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148 • Green Project Management

Of necessity, all LCA studies are streamlined. Industrial processes are so
extensively interconnected globally that complete consideration of all these
interdependencies is impractical. So shortcuts are taken. It is not a question
of whether or not streamlining is feasible; it is simply a matter of how much
streamlining is appropriate while still leading to meaningful results.

• Life cycle–based approaches (other than LCA) apply the life cycle
concept by viewing a product system from cradle to grave but limit
the study to a preselected area of concern. An example is life cycle
greenhouse gas analysis, which accounts for potential greenhouse
gas emissions from cradle to grave with the goal of assessing poten-
tial global climate change effects. Carbon footprinting is similar.
These types of life cycle–based studies consider the entire life cycle
activities but account only for inputs and outputs of interest.
• Life cycle management (LCM) integrates information that is gener-
ated by different tools, of which LCA is one. LCA captures environ-
mental information, but information covering other factors, such
as costs, performance, risk, community, etc., is also needed. LCM
will be covered again later in the discussion. LCA is an effective tool
to capture environmental information, but information on other
aspects, such as economics and societal needs, is also required. LCM
is a term that is growing in popularity and captures the notion of
broadening a study’s boundaries to help decision makers achieve
sustainability goals. The goal of LCM is to integrate information that
is generated by different tools to address risk, economics, technologi-
cal, and social aspects of products, services, and organizations, as
well as the environmental aspects. LCM, as with any other project
management tool, is applied on a voluntary basis and can be adapted
to the specific needs and characteristics of the individual projects
and their organizations.

The holistic approach of LCA is the cornerstone of sustainability. LCA
is an effective tool for identifying opportunities for continual improve-
ment within industrial operations and for moving us in the right strate-
gic direction.
History is full of stories of notorious cases where “good intentions”
have gone wrong (see text box). To keep organizations from choosing
practices that might ultimately become environmentally ruinous, a
holistic tool is needed.