Life cycle assessment (part of the green supply chain series)

Inspired by SOAS CeDEP study programmes.Presentation © 2012 by Darren Willman.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT(PART OF THE GREEN SUPPLY

CHAIN SERIES)

Wednesday 12 April 2023

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http://www.soas.ac.uk/cedep/



LEARNING OBJECTIVES

› Overview of the basic characteristics of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)› Summarise the basic process of an LCA› Introduce what is required from each step of the LCA process› Describe the main limitations of LCA› Briefly introduce the history, purpose and impact of LCA’s ISO

standard: 14040


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Life Cycle Assessment is an advanced strategy that is becoming mainstream

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…

Business as usual

Supplier managemen

t

Green Purchasing

Life Cycle Assessment

(LCA)

Industrial Ecology

(IE)

Extended Producer

Resp.(EPR)





It is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects of a product

› Assessment counts over a product’s:› Entire life cycle› Entire chain of events and activities to support a process or

product

› Considers all stages of a product’s life as independent from each other

› The LCA process is designed to supports decisions, not make them

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There are four steps in the process:

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1

Goal and scope

definition

2

Lifecycle inventory

3

Lifecycle impact

assessment

4

Interpret





Step 1 is to define the goal and scope

› Factors to consider in goal setting:› How is the LCA going to be applied? › What are the reasons and/or goals for the study?› Who is going to use/observe the study? What is the

audience?

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Knowing the goals help you make sure the assessment is useful and purposeful for your

business.





The most important part in Step 1 is the five factors in scoping

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These constrain how widely and deeply you take your assessment

i.e. quantitative values of inputs and outputs

i.e. set of unit processes linked by flows of intermediate products or waste

Data requirements

Allocation procedures

System boundaries

Identify the functional units to be used

Identify the product system





Including the system boundaries to narrow and focus your LCA

Between system and environment

Identify the types of environmental process that are included and excluded

Between system and related systems

Determine how the environmental load is allocated in a multifunctional process

Between relevant and irrelevant processes

Determine which processes should be included for simplicity’s sake, or if there is a lack of data

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Since different systems are highly interrelated, it can be very difficult to trace everything, so an important part of scoping is to identify the system boundaries. Here are some main types of system boundaries:





Step 2, Life Cycle Inventory, has three simple sub-steps

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Collect all inventory data

Step 2Step 2

Draw a flow diagram consistent with the system’s boundaries› Show the activities in

the system with their input and output flows

Step 1Step 1

Calculate the total resources used, or the pollution or emissions, depending on the scope

Step 3Step 3





After these 2 steps, it is often useful to stop and evaluate your information

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Can the collected data give a good indication of the environmental impacts?

Can the information help decision making?

If the answer is yes, proceed with the rest of the steps

CONTINUE





The third step is the Life Cycle Assessment stage

This stage evaluates the significance of the environmental impacts, and presents it in a convenient way for decision makers.

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Classify LCI (step 2) results› Assign

inventory data to impact categories

Step 2Step 2

Identify and select impact categories› E.g. climate

change, ozone depletion, ocean acidification, etc.

Step 1Step 1

Quantification› Inventory data

is put into a category indicator to quantify it

Step 3Step 3





Finally, Step 4 interprets the assessment results using various tools

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Interpretation

Normal-isation

Uncertainty analysis

ValuationVariation analysis

Weighting

Aggregation

Sensitivity analysis





The process is popular, but it has many limitations

Data requirements: limited, not publicly

available

Limited guidance: what’s available is

usually location-specificScientific basis: LCA has

no scientific basis

Resource & time requirements: requires specific expertise, etc.

Uncertainties over the implementation of

resultsLack of awareness and

perceived need

Lack of appropriate methodologies: ISO has

limited coverageValidity: LCA results can

not be checked!Organisational

structure: LCA staff are disconnected

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A popular industry (minimum) standard is provided by ISO

› 1997: ISO 14040› 1999: ISO 14041› 2000: ISO 14042

ISO 14043› 2006: ISO 14040

ISO 14044

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Revision which cancelled and replaced ISO 14041/2/3

Generated a general acceptance of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

› Addition of LCA principles› Clarification of LCA for comparative

assessments› Clarification of critical review panel› Reduce number of standards› Reduce number of annexes› Aligned all definitions





Since ISO 14040 is only an overview, its practical use is limited

› Purpose: an overview of the practice of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and its:

› Impact: general acceptance of LCA and consolidation of its procedures and methods

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› Applications› Limitations› Reporting› Critical review

› The relationships between stages

› Conditions for use of value choices





REFERENCES

Unit 7 Course Material, Managing Social and Environmental Responsibility, 2011, SOAS CEDEPVogel, 2005, The Market for VirtueChertow, 2007, Uncovering Industrial SymbiosisWelford & Frost, 2006, Corporate social responsibility in Asian supply chains

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http://www.soas.ac.uk/courseunits/C167.html




http://www.amazon.com/Market-Virtue-Potential-Corporate-Responsibility/dp/0815790775

http://is4ie.org/resources/Documents/uncovering%20IE.pdf

http://is4ie.org/resources/Documents/uncovering%20IE.pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/csr.121/abstract

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/csr.121/abstract



REFERENCES

Unit 7 Course Material, Environmental Auditing and Environmental Management Systems, 2011, SOAS CEDEPFinkbeiner, Inaba, Tan, Christiansen & Kluppel, 2006, The new international standards for life cycle assessment: ISO 14040 and ISO 14044

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http://www.mendeley.com/research/the-new-international-standards-for-life-cycle-assessment-iso-14040-and-iso-14044/








Life cycle assessment (part of the green supply chain series)

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