LCM2007 - 3 rd International Conference on Life Cycle Management; Zurich, August 27-29, 2007 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment: Meeting business and government needs Angeline de Beaufort 2 , Raffaella Bersani 3 , Werner Bosmans 1 , Clare Broadbent 4 , David Cockburn 10 , Christian Leroy 6 , Jan Manders 9 , Freddy Marechal 7 , David W. Pennington 3 , Jörg H. Schäfer 6 , Aafko Schanssema 7 , Henrike Sievers 5 , Ladji Tikana 5 , Anne-France Woestyn 1 , Marc-Andree Wolf 3 , Michelle Wyart-Remy 8 1 DG ENV, 3 DG JRC (European Commission) 2 FEFCO, 4 EUROFER, 5 ECI, 6 EAA, 8 IMA-Europe, 7 PlasticsEurope, 9 CEWEP, 10 ACE - (EU-level business associations, members of the European Business Advisory Group of the European Platform on LCA) 1 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Agenda • Introduction Joint Research Centre (JRC) • Principles of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) • Drivers in government and in business • Meeting the needs • Stakeholder involvement • The European Business Advisory Group • Outlook • Instead of a summary... 2 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Introduction JRC DG JRC Mission Statement … to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national. 3 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Principles of LCT The key components of Life Cycle Thinking and Assessment � Avoid the "shifting-of-burdens" among life cycle phases (i.e. production, use, end-of life) and among countries and regions --> Consider the complete life cycle of the product (good or service) � Avoid the "shifting-of-burdens" among impacts on natural environment, human health, and natural resources (i.e. consider trade-offs among impacts on climate change, human toxicity, acid rain, fossil fuel depletion etc.) --> Consider all relevant impacts jointly � Allow for detailed comparisons and gradual improvements --> Quantify the impacts along the life cycle and for all relevant impacts in a joint methodological frame � Avoid misleading comparisons --> Compare on basis of a "functional unit" i.e. of the quantitative performance of the analysed product, services, technology LCT/LCA is a concept that enables to bring different information into perspective LCA is complementary to other tools and information ! 4 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Principles of LCT Life Cycle Thinking and Assessment Climate change, Acidification, Summer smog, Human toxicity, Environmental and health impact Ecotoxicity, Eutrophication, Ozone layer depletion, modelling Radioactive releases, ... Emissions Energy carrier Life Cycle Inventory extraction Production Material of electricity recycling Extraction of raw material A Energy Production of recovery intermediates Production of Utilisation / Extraction of final product service provision raw material B Production of Land filling parts Extraction of raw material C ... ... ... Resources Material and energy resource consumption, land use Resource depletion Life Cycle Production phase Use phase End-of-Life Phases: phase 5 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Drivers in government and business Life cycle related policies in the EU Framing policies (support-mandate given to JRC for European Platform on LCA) • Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan, SCP (devel. on-going) * • Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste (2005) • Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources (2005) • Communication on Integrated Product Policy, IPP (2003) • … Specific policies and other activities • Sustainability Assessment of Technologies, SAT (devel. on-going) • Eco-label and EMAS regulations ( on-going revisions ) • Framework Directive on Waste; Waste Directives ( on-going revisions ) • Directive on Eco-design for Energy-using products, EuP • Environmental Technologies Action Plan Communication, ETAP • Green (public) procurement, GPP • Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (national implementation) • … • EU's FP7 research projects link to ELCD-conform LCAs (waste, nanotechnologies) * New (homepage and on-going stakeholder consultation): http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/escp_en.htm 6 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Drivers in government and business Similar needs in business and government towards the deliverables of the European Platform on LCA • Increase quality / appropriateness, comparability, acceptance, and defendability of life cycle methods, data, and studies • Ensure the use of up-to-date real industry data • Achieve coherent use of life cycle data and methods accross policy instruments • Guarantee that confidentiality / competitive interests of industry are met • Increase cost-effectiveness of LCA (data, methods, work flow) • Contribute to more science-based policies • Ensure embedding of LCA into a wider method tool-box and into business tools • Identify and communicate limits of LCA to avoid its misuse • Support development of meaningfully simplified life cycle approaches 7 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Meeting the needs Mandate of the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment European Commission, Integrated Product Policy Communication (IPP), 2003: "LCA is the best framework for assessing the potential env. impacts of products but debate ongoing about good practice" → "The European Commission will develop ... → Handbook on best practice; best attainable consensus among stakeholders → Co-ordination to make data more accessible and systematically collected → Directory of LCA databases to be updated at regular intervals → Platform to facilitate communication and exchanges" 8 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Meeting the needs Supporting Business and Government in Europe: European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment Project initiation and coordination: European Commission, DG JRC with DG Environment Initial phase: 2005 to 2008 Key customers: European Business - EC services - Member States Deliverables: • European Reference Life Cycle Data System (ELCD) • Handbook of recommended LCA practice • LCA information hub and communication platform Online at http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu 9 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Meeting the needs Overview of specific deliverables and activities (on-going work / support contracts) • Enhanced ELCD core database (with reference LCI data and elementary flows) • Recommended life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) factors and guidance document • LCA handbook of recommended methods (online) • Review requirements • ELCD format finalisation / finetuning; data exchange testing • Further developed ELCD online-system • Expanded LCA Resources Directory, terminology, intro-texts etc. • Further harmonised and reviewed ELCD core data sets • Facilitating independent WWW-network of ELCD-consistent databases (with ELCD core database as one element) 10 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Meeting the needs ELCD core database and LCA Resources Directory (latest update May '07) Access, download: http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/ 11 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
Meeting the needs Wider, high quality and consisent LCA data system Network of consistent, but independent LCA databases - from industry, national LCA project, consultants, and research groups, with the European Commission’s ELCD core database as one component. To start from mid 2008 onwards. (See EC's operating system at http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/datasetCategories.vm) National DB 3 EC's ELCD DB Association DB 2 Industry DB 5 Consultant DB 9 Meta-Data Meta-Data Meta-Data Meta-Data Meta-Data Inputs/Outputs Inputs/Outputs Inputs/Outputs Inputs/Outputs Inputs/Outputs LCA practitioners in industry, government, research, consultancy, ... 12 LCM2007, August 27-29 Life Cycle Thinking and the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment - lca@jrc.it -
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