Page 16 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition
P. 16
10 1. Introduction. Life cycle thinking
Life cycle initiative
Carbon footprint
Life cycle
sustainability Water footprint
assessment
Life cycle
assessment
Social life cycle Environmental
assessment labeling
Life cycle costing
European platform on Integrated product
life cycle assessment policy
FIG. 1.4 Tools and actions in LCT.
Fig. 1.4 shows the main initiatives in LCT, as life cycle tools and actions. The following
chapters of this book will describe them. Here a brief summary is given.
1.4.1 Life cycle assessment
LCA represents “the best framework for assessing the potential environmental impacts of
products” (EC, 2003). It is a method to assess quantitatively the environmental impacts of
goods and processes from cradle to grave. LCA models cause-effect relationships in the en-
vironment and thus helps to understand the environmental consequences of human actions.
To conduct an LCA study for products and services in many economic activities around
the world, practitioners are supported by two international standards: the ISO 14040 and the
ISO 14044, respectively containing general principles and specific requirements for an LCA
(ISO, 2006b, 2006c). Four features of LCA make it a complete and robust tool to support com-
panies and markets in sustainability commitments: it takes a life cycle perspective, covers a
broad range of environmental issues, is quantitative, and is science-based (Bjørn et al., 2018a).
LCA is an important decision-support tool that, among other functions, allows companies
to benchmark and optimize the environmental performance of products or for authorities to
design policies for sustainable consumption and production. Many LCA studies are
conducted to support corporate internal decision-making, such as for ecodesign of products,
process optimizations, supply-chain management, and marketing and strategic decisions
(Hellweg and Mila ` i Canals, 2014). Recent initiatives go a step further, by aiming to generalize
the life cycle approach in all consumption sectors, through harmonization of life cycle-based
