This year's LCA-RSIN annual event took place in Sheffield on 19th June.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the LCA-RSIN Annual Event, our largest gathering yet! With over 130 attendees from across academia, industry, and government, the day was packed with insightful discussions, expert panels, networking and showcasing the momentum of the LCA community in the UK.

Our first plenary session featured Lynsay Blake (DEFRA) and Camilla de Ste Croix (DESNZ), who discussed the circular economy, working at the science and policy interface, and the important link between evidence and policy.

Morning breakout sessions included:

• Working Group 1's workshop on bridging data gaps for policy and regulation,

•  Working Group 5's session on strengthening LCA training and skills development,

• and Henry King's industrial perspective on applying LCA in corporate sustainability, which described the evolution of LCA in this context based on over 30 years of experience in the field.

Becki Clark (Frazer-Nash) led a plenary on aligning methodology and data across sectors to support consistent and transparent LCA practices, including important discussion areas like mass balance and chain of custody methods.

This was followed by Owen Lowry-Thomas and Camilla de Ste Croix (DESNZ) outlining the UK’s evolving embodied emissions reporting framework. Upcoming initiatives and opportunities for engagement were highlighted. This session underscored the value of the network and highlighted the value LCA-RSIN will have in future.

Afternoon discussions covered:

• Challenges in circularity and bio-based LCA (Working Group 2),

• Deeper dives into methodological complexities (Working Group 3).

We then heard from Lorraine Ferris (University of Manchester) about future directions for network development. This interactive session highlighted a number of potential routes forward, and Lorraine reminded those interested in joining the Network Development Group to contact her directly.

The day concluded with a dynamic panel discussion, chaired by Rachael Rothman, on using LCA and regulation to support a UK circular economy. The panel featured Pete Hodgson (Tata Steel UK), Geoff Mackey (Plastics Europe), Catherine Scott (Decerna), and Amy Peace (Innovate UK), offering diverse insights into the challenges and opportunities of embedding LCA in policy and innovation. Many of the points raised earlier in the day were reiterated, including chain of custody methods, CBAM, corporate reporting and the importance of the science-policy interface.

We’re grateful to all who contributed, especially our speakers and workshop facilitators, and to Decerna, our Gold Sponsor.

Please click through the image gallery below to see images from the day.

Event Gold Sponsor: Decerna