Journal: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment

Abbreviation

Int J Life Cycle Assess

Publisher

Springer

Journal Volumes

ISSN

0948-3349
1614-7502

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Publications 1 - 10 of 117
  • The environmental relevance of freshwater consumption in global power production
    Item type: Journal Article
    Pfister, Stephan; Saner, Dominik; Koehler, Annette (2011)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • Using standard statistics to consider uncertainty in industry-based life cycle inventory databases
    Item type: Journal Article
    Sugiyama, Hirokazu; Fukushima, Yasuhiro; Hirao, Masahiko; et al. (2005)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • Enhancing comprehensive measurement of social impacts in S-LCA by including environmental and economic aspects
    Item type: Journal Article
    Zimdars, Christopher; Haas, Adrian; Pfister, Stephan (2018)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
    Purpose Measurability becomes a key question in the assessment of the sustainability of products and services. As the LCA has proven its capability of measuring environmental sustainability over the last decades, the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) seems promising as a way to cover the social dimension of sustainability within a similar framework. For operability reasons, working hours are commonly used as a single metric in product orientated S-LCA studies, even though major stakeholder groups are excluded by doing so. This paper shows how this shortcoming can be overcome through the introduction of the measurement of additional activity variables and explores different ways of implementing these variables. Methods This work suggests introducing the activity variables Biophysical Pressure and Added Value in addition to the commonly used working hours of involved labour forces. Biophysical Pressure reflects the negative influence of the degraded natural environment on the affected humans in addition to the direct health effect covered by standard LCA. Added Value represents the potential benefits for stakeholders due to financial investments in production. The new activity variables are derived from the MRIO database “Exiobase” and coupled with social risk indicators from the “Social Hotspot Database”. Finally, the qualitative risk classes are transformed to quantitative units and normalized to allow for a better interpretation and an optional aggregation of the three variables into a Final Social Impact score. Results and discussion In order to test the method’s applicability, the social impacts of products and services from two different product systems were calculated and compared. Three t-shirts and four residential housing heating systems were assessed by the developed method and compared on the basis of their respective functional units. Major differences between the social impact measured only by working hours and social impact measured by the aggregation of the three quantitative units were observed, especially since the Added Value (social benefits) dimension and working hours contrasted regionally. While the concept is functional, there are limitations related to the MRIO inventory data and to the interpretation of results; therefore, sensitivity analyses were applied. Conclusions The developed S-LCA method shows a promising way to extend the range of stakeholders affected by the life cycle of a distinct product by adding new variables. While constraints of MRIO data concerning detailed product system representation currently limit the approach, it allows one to identify potential social hotspots in complex product systems.
  • Guidelines for environmental life cycle assessment of cultivated meat
    Item type: Journal Article
    Blackstone, Nicole Tichenor; Pavlova, Anisiya; Trinidad, Kirsten R.; et al. (2025)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
    Purpose Cultivated meat is produced by growing animal cells in vitro without using, or reducing the use of, animals for meat, poultry, or seafood production. Responsibly and consistently investigating the environmental impacts of cultivated meat is essential to provide reliable performance benchmarks and realistic comparisons with animal-based production systems. In this contribution, we provide technical, actionable guidelines for conducting life cycle assessments (LCAs) of cultivated meat and highlight further research needs for the field. Methods We assembled a global team of recognized and active scientists in cultivated meat LCA, livestock systems LCA, and ISO LCA standards to develop this set of guidelines using a workshop (in person and online) and online meetings, as well as asynchronous feedback, to reach consensus. Results and discussion These guidelines provide specifications throughout the four phases of LCA, from goal definition to the interpretation of LCA results. Data gaps, including the availability and quality of feed or food-grade culture media component inventories, are among the areas highlighted for further exploration. Conclusion We invite LCA practitioners to apply these guidelines when investigating cultivated meat systems to increase the consistency and reliability of environmental impact evaluations for these emerging products.
  • Spatial and temporal specific characterisation factors for water use impact assessment in Spain
    Item type: Journal Article
    Núñez, Montserrat; Pfister, Stephan; Vargas, Mar; et al. (2014)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • A research perspective towards a more complete biodiversity footprint: a report from the World Biodiversity Forum
    Item type: Journal Article
    Marques, Alexandra; Robuchon, Marine; Hellweg, Stefanie; et al. (2021)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • Consensus building on the development of a stress-based indicator for LCA-based impact assessment of water consumption: outcome of the expert workshops
    Item type: Journal Article
    Boulay, Anne-Marie; Bare, Jane; Camillis, Camillo De; et al. (2015)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • Assessing the potential human health impacts of freshwater consumption: considering inequalities in water availability to assess the consequences of domestic water deprivation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Debarre, Laura; Motoshita, Masaharu; Pfister, Stephan; et al. (2025)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
    PurposeThe consumption of freshwater can increase local competition among ecosystems needs, agriculture, and domestic users. This competition can lead to reduced domestic water availability and subsequent inadequate hygiene practices leading to water-related diseases. Among the few attempts to develop endpoint-oriented characterization models and factors to assess this impact pathway, limitations still need to be addressed to improve the effect factor (EF) representing the marginal increase in health damage associated with 1 m3 of water consumed. This research proposes a revised country-scale effect model assessing diarrheal diseases due to domestic water deprivation, considering different levels of water availability within a country.MethodsThe calculation of the EF is based on the principle that the probability of negative health consequences associated with depriving a domestic user of 1 m3 of water depends on the quantity used daily by this user. Three classes of domestic water users are defined based on their range of daily water use. EFs are calculated for each class of domestic users building on a comparative risk assessment methodology and households' levels of access to drinking water and sanitation from the Joint Monitoring Program. Country-specific EFs are computed as the weighted sum of class-specific EF proportionally to the population within each class. Revised country-specific EFs are used to overwrite the generic constant EF used in previous characterization models and to compute new characterization factors (CFs).Results and discussionClass-specific effect factors equal to 1.35e - 3, 3.44e - 4, and 7.53e - 5 DALY/m3 for the three classes of users, showing a 57, 89, and 98% reduction compared to previous characterization models. Country-specific EF values range from 7.5e - 05 to 8.7e - 04 DALY/m3 deprived (M: 2.5e - 04; SD: 1.8e - 04), representing a reduction of 72.2 to 97.6% compared to previous models. New 11987 CFs were compiled ranging from 0 to 7.63e - 04 DALY/m3 consumed (M: 1.9e - 6; SD: 2.1e - 5). The global potential impact induced by water consumption over the year 2019 computed with our model reaches 2.77e + 7 DALYs, corresponding to 50% of the water-related burden of diarrheal disease calculated by a recent epidemiology study, which confirms the plausibility of our results.ConclusionsUnlike previous methods, our revised EFs acknowledge inequalities in domestic water consumption within a country. Revised EFs are calculated by country, going beyond the global resolution of previous models, compared to which they show a reduction of 72 to 98%. A sanity check confirms the plausibility of our CFs but does not rule out a potential overestimation. Future research is needed to provide empirical evidence supporting a causal link between water deprivation and diarrheal diseases and to assess uncertainties of the model results.
  • Comparing direct land use impacts on biodiversity of conventional and organic milk-based on a Swedish case study
    Item type: Journal Article
    Mueller, Carina; Baan, Laura de; Koellner, Thomas (2014)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
  • A method for allocation according to the economic behaviour in the EU-ETS for by-products used in cement industry
    Item type: Journal Article
    Habert, Guillaume (2013)
    The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Publications 1 - 10 of 117