Page 130 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

8 Scope Definition 115

done in an interactive process throughout the performance of a study. In this case,
the reviewers are given the opportunity to comment on the goal and scope definition
prior to the onset of the inventory analysis, and possibly on interim results of the
impact assessment and interpretation before the final reporting so that their com-
ments can guide the process of the LCA.

8.11 Planning the Reporting of Results

Product systems can be very complex, and choices are often made during the LCA
that can influence the conclusions. To reduce the risk of erroneous and misleading
use of the LCA, it is essential that the reporting is clear and transparent with a clear
indication of what has and what has not been included in the study and which
conclusions and recommendations the outcome supports.
The reporting of an LCA study should target the audience as it is specified in the
goal definition. Depending on whether the study is comparative and public, the
ILCD guideline identifies three reporting levels:
1. Internal use by the commissioner of study;
2. External use by the third party, i.e. a limited, well-defined list of recipients with
at least one organisation that has not participated in the study.
3. Comparative studies to be disclosed to the public.
Due to the sensitive nature of comparative assertions based on LCA, there are a
number of additional reporting requirements to level 3 studies. No formal
requirements apply to level 1, but it is recommended to follow the requirements for
level 2. Chapter 38 shows all the elements that an LCA report should cover,
according to level 2 and 3, and proposes a sequence of these elements, and the
reporting of the case study on window frames in Chap. 39 demonstrates the ap-
plication of the template in a comparative study.

References

This chapter is to a large extent based on the ILCD handbook and the ISO standards 14040 and
14044. Due to the scope of this chapter, some details have been omitted, and some procedures
have been rephrased to make the text more relevant to students. For more details, the reader
may refer to these texts:
EC-JRC.: European Commission—Joint Research Centre—Institute for Environment and
Sustainability: International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook—General
Guide for Life Cycle Assessment—Detailed Guidance. First edition March 2010. EUR 24708
EN. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (2010)
ISO.: Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Principles and Framework (ISO
14040). ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, Geneva (2006a)
ISO.: Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Requirements and Guidelines (ISO
14044). ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, Geneva (2006b)