Page 148 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Climate change responses: carbon offsets, biofuels and the life cycle assessment contribution

to tackle climate change, they do highlight the need for renewed and intense research and 135
documentation of LCA studies relating to carbon sequestration. Even though the complexity
of net carbon assessment for biomass projects is challenging for policy makers, studies have
directly and usefully informed policy (e.g. as reported in Mortimer 2006), and policy must
continue to be developed and implemented under conditions of ‘best-estimate uncertainty’ if
climate change is to be tackled in a timely manner.

10.4 LCA and carbon management: a case study in
industry change
Carbon assessment and greenhouse-neutral policies are now standard business practice for a
growing number of large global companies. Orica is an example of an Australian-owned,
publicly listed global company that is committed to becoming greenhouse-neutral, along with
three other goals: zero-waste; ‘environmentally friendly’ operations, products and services;
and being water-neutral (Orica 2007). This case study charts the role of LCA in assisting Orica
to reach this point (after James et al. 2005).
Orica has four main businesses, all generally viewed as polluting: Mining Services, Fertilis-
ers (Incitec Pivot), Chemicals, and Orica Consumer Products. Hence, the challenge for achiev-
ing a sustainable development path is significant. Two principal tools have been used by Orica
in facilitating this challenge: LCA and The Natural Step. In 1990, Orica commenced its ‘Chal-
lenge’ program by creating milestones to reach and preferably pass in several key safety, health
and environment areas within five years. The program has been renewed every five years with
subsequent Challenge programs. In 2000, Orica Consumer Products undertook to conduct
LCAs on all major product groups in response to the Challenge program. Detailed assessment
work was undertaken on some paint products. This work developed in two principal ways:
training in LCA of in-house staff, and commissioning of several LCA studies by the Centre for
Design at RMIT University. The studies focused on:
s solvent-based and water-based paints (a core business in the decorative business unit)
s powder coating (a core business in Dulux Powders’ business unit)
s No More Gaps (a core business in Selley’s business unit)
s tinplate and plastic paint can packaging.
Each study was designed to inform:
s understanding of the environmental impacts of products and associated packaging
s environmental comparisons of existing products
s a selection process for raw material changes and future research projects.

A three-stage LCA strategy was adopted as follows:
s a preliminary LCA (on the nominated product) that utilised public LCA inventory
data
s identification of important issues and areas where more localised data was necessary to
obtain a more specific assessment
s data collection in-house and from suppliers and third parties to underpin more detailed
assessments.

As a result, Orica has achieved both increased understanding of the environmental impacts
of its products, packaging and processes and a positive environmental and capacity-building
effect on suppliers. For example, Orica approaches led to Millennium Chemicals initiating its
own LCA to assist it in understanding its product and production process and working with

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