DF 62 — LCA and decision making: when and how to use consequential LCA?

Friday, 9 September 2016, ETH Zürich, Alumni Pavillon

We cordially invite you to the 62nd Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment.
The official language of this event is English.

What are the environmental implications of the European Union policy to have 10 % of the transport fuel come from renewable sources by 2020? Is it sufficient to switch the energy supply of the existing building stock of cities to renewable energy to achieve carbon footprint targets? Would agricultural autarchy reduce pressure on the environment (locally and/or globally)? 

Policies and decision situations like these call for advanced life cycle assessment models. Different concepts of Consequential LCA have been introduced for that purpose. This forum updates you on the latest developments in Consequential LCA methodology. It provides the opportunity to learn about the motivation and reasoning of public and private decision makers who commissioned consequential LCAs. Results from and experiences gained with consequential LCA case studies and the current state of implementation of consequential LCA approaches in large LCA databases as well as new IT solutions to support consequential LCAs are presented. 

During a breakout session you have the opportunity to discuss issues of needs, contents and implementation of consequential LCA with the aim to draft a joint statement on areas of consensus and disagreement.

This forum is targeted to LCA researchers, database developers as well as LCA commissioners interested in learning more about the current state of the art, possibilities  and limitations of consequential LCAs. 

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Call for short presentations for DF 61-63:

DF 63: How can LCA support the Circular Economy? 

Wednesday, 30 November 2016, ETH Zürich, Alumni Pavillon 

(The official language of this event is English.)

The concept of Circular Economy is gaining popularity in Europe and elsewhere. Both the recycling of waste and a (recycling friendly) eco-design are components of a Circular Economy. How can LCA support the creation of a Circular Economy and ensure a positive balance of efforts and benefits? How shall substituted materials and products be accounted for, who can claim the benefit, and how is resource quality taken into consideration? How can waste and resources be managed to minimize environmental impacts? How can products be designed in an eco-friendly manner to close material cycles? 

The 3rd forum will give the floor to representatives from industry, authorities, academics, and organisa-tions to present new applications and approaches of LCA in combination with various other environmental assessment tools (e.g. MFA, LCA and/or mathemati-cal optimization) to manage wastes and resources sustainably and to support decision-making towards a circular economy. A focus will be laid on factors relevant for the benefits of the circular economy, such as waste and resource quality aspects and their influence on the recycling system, as well as product quality. Finally, examples of LCA applications for eco-design, waste management and systemic analyses across sectors will be shown.