Page 358 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

342 5 Life Cycle Interpretation, Reporting and Critical Review

the goal, scope and budget available for the review, the chairperson should select
other independent qualified reviewers. This panel may also include other interested
parties affected by the conclusions drawn from the LCA, such as government
agencies, non-governmental groups, competitors and affected industries.
Interested parties addressed in the heading of Section 7.3.3 of ISO 14040
(‘Critical review by a panel of interested parties’) are therefore only optionally
invited, a contradiction that has been adopted from the former standard ISO
14040:1997. Even larger is the responsibility of the critical reviewers who have to
co-advocate the interests of absent interested parties, for example, environmental
organisations or competitors, ensuring a fair conduct and interpretation of the LCA
study. Thereby they also act in the interest of the practitioner of the study who may
frequently also work (in other studies) for the ‘competitors’ of the commissioner.
Credibility is therefore an asset of great value for all parties involved that has to
be treated most carefully. For projects that last for a couple of years, establishing
an advisory board can be recommended where ‘interested parties’ are represented
and can participate in the elaboration of the LCA. This allows the review panel to
concentrate on professional aspects.
Occasionally, uncertainties may be related to the definition of comparative
assertions. In the scientific literature, comparative LCAs that are not critically
reviewed according to ISO 14040/44 are published now and then. This is tolerated
if comparisons are only conducted for methodological development or similar
reasons without a commercial background. The study to be published is then
peer reviewed according to the rules of the journal (Kl¨ opffer, 2007, loc. cit.). This
peer review is accomplished voluntarily by specialists or peers in an honorary
capacity. Unfortunately, the scientific literature on critical reviews is not very
abundant. 35)
It should finally be noted that the report of the critical review is part of the
final report of an LCA either as an annex or as a separate chapter. It should also
be quoted in the executive summary. Both the practitioner of the study and the
commissioner are entitled to comment on the critical review in written form, and
these comments are also included into the final report.

5.5.1
Outlook

The critical review is an innovative and very useful instrument that improves the
quality of LCA studies. The formulation of the quoted sections in ISO 14040:2006
and ISO14044:2006 is clear with regard to aim, but there some formulations and
procedural aspects that need a better explanation. This should be achieved in a new
‘technical specification (TS)’ ISO 14071 to extend ISO 14044. 36) The TS will give
advice on how critical reviews should be properly performed and the requirements

35) Kl¨ opffer (1997, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012), Kl¨ opffer, Grießhammer and Sundstr¨ om (1995,
1996) and Fava and Pomper (1997).
36) ISO (2013).