Page 51 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

4 LCA Applications 33

4.2 Government Perspective

Application of LCA and life cycle based approaches can support policy formula-
tion, policy implementation and regulation imposed by policies, and can be used to
perform evaluation of policies. As part of the pan-European project CALCAS
(Coordination Action for innovation in Life Cycle Analysis for Sustainability),
reviews were conducted in mid-2000s to identify LCA applications to support
different stages of the policy cycle, i.e. their formulation, implementation and
evaluation (CALCAS 2008). Table 4.1 presents and overview of such applications.
Since then, the pressing need to move towards more sustainable societies has made
LCA increasingly recognized in high policy-level, and its role in the policy cycle
has been formalized in some countries or regions. For example, in Europe, the
European Commission has listed LCA as one of the reference models for the impact
assessment of policies in the European Union (EU) within its “better regulation
guidelines” document published in 2015 (European Commission 2015). This holds
a potential to increase the use of LCA in retrospective assessments of existing
policy frameworks (i.e. evaluations or fitness checks) and prospective assessments
of future possible policy options (policy development).

Table 4.1 Examples of LCA applications at different stages of the policy cycle
Topic Initiation year and/or
geographical scope
LCA as a knowledge tool in policy formulation
Environmental technologies action plan (ETAP) 2004; EU
Integrated product policy (IPP) 2003; EU
Directive on the eco-design of energy using products (EuP) 2005; EU
Strategy for the sustainable use of natural resources 2005
Sustainable production and consumption action plan (SCP) 2007; EU
Biofuels Germany
Application of pesticides Costa Rica
Supporting the implementation of information based instruments: LCA & policy implementation
Eco-labelling Various countries
Environmental product declarations (EPD) Various countries
Strategic environmental assessment directive 2004
Public procurement EU, Japan
Construction products directive 1989; EU
Ordinance on the avoidance and recovery of packaging wastes Germany
Waste management France, Mexico, japan
LCA as a tool for policy evaluation
Thematic strategy on prevention and recycling of waste & 2005; EU
Waste framework directive
Waste oil directive 2000; EU
Based on CALCAS (2008)