Life Cycle Assessment: Understanding the environmental impact of products
Every product out there has an environmental impact. The journey of the smartphone or the laptop that you are reading this article in began from the extraction of rare earth metals and probably ends in its disposal. Throughout its life cycle – from raw material extraction to manufacturing to transportation to usage and disposal, the phone has an effect on the environment. And so do the other products ever made and will be made. Knowing their impact will help businesses make responsible choices along the way.
One way to achieve this goal is through a life cycle assessment (LCA), an independent analysis of environmental consequences throughout a product’s entire life cycle—often divided into five key stages - Raw Material Extraction, Manufacturing & Processing, Transportation, Usage & Retail and Waste Disposal/Recycling. LCA has become a leading tool within businesses and government today to quantify, evaluate and measure the impacts and thereby chalk out plans to minimize them. It helps identify areas where opportunities to reduce environmental footprint lie across the value chain. While initially aiding only energy analysis, the tool has evolved to cover the environmental and social impact of products.?
According to the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, “Industry draws upon many activities and processes—diverse resources are consumed along the way as different substances are emitted. An LCA helps to determine to what extent these material exchanges with the environment are detrimental to both natural ecosystems and human health.”??
The LCA was first mooted in the 1960s and 70s amid growing concern over resource depletion and energy crisis. In 1994, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) committed to the standards and frameworks for the assessment. By 2005, the European Union, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and many other government bodies had implemented policies promoting the use of an LCA as part of sustainability initiatives.?
What does it measure?
The impacts most commonly measured are costs, energy, and emissions. An LCA can reveal the ecological impact of a product across various aspects, detailing specifics like its carbon and water footprint, overall resource and energy consumption, waste generation, product toxicity and its role in pollution.
The ISO standards 14044:2006, which make the results comparable globally and across products, describe the principles and framework for conducting an LCA. The assessment is broken down into the following four phases:?
Goal and Scope definition: The first phase witnesses businesses defining the goal and scope of the assessment. It involves establishing the system boundaries, the function unit, allocation procedures and the depth of the analysis.?
Inventory Analysis: This phase is dedicated to the collection of data (inputs/outputs) by mapping each in-scope process. Metrics are set to quantify the different inputs, such as energy, water and land, and outputs such as emission and waste across the life cycle. These measures such as volume, mass or weight form part of the life cycle inventory (LCI).?
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Impact Assessment: In this phase, the data is translated into impacts. This step involves choosing relevant impact categories, putting data from the LCI into the categories, and modeling them to impacts. An LCIA translates these measurements into meaningful information –? the potential impact on climate change and global warming, for instance. In simple terms, the LCA data gives you an idea of how much water, electricity, fibre, dye and bleach were used to produce a pair of jeans and how much CO2 was emitted in the process. It is then utilized to understand, for instance, where the GHG emission is felt the most.? This LCI data is to calculate how much this contributes to resource depletion or global warming.?
Ecodesign explains that we can draw conclusions about ‘How high are the emissions of the product or service?’ ‘How does it compare to other products in their portfolio?’ ‘What are the biggest leverages to reduce the impact of our product?’ ‘Can we be more efficient in manufacturing it?’
Interpretation: ?In this phase, conclusions and opportunities (called hotspots) are identified for mitigating the impact. The analysts interpret the drivers for the outputs across the environmental impacts and identify where improvements can be made across the life cycle.??
Benefits of doing an LCA
The results of an LCA empower businesses, policymakers, and other organizations to make informed decisions to further sustainability efforts. It facilitates adjustments in functionality and operations, enhances design processes, establishes climate action targets, improves process efficiency, streamlines procurement procedures, enhances communication, reduces costs, and ensures compliance. Companies can use their LCA information to drive circular economy strategies. Additionally, it can also enhance their reputation, resulting in customer loyalty and investor interest.?
Limitations
An LCA’s limitations come mainly in the form of immeasurability of metrics. Sustainability or circular economy is an abstract idea. It is not easy to quantify all the factors. The shortcomings primarily stem from LCA’s selectivity and dependence on assumptions and input data. It may overlook important factors, such as complex environmental impacts or external changes, leading to biased or incomplete results. Despite these constraints, the LCA offers valuable insights by identifying areas for improvement, testing against external factors, comparing alternatives, and aiding in later stages of innovation or system improvement efforts. Its ability to pinpoint environmental hotspots, assess the effects of external changes, and facilitate informed decision-making makes it a valuable tool, whatsoever.?
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Ehfaaz’s End-of-Life Emissions Impact Report
Ehfaaz introduced the End-of-Life Emissions Impact Report, a comprehensive and pioneering report for the FMCG industry. This framework, tailored to 23 waste streams, goes beyond conventional reporting by providing detailed recycling data and quantifying the environmental impact of recycling efforts, including carbon offsetting and resource preservation. Its aim is to encourage more businesses in the UAE to adopt sustainable recycling practices. Reach out to our team for more details.?