TOOL #64. LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS

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1 TOOL #64. LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS 1. INTRODUCTION Impacts should be considered as far as possible in a holistic and integrated manner. This is fundamental to avoid shifting burdens between environmental or socioeconomic impacts. Additionally, when impacts are associated with production processes and/or to consumption, there is the need to avoid shifting the burden from one part of the product life cycle to another (e.g. from production to consumption). Burden shifting can similarly be considered in terms of spatial and temporal resolution; such as shifting problems from within the EU to the outside or from current generations to future ones. Concepts and supporting methodologies that implement these concepts are therefore needed. 2. WHAT IS LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT? Life Cycle Thinking is a broad concept that facilitates an integrated assessment of the benefits and the burdens in terms of environmental, social, and economic aspects, for specific products and regions, etc. The application of Life Cycle Thinking requires specific methodologies. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systemic approach which supports the integration of sustainability into design, innovation and evaluation of products and services and related policies in the EU 752,753,754,755 and internationally 756,757. Life Cycle Assessment is now a mature environmental management methodology, developed from the 1970 s, internationally standardised (ISO14040 and ISO ISO, 2006). LCA aims to make an integrated environmental assessment of products (goods and services) along their supply chain, through multi-criteria assessment, covering a wide variety of pressures and impacts associated with human health, ecosystem health, and resources. By applying a life-cycle approach, priorities and trade-offs can be identified more transparently resulting in potentially more effective policies. In an LCA, the resources consumed and emissions into air, water and soil are quantified, and related burdens assessed, using various indicators of impacts. These are then evaluated in relation to overarching issues, termed Areas-of-Protection, such as Human Health, Ecosystem Health and Resources. The evaluations are made using a range of 752 Integrated Product Policy - Building on Environmental Life-Cycle Thinking. Communication from the Commission; COM(2003) Stimulating technologies for sustainable development: an environmental technologies action plan for the European Union. Communication from the Commission; COM (2004) Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste. Communication from the Commission; COM(2005) Building the Single Market for Green Products. Communication from the Commission; COM (2013) 196 final 756 Why take a life cycle approach? UNEP, Paris, p UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative;

2 models resulting in impact indicators for each Area of Protection (e.g. indicators for climate change, acidification, ecotoxicity, human toxicity, resource scarcity etc.). More recent methodological development have aimed at extending life cycle thinking also to evaluate social issues (Social Life Cycle Assessment-sLCA) and economic issues (Life Cycle Costing - LCC) towards a complete and comprehensive Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) (Box 1). This document focuses on LCA. Box 1. Life cycle thinking concept and related methodologies Life cycle thinking (LCT) Life cycle sustainability assessessment (LCSA) Social life cycle assessment (slca) Life cycle assessment (LCA) Life cycle costing (LCC) Other methodologies accounting for all supply chain Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) is the basic concept referring to the need of assessing burden of products adopting a holistic perspective, from raw material extraction to end of life. To make LCT operational, several methodologies exist, namely: Life cycle assessment (LCA), Life cycle costing (LCC), social life cycle assessment (slca) and other methodologies designed for a supply chain approach (e.g. material flow accounting, MFA). 3. RESOURCES INSIDE OF THE COMMISSION TO HELP WITH LCA The Commission has established the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (EPLCA) 758. The EPLCA Platform developed by the JRC, together with DG- Environment, represents the reference point for data and methods essential to implementing Life Cycle based approaches. Through the European Platform, the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook was launched. The Handbook provides a series of guidance documents for different types of LCA applications 759. More recently, this has been complemented for example by the launch of the Life Cycle Data Network (LCDN), which aims to provide an international basis for inter-operable, quality assured life cycle inventory data. It equally supports the European Reference Life Cycle Database (ELCD). Since 2013, the Commission has recommended the use of common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and The ILCD handbooks are a series of operational guidance for LCA and could be downloaded from These guidance include: 329

3 organisations 760. This established a harmonised method for multi-criteria environmental LCAs of products and organisations (the "Product Environmental Footprint" and the "Organisation Environmental Footprint"). The two guidelines on Product EF (PEF) and Organisation EF (OEF) provide practical guidance for a more robust and consistent environmental assessment of products and organisations. To further support comparisons within product groups and sectors, Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) and Organisation Environmental Footprint Sector Rules (OEFSRs) are developed by the European Commission. The ILCD handbook builds on the ISO standards, introducing further specifications including: A clear definition of the impact categories (with corresponding assessment models and environmental indicators) to be considered in order to perform a more comprehensive LCA and avoid potential burden shifting to other impact categories (e.g. by reducing global warming more chemicals are used that may induce cancer effects); Specified minimum quality requirements for life cycle inventory data to improve quality of results ; Detailed technical instructions for addressing some critical aspects of LCA studies (such as system boundary definition, to improve consistency and reproducibility). For example, regarding the impact assessment phase, current EU recommendations 761 identified 14 impact categories (Box 2) and recommended specific models for assessing those impacts (see Annex 1 for the list of impact categories and models). This list of models and indictors will be updated from time to time and the latest developments, supporting Environmental Footprint applications are available in the EPLCA website. 762 The JRC can provide training on LCA and may be able to support DGs when conducting specific LCA studies at micro (product) and meso/macro scale as well as helping review existing studies developed by third parties. 4. PROCEDURAL STEPS OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT According to the ISO standard (ISO 14040), Life Cycle Assessment consists of four phases (see Box 2): Goal and scope definition phase: definition of the aims of the LCA and description of the central assumptions and system choices in the assessment are described; 760 Recommendation 2013/179/EU. 761 JRC (2011) Recommendations based on existing environmental impact assessment models and factors for life cycle assessment in European context. First edition EUR24571EN. ISBN Available at

4 Life Cycle Inventory (LCI): collection of data on the emissions and resources related to the chosen products/services for each life cycle stage (from extraction of raw material to end of life); Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA): emissions and resource data collected in LCI are translated into indicators that reflect ecosystem and human health impacts as well as considerations associated with resources availability, covering different impact categories. This calculation is based on factors, which represent the predicted contribution to a pressure or burden per unit emission or resource consumption. These factors are calculated using specific models (see Annex 1); Interpretation: the outcome of the LCA calculation is interpreted in accordance with the aim defined in the goal and scope of the study. Box 2. Procedural steps of LCA 2 3 LCI- Life Cycle Inventory LCIA- Life Cycle Impact Assessment 1 Goal and scope For each stage of a product life cycle (e.g. resource extraction, manufacturing, use etc) data on emissions into the environment (e.g CO 2, benzene, organic chemicals) and resources used (e.g metals, crude oil) are collected in an inventory. CLIMATE CHANGE ACIDIFICATION EUTROPHICATION OZONE DEPLETION ECOTOXICITY HUMAN TOXICITY IONISING RADIATION Areas of protection Human health Ecosyste m health Interpre tation 4 e.g. LCA of a car of typology X, assuming a use for Y years, produced in country Z etc Each emission in the environment and resource used is then characterised in term of potential impact in the LCIA, covering a number of impact categories PHOTOCHEMICAL OZONE FORMATION LAND USE WATER DEPLETION RESOURCE DEPLETION Natural resources The basic scheme of a Life Cycle Assessment. After having set the goal and scope of the study, data on all the emission and resources used for a product are reported in the life cycle inventory (LCI). These emissions and resources are evaluated against a number of different impact categories (such as climate change, acidification, ecotoxicity etc.) in the life cycle assessment. The impact on different impact categories may then, be associated with three Area of Protections (AoP): human health, ecosystem health, natural resources. A last phase is the interpretation of the results (4). LCA studies are usually performed through commercial software which calculates the environmental impact associated to the elements of the supply chains being assessed (see the EPLCA Resource directory for a list of software). The environmental impact refers to a functional unit (e.g. a car, a litre of milk etc.) set as a reference quantity for the study, reflecting a specific product and its function. Inventory data on processes (e.g. emission to air, water, soil associated to the production of 1 kg of steel) are available through commercial databases and, increasingly, are made available through the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment, in the ILCD Data Network. It should be noted that this methodology is less suitable for innovative products as they are not included in commercial databases. The software associates each inventory data with specific indicators of impacts, calculating through specific models the burden associated to the functional unit. This is the life cycle impact assessment phase in which the impacts/burdens associated with a product, a life cycle stage or even a specific process 331

5 are estimated. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis can be conducted, for example by applying different models, to help understand the uncertainty in the results. Box 3. Examples of LCA results Typical results of comparison of two products may be presented by highlighting the relative performance in each impact category. For example, if we compare the environmental impacts of two electricity mix in two countries (1 MJ 'Electricity mix, at consumer, 1kV - 60kV -country A in red) and (1 MJ 'Electricity mix, AC, consumption mix, at consumer, 1kV - 60kV -country B in blue)763 we obtain the figure below. This is calculated using as The analysis could be done on products/sectors for assessing hotspots of impacts. In this case, summary results may be presented, highlighting which kind of impacts occur and in which life cycle stage. Below is an example of a hotspot analysis for one product 763 Method: ILCD 2011 Midpoint+ (for use in PEF/OEF pilots) V1.04 / EU , equal weighting 332

6 Some results of life-cycle based assessments are already being used in a number of EU policies, such as the Ecolabel Regulation, Green Product Procurement and Ecodesign Directive. Further development of LCA and adaptation to policy needs is aiming at increasing consideration of life cycle aspects in policymaking. Additionally, some examples where LCA is or has been used in EU policy development and in impact assessment are reported below and in a JRC report on LCA for supporting policies 764 : Box 4. Examples of use of LCA in EU policies and impact assessment LCA used to define emerging problems, especially related to products and product supply chains, and new technologies: e.g. (i) the repeal of waste oil directive based also on a study reporting LCA evidences; (ii) the problem definition of the impact assessment of the communication Building single market for green product ; (iii) Communication on Resource Efficiency Opportunities in the Building sector LCA used to identify policy options: e.g.(i) in the impact assessment of plastic bags directive where policy options has been based on tackling issue coming from a convergence of different LCA which were supporting prevention policy options; (ii) in the waste framework directive where LCA is cited for justifying possible changes in the waste hierarchy, due to environmental concerns; (iii) in the directive on renewable resources, there is an LCA based requirement on GHG reduction for Biofuels; (iv) in the communication Building single market for green product where LCA is the reference methodology for product and organisation assessment. 764 JRC(2016). Life cycle assessment for the impact assessment of policies. Luxembourg. Publications Office of the European Union: ISBN

7 Annex 1: LCIA impact categories and recommended models and indicators The International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) 765 Handbook is a series of technical guidance documents for LCA that complement the International Standards to provide the basis for greater consistency and quality of life cycle data, methods and assessments. A specific handbook is devoted to Life Cycle Impact Assessment, recommending models and indicators for 14 impact categories at midpoint. Table 1 Recommended methods and their classification at midpoint Impact category Recommended default LCIA method Indicator Climate change Ozone depletion Human toxicity, cancer effects Human toxicity, non- cancer effects Particulate matter/respiratory inorganics Ionising radiation, human health Ionising radiation, ecosystems Photochemical ozone formation Acidification Eutrophication, terrestrial Eutrophication, aquatic Ecotoxicity Baseline model of 100 years of the IPCC Steady-state ODPs 1999 as in WMO assessment USEtox model (Rosenbaum et al, 2008) USEtox model (Rosenbaum et al, 2008) RiskPoll model (Rabl and Spadaro, 2004) and Greco et al 2007 Human health effect model as developed by Dreicer et al (Frischknecht et al, 2000) No methods recommended LOTOS-EUROS (Van Zelm et al, 2008) as applied in ReCiPe Accumulated Exceedance (Seppälä et al. 2006, Posch et al, 2008) Accumulated Exceedance (Seppälä et al. 2006, Posch et al, 2008) EUTREND model (Struijs et al, 2009b) as implemented in ReCiPe Radiative forcing as Global Warming Potential (GWP100) Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) Comparative Toxic Unit for humans (CTUh) Comparative Toxic Unit for humans (CTUh) Intake fraction for fine particles (kg PM2.5- eq/kg) Human exposure efficiency relative to U 235 Tropospheric ozone concentration increase Accumulated Exceedance (AE) Accumulated Exceedance (AE) Fraction of nutrients reaching freshwater end compartment (P) or marine end compartment (N) USEtox model, (Rosenbaum et al, Comparative Toxic Unit

8 Impact category Recommended default LCIA method Indicator (freshwater) 2008) for ecosystems (CTUe). Ecotoxicity (terrestrial marine) Land use and Resource depletion, water Resource depletion, mineral, fossil and renewable No methods recommended Model based on Soil Organic Matter (SOM) (Milà i Canals et al, 2007b) Model for water consumption as in Swiss Ecoscarcity (Frischknecht et al, 2008) CML 2002 (Guinée et al., 2002) Soil Organic Matter Water use related to local scarcity of water Scarcity 335