LCA in Focus: Insights from the ISIE 12th Conference on Industrial Ecology

Emerging tools, earth system boundaries, and circularity challenges were key themes at ISIE 2025 in Singapore.

Recently, Dr Alex Newman attended the International Society for Industrial Ecology’s 2025 conference in Singapore, which highlighted current research and thinking on Earth system boundaries, the decoupling of GDP and environmental impacts, and the expanding role of LCA in guiding industrial strategy.

The 12th International Conference of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE 2025) brought together researchers (including several members of LCA-RSIN), policymakers, and practitioners to explore how industrial systems can support global sustainability transitions. The conference covered methods, tools, and policy insights across life cycle thinking, circular economy, and industrial symbiosis, with LCA acting as a recurring thread throughout.

A standout keynote by Prof Xuemei Bai (Australian National University) tackled how Earth system boundaries can be translated into equitable national or corporate targets within LCA, offering 10 core principles to operationalise environmental responsibility impactfully. Bai also highlighted and discussed key policy levers that promise to better embed LCA into industrial strategy.

A session on the decoupling of GDP growth and environmental impacts challenged conventional consumption-led narratives, arguing that restructuring provisioning systems offers greater benefits. General consensus evidenced LCAs critical future role in validating circularity initiatives that promise to mitigate the impacts of societal consumption, especially as economic development accelerates material demand globally.

Hydropower impacts were another area of LCA-rich discussion. New tools are enabling accurate prediction of aquatic biodiversity loss from run-of-river schemes, including as a function of latitude. A global mapping tool based on satellite-informed datasets for the evaluation of land-use change (Gernaat et al.) is also under development, promising to support more robust prospective LCAs.

Finally, several promising tools for Social LCA practitioners were presented and will be shared in future Special Interest Group (SIG) discussions. 

As always, our Social LCA SIG welcomes new members interested in engaging with these developments.