Page 30 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT 11

Assurance Centre (SEAC). Over the years, dozens of LCA's of Unilever
products and supply chains were done. This experience came in handy
when Unilever prepared its Sustainable Living Plan (launched in
November 2010, see http://www.sustainable-living.unilever.com/). In the
plan, Unilever focuses on carbon footprints and water footprints across the
entire value chain. In order to calculate a baseline (2008), we performed
LCAs on 1600 representative products, combined with consumer use
data of 14 countries around the world. The combined outcome represents
about 70% of Unilever's sales value (which was 45 billion Euro in 2010).
It showed us that of our carbon footprint, only 3% is in our own factories:
26% is upstream, with suppliers of our raw materials, 2% is in transport
throughout the value chain, 1% is in post-consumer waste disposal, and a
whopping 68% is in consumer use in the household.
Performing LCAs has become part of everyday decision making in
Unilever. We have learned many lessons, as a result.
Dr. Jan Kees Vis
Global Director Sustainable Sourcing Development
Unilever R&D Vlaardingen

1.9 Overview of the Book

As we already mentioned, the last several decades have seen a dramatic
rise in the application of LCA in decision making. The interest in the life
cycle concept as an environmental management and sustainability tool
continues to grow. This book was created to concisely and clearly present
the various aspects of LCA in order to help the reader to better understand
the subject. The content of the book was designed with a certain flow in
mind. After a high level overview to describe current views and state-of-
the-practice of LCA, it presents chapters that address specific LCA method-
ological issues. These are followed by example applications of LCA. Finally,
the book concludes with chapters that link LCA and responsible decision
making and how the life cycle concept is a critical element in environmental
sustainability.

1.9.1 Methodology and Current State of LCA Practice
The book continues with an "Overview of the Life Cycle Assessment Method -
Past and Future" in which Heijungs and Guinee describe at a conceptual level
the methodology and current state of LCA practice. The chapter also explores
present developments that are influencing the evolving method. Detailed
discussions on methodology are given in the chapters by Sauer on life cycle
inventory (LCI) and by Margni and Curran on life cycle impact assessment
(LCIA).