Life Cycle Impacts and Comparative Risks

Sponsor

Life Cycle initiative, hosted by UN-Environment

People

Olivier Jolliet (ojolliet@umich.edu)

Keywords

LCIA framework . Climate change . Fine particulate matter . Human health . Land use . Water consumption . Water scarcity

Project summary

The current environmental pressure and the global value chains require the development of green products and services and of a global and harmonized method to quantify their life cycle environmental impacts on climate, human health, ecosystem, and natural resources (water, biotic, mineral). The Life Cycle Initiative, hosted by UN Environment, aims to stimulate consensus on scientific progress and make it available to multiple stakeholders. It aims to establish a comprehensive, consistent and global Environmental Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method, covering classification, characterisation, normalisation and weighting to assess the life cycle impacts of products and services on human health, ecosystem and natural resources.

A global LCIA method recommended by the Life Cycle Initiative hosted by UN Environment will contribute to

- offer a “ready made” multi-dimensional LCIA method based on international consensus, valid worldwide, reflecting synergies between multiple governments, industries, NGOs and academics,

- Offer recognized indicators valid worldwide, facilitating their application to global supply chains and their incorporation into EPDs, Green Standards, Product Environmental Footprints, and labels,

- mainstream life cycle thinking by harmonising the environmental impact category indicators,

- increase the acceptance and appropriate application of environmental life cycle assessment,

- contribute to better confidence in indicators and their results,

- disseminate the approach of multi-dimensional assessment that avoids burden shifting,

- foster the comparability of LCAs by offering a consistent set of consensus indicators.

Two rounds of consensus building and harmonization processes and workshops have successfully enabled the Life Cycle Initiative to recommend best practices in nine impact categories, including climate change, water use impacts on ecosystems and human health, land use impact on biodiversity, human health impacts of particulate matter and of chemical releases (human toxicity), ecotoxicity, acidification and eutrophication, ecosystem services and natural resources (Jolliet et al., 2018, Frischknecht and Jolliet, 2018). The integration of individual indicators into a consistent, harmonized and more comprehensive Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) endpoint method will be key for its intensive diffusion and to facilitate application and use of life cycle based information for improved decision.

Olivier Jolliet and Rolf Frischknecht are co-chair of this UN-environment flagship project on LCIA guidance.

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

1. Jolliet O, Antón A, Boulay AM, Cherubini F, Fantke P, Levasseur A, McKone TE, Michelsen O, Milà i Canals L, Motoshita M, Pfister S, Verones F, Vigon B, Frischknecht R, 2018. Global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment indicators: impacts of climate change, fine particulate matter formation, water consumption and land use. Int J Life Cycle Assess, 23 (11), 2189–2207.
2. Frischknecht R and Jolliet O (eds), 2016. Global guidance for life cycle impact assessment indicators – Volume 1. Publication of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, Paris, DTI/2081/PA, ISBN: 978-92-807-3630-4, pp 159. (http://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/training-resources/global-guidance-lcia-indicators-v-1/)
3. Verones F, Bare J, Bulle C, Frischknecht R, Hauschild M, Hellweg S, Henderson A, Jolliet O, Laurent A, Liao X, Lindner JP, Maia de Souza D, Michelsen O, Patouillard L, Pfister S, Posthuma L, Prado V, Ridoutt B, Rosenbaum RK, Sala S, Ugaya C, Vieira M, Fantke P, 2017. LCIA framework and cross-cutting issues guidance within the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, Journal of Cleaner Production, 161, 957-967.
4. Jolliet O, Frischknecht R, Bare J, Boulay AM, Bulle C, Fantke P, Gheewala S, Hauschild M, Itsubo N, Margni M, McKone TE, Mila y Canals L, Postuma L, Prado-Lopez V, Ridoutt B, Sonnemann G, Rosenbaum RK, Seager T, Struijs J, van Zelm R, Vigon B, Weisbrod A, 2014. Global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment indicators: findings of the scoping phase. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 19 (4), 962-967.
5. Jolliet O, Saadé-Sbeih M, Shanna S, Jolliet A, Crettaz P, 2015. Environmental Life Cycle Assessment, CRC-Press, ISBN 9781439887660, pp.302.