the virgin sand source and to the landfill. Varying transportation distance had a large impact on LCA results to the point where the life cycle benefit of secondary reclamation became a liability in a zero distance scenario. Varying electricity generation to favor greener sources was also examined, but proved to have minimal impact on the LCA results. This research suggests that the greatest reduction of life cycle impacts in the sand-handling processes for a foundry is to find a geographically closer source for virgin sand.

Purpose. This paper aims to systematically review and synthesise existing food packaging Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) research, focusing on applications, methodologies, and results to provide insights and recommendations for researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to enhance the methodological relevance, sustainability, and environmental performance of food packaging solutions. Methodology. This study employed a systematic literature review approach, comprising the following steps: data collection and selection, coding and categorisation of data to comprehensively describe and compare the methodology, and synthesis of the results. The literature search was conducted in the Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases; the study selection was based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and followed a multi-stage screening process. The data comprise 88 peer-reviewed English-language journal papers published between 2000 and 2025; results were synthesised through qualitative analysis conducted in the RStudio environment. Results. An increase in LCA studies on food packaging is noted, which is intensifying against the backdrop of stricter regulatory requirements for plastics, packaging, and environmental assessment methods. Most often, such studies are based on data from European countries, with a prevalence of studies on food in general, as well as goods with a short shelf life, which draws attention to the functional aspects of packaging, namely its ability to extend shelf life and minimise waste. Concerning packaging materials, researchers are focusing on the assessment of new and biobased materials, as well as on the comparison of reusable and single-use packaging and recycling options, biomaterials, active, and smart packaging with traditional materials. From a methodological point of view, product-based functional units, packaging assessments using the cradle-to-grave method, and comparative LCAs are typically used. A synthesis of the reviewed cases facilitated the identification of the most common approach for conducting food packaging LCAs. Originality. The typical LCA methodology for food packaging in the European context is based on the application of ISO 14040 (in combination with ISO 14044), ReCiPe, environmental footprint, and product environmental footprint methods, utilising Ecoinvent databases and SimaPro software. An impact assessment based on midpoint indicators is carried out using a combination of 10 indicators, where the most frequent are the following: ozone depletion potential, marine eutrophication, global warming, climate change, freshwater eutrophication, ionising radiation, freshwater ecotoxicity, terrestrial acidification, acidification, and particulate matter formation. It is advisable to use comparative approaches based on the cradle-to-grave method, enabling a comprehensive impact assessment across all life cycle stages, supplemented by sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Practical implications. The identified variability in assessment methodologies does not ensure the comparability of their results. Recommendations for conducting LCA should be specified in terms of requirements for disclosing information on methodological aspects of research and recommended sets of indicators. When making decisions on food packaging parameters, it is advisable for manufacturers to employ a multi-criteria approach, considering LCA results, functional properties, and economic aspects. At the policy level, decisions on restrictions (or incentives) for the use of certain types of packaging should consider the state of the secondary materials and waste management system, as well as its spatial configuration.

The operation of the fertilizer industry can cause environmental pollution, so that preventive or preventive measures are needed aimed at controlling the remaining air emissions produced and creating alternative ways of production that are environmentally friendly. In this study, the environmental impact is determined using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, on the products and emissions produced as well as the materials used, such as raw materials, chemicals and fuels. Environmental impact assessments were carried out using an endpoint approach using the 2016 recipe method and divided into three main categories including human health, ecosystem quality and resources. In this study, SimaPro 9.4.0.2 and Open LCA 1.11.0 software are used to determine the extent of the environmental impact of the LCA process. In the LCA results, the most important moisture category in the entire ZA II fertilizer production process is resource impact with the “lost fossil” impact category, while the process unit that produces the highest impact value is drying and cooling. The effects seen in this unit are due to the presence of ammonia chemicals from dirt-repellent materials, the resulting ammonia and carbon dioxide emissions, and excessive electricity consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to provide alternative recommended repair programs. Alternative programs that can be used to minimize the impact include: reducing anti-caking doses, using transformers, and combining reducing anti-caking doses & using transformers.