Can S-LCA methodology support responsible sourcing of raw materials in EU policy context?

Purpose: Access, affordability and sustainability of raw material supply chains are crucial to the sustainable development of the European Union (EU) for both society and economy. The study investigates whether and how the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) methodology can support responsible sourcing of raw materials in Europe. The potential of social indicators already available in an S-LCA database is tested for the development of new metrics to monitor social risks in raw material industries at EU policy level. Methods: The Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database was identified as a data and indicators source to assess social risks in raw material industries in EU-28 and extra-EU countries. Six raw material country sectors in the scope of the European policy on raw materials were identified and aggregated among those available in PSILCA. The selection of indicators for the assessment was based on the RACER (Relevance, Acceptance, Credibility, Ease, Robustness) analysis, leading to the proposal of 9 social impact categories. An S-LCA of the selected raw material industries was, thus, performed for the EU-28 region, followed by a contribution analysis to detect direct and indirect impacts and investigate related supply chains. Finally, the social performance of raw material sectors in EU-28 was compared with that of six extra-EU countries. Results and discussion: Considering the overall social risks in raw material industries, “Corruption”, “Fair salary”, “Health and safety” and “Freedom of association and collective bargaining” emerged as the most significant categories both in EU and extra-EU. EU-28 shows an above-average performance where the only exception is represented by the mining and quarrying sector. An investigation of the most contributing processes to social impact categories for EU-28 led to the identification of important risks originating in the supply chain and in extra-EU areas. Therefore, the S-LCA methodology confirmed the potential of a life cycle perspective to detect burdens shifting and trade-offs. However, only a limited view on the sectoral social performance could be obtained from the research due to a lack of social data. Conclusions: The S-LCA methodology and indicators appear appropriate to perform an initial social sustainability screening, thus enabling the identification of hotspots in raw material supply chains and the prioritization of areas of action in EU policies. Further methodological developments in the S-LCA field are necessary to make the approach proposed in the paper fully adequate to support EU policies on raw materials

Environmental performance of miscanthus-lime lightweight concrete using life cycle assessment:Application in external wall assemblies

This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. In the UK context, miscanthus is a potential alternative perennial crop for the development of bio-based building materials. This paper presents the environmental benefits of using miscanthus shives in lightweight blocks and their potential application in wall assemblies. A systemic life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out for miscanthus-lime blocks, and the effects of binder type and binder content are discussed. The environmental performance-based analysis reveals that miscanthus blocks can capture 135 kg CO eq/m for an assumed 100-years life period. The impact analysis using the University of Leiden, institute of environmental science (CML) baseline (v4.4) method shows that 75% of the greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to the production of mineral binders. A reduction of binder to aggregate ratio from 2.0 to 1.5 reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 32.9%. The use of 10 wt% mineral additions can potentially stabilise blocks while having little effect on their overall environmental impacts. The environmental profiles of wall systems incorporating miscanthus-lime blocks have been evaluated in this this study. Combining miscanthus blocks with fired clay bricks enables a potential low carbon retrofitting technique for the current stock of residential buildings in the UK. Timber-framed system filled with miscanthus blocks enables a carbon storage of ~97.3 kg CO eq/m , which presents a potential carbon offsetting strategy in new-build dwellings. Consideration should be given to the potential negative impacts related to agricultural activities for the production of miscanthus shives. The largest negative environmental impact was ozone layer depletion, where a relative difference of 12.8% was recorded between miscanthus timber-framed wall and a typical solid wall insulated with mineral wool. It appears that miscanthus-lime composites can substantially improve the environmental profile of wall assemblies and sustainability be applied in existing uninsulated masonry walls or incorporated in timber- framed new-build houses.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership studentshi

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of normalization factors to methodological assumptions

Normalisation factors are calculated as results of regional/global inventories of emission and resources characterised trough impact assessment methods. Several methodological assumptions are needed for building the inventory. Sala et al 2015 presented a set of normalisation factors for the EU 2010 defining a methodological approach for sources selection and for building proxy indicators. Qualitative and quantitative uncertainty evaluation is needed for assessing the robustness of final figures. Five sources of uncertainty have been analysed in this work: (F1) the selection of the sources of data; (F2) the classification of data as life cycle inventory (LCI) elementary flows; (F3) the classification of substances for characterization; (F4) the specification of the emission compartments; and (F5) the use of spatially differentiated characterization factors. The sensitivity of the normalization factors to such uncertainties were assessed through a global sensitivity method, for the impact categories acidification (ACID), terrestrial eutrophication (ET), marine eutrophication (EM), photochemical ozone formation (POF), respiratory inorganics/particulate matter (RIPM) and water depletion (WD).The uncertainty associated with the methodological choices made for calculating normalization factors (Sala et al 2015) was assessed. Generally the value calculated by Sala et al (2015) compare well against average and median values estimated in this analysis for ACID, ET, EM and POF. Instead, the impact categories RIPM and WD show different patterns, for the former, although the average value is very similar, the median value is far lower than the normalization factor reported by Sala et al. (2015). For what concerns WD, the median value is much higher. Future improvements of the normalization factors should therefore prioritize the development of more detailed inventories of emissions by including: higher substance resolution, height of emission as well as the use of spatially differentiated characterization factors. The authors recommend that the normalization factors from Sala et al. (2015) are applied together with two additional sets of normalization factors i.e. the 'median values' and the set of 'average + standard deviation' values, so to better capture their uncertainty. Similarly, the interpretation of the results should build on the qualitative estimates of robustness provided by Sala et al. (2015).JRC.H.8 - Sustainability Assessmen

A survey of current life cycle costing studies (translation from Chinese)

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