Page 18 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Life cycle assessment: origins, principles and context

Nevertheless, LCA has rapidly developed an important niche within the growing arenas of 5
environmental management, policy and planning.
There is a spectrum of environmental management tools and techniques, ranging from the
overarching ‘visioning’ type, to the specific ‘assessment’ type, to communication and reporting.
Among the first type, which fosters sustainability within public, corporate and other organisa-
tions, The Natural Step is designed to assist an organisation to set environmental objectives and
to re-think and change around these objectives. It advocates backcasting from principles and
consensus processes to advance society towards sustainability through organisational change.
Notwithstanding the institutional limits of such techniques (Sandström 2005), LCA can help
inform change by providing information about environmental burdens of products and services
associated with any organisation. LCA is particularly useful in decisions requiring comparison
of environmental outcomes and can be extended through tools such as Multi-Criteria Assess-
ment, where quantitative and qualitative information is ranked and assessed across different
environmental criteria.
Systematic tools to assess, monitor, document, manage and maintain environmental per-
formance are often modelled on ISO 14001 or similar environmental management systems,
which in turn have their origins in quality management. These management approaches may
also incorporate or usefully draw upon LCA, especially where specific LCA studies have been
undertaken to investigate particular processes, products or services associated with the organ-
isation concerned.
Environmental management outcomes are typically reported in order to demonstrate com-
pliance or performance. A range of environmental reporting systems and initiatives exist,
either for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) compliance or more general ‘Triple Bottom Line’
or environmental corporate reports. Here, LCA mainly provides background evidence for
assessment of environmental benefits, burdens or burdens foregone.
There are a wide range of other applications of LCA to ‘environmental assessment’. For
example, popular ‘eco-footprint’ and related calculators and tools may use LCA data, and
advisory program information may draw on LCA results; for instance, in stating that compact
fluorescent lamps generate lower environmental impacts than incandescent varieties. The ‘new’
tools of community engagement and ‘behaviour change’ for environmental outcomes may also
draw on LCA data either in modelling or substantiating potential benefits of particular changes.
LCA, like any modelling technique, is only as good as the modeller and the assumptions and
data employed in the exercise. Indeed, this assertion is a central theme in this book.

1.4 Principles, practice and prospects for LCA: a reader’s guide
While data challenges and complexities of application may have previously held LCA back,
many of these are now reduced or at least are better understood. Various options exist for further
improving data quality and convenience of use through quicker, easier and more ubiquitous
access to LCA results while maintaining sufficient quality, accuracy and rigour. The data chal-
lenge and the balance between quality and quantity are also important themes for this book.
Given that a range of more or less qualitative judgements and unforeseen outcomes may
affect the accuracy of predictions, how can LCA provide confidence in results? This is not
straightforward, and indeed, LCA results have not always been accepted uncritically – often
with good reason. The main strategies adopted to provide confidence are transparency and
peer review. Both are strongly advocated in ISO standards.
In Chapters 2–5 LCA practice and a range of connected issues is described and critiqued.
Chapter 2 charts the development of LCA and associated institutions, including SETAC, ISO,
the Australian LCA Society (ALCAS) and the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. Policies and

100804•Life Cycle Assessment 5pp.indd 5 17/02/09 12:46:14 PM