1
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Belyanovskaya A, Soldatova EA, Kolotygina VN, Laratte B, Korogod NP. Assessment of microelement ecotoxicity in fen for ecological state monitoring. Chemosphere 2024; 351:141163. [PMID: 38219988 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.141163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
Wetlands, including bogs, fens, and swamps, play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance by absorbing pollutants. They also conserve biodiversity and serve as breeding and migration sites for living organisms whose treated by pollutants entering to the wetland ecosystems. Pollutants entering wetland ecosystems can have detrimental effects on these important functions. The article introduces the method of toxicity assessment of microelements used in the environmental condition monitoring of the Ob River's floodplain fen (Tomsk Oblast, Russia). The impact of freshwater species (PAF m3day/kgemitted) is evaluated by calculating the Life Cycle Assessment Impact score for Be, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Sr, Mo, Pb, Cd, Sb, Ba, and Tl at distances of 40, 100, and 160 m from the wastewater discharge site. The study considers the elemental composition and total volume of water from various areas within the research site for assessing freshwater ecotoxicity. 12 out of 15 investigated trace elements have the greatest impact on the freshwater system in the zone of 160 m from the site of anthropogenic impact on the water body. The sampling areas can be ranked based on their ∑IS value, with IS160 = 1.3E+11, followed by IS100 = 7.5E+10, and IS40 = 1.5E+10 [PAF m3day/kgemitted].
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - B Laratte
- Arts et Metiers Institute of Technology, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, HESAM University, I2M, UMR 5295, F-33400, Talence, France.
| | - N P Korogod
- Pavlodar State Pedagogical University, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.
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2
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Borgelt J, Dorber M, Géron C, Kuipers KJJ, Huijbregts MAJ, Verones F. What Is the Impact of Accidentally Transporting Terrestrial Alien Species? A New Life Cycle Impact Assessment Model. Environ Sci Technol 2024. [PMID: 38332475 PMCID: PMC10882960 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c08500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Alien species form one of the main threats to global biodiversity. Although Life Cycle Assessment attempts to holistically assess environmental impacts of products and services across value chains, ecological impacts of the introduction of alien species are so far not assessed in Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Here, we developed country-to-country-specific characterization factors, expressed as the time-integrated potentially disappeared fraction (PDF; regional and global) of native terrestrial species due to alien species introductions per unit of goods transported [kg] between two countries. The characterization factors were generated by analyzing global data on first records of alien species, native species distributions, and their threat status, as well as bilateral trade partnerships from 1870-2019. The resulting characterization factors vary over several orders of magnitude, indicating that impact greatly varies per transportation route and trading partner. We showcase the applicability and relevance of the characterization factors for transporting 1 metric ton of freight to France from China, South Africa, and Madagascar. The results suggest that the introduction of alien species can be more damaging for terrestrial biodiversity as climate change impacts during the international transport of commodities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Borgelt
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim 7034, Norway
| | - Martin Dorber
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim 7034, Norway
| | - Charly Géron
- Biodiversity and Landscape, TERRA research centre, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux 5030, Belgium
- Plants and Ecosystems, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk 2610, Belgium
- . CNRS, ECOBIO (Écosystèmes, Biodiversité, Évolution), UMR, University of Rennes, Rennes 6553, France
| | - Koen J J Kuipers
- Department of Environmental Science, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, GL 6500, Netherlands
| | - Mark A J Huijbregts
- Department of Environmental Science, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, GL 6500, Netherlands
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim 7034, Norway
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3
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Kapur M, Peña AN, Sreeram N, Bloem MW, Drewnowski A. What Is the Likely Impact of Alternative Proteins on Diet Quality, Health, and the Environment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Curr Dev Nutr 2024; 8:102064. [PMID: 38476726 PMCID: PMC10926135 DOI: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Alternative protein (AP) foods are proposed to support a global protein transition. Whereas AP food innovation has been a strategy to promote consumption of protein sources with low environmental impact in high-income countries (HICs) diets, their relation to sustainable, high-quality diets in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains to be established. AP foods vary in nutrient profile, processing requirements, costs, and environmental impact. Current literature regarding AP suitability in LMIC contexts is limited. This perspective examined environmental and nutritional metrics that can assess the sustainability of AP in LMICs. Current research areas needed to accurately assess environmental impacts while considering nutritional density were identified. An overview of the usability of relevant AP in both high- and low-resource settings was also explored. Metrics addressing diverse contextual synergies in LMICs, unifying nutritional, environmental, and socioeconomic considerations, were found necessary to guide the integration of AP into LMIC diets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mansha Kapur
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Alexis N. Peña
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Navya Sreeram
- Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Martin W. Bloem
- Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
- Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Adam Drewnowski
- University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, Washington, United States
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4
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Zhou X, Bai S, Zhao X, Yang J. From full life cycle assessment to simplified life cycle assessment: A generic methodology applied to sludge treatment. Sci Total Environ 2023; 904:167149. [PMID: 37739077 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Life cycle assessment is widely used to evaluate sludge treatment methods. However, detailed life cycle assessment is time-consuming and resource-intensive. In addition, the complex characteristics of sludge and the variety of treatment methods increase the difficulty of sludge treatment life cycle assessment. There is an urgent need to develop simplified life cycle assessment models to allow rapid decision-making. This study proposes a simplified method of sludge treatment life cycle assessment based on logistic regression analysis. The simplified model relies on the total environmental impact and very few or even a single input parameters. Contribution and data quality analysis were introduced to identify key input parameters and to obtain model training data. The method was eventually applied to traditional sludge treatment methods, showing that it can quickly and accurately predict environmental impact. Representative analysis showed that the model would be affected by technology and energy structure modification. It is hoped that this study will provide a reference and new perspectives for a simplified life cycle assessment of sludge treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xue Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, 150090 Harbin, China
| | - Shunwen Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, 150090 Harbin, China
| | - Xinyue Zhao
- College of Resource and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
| | - Jixian Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, 150090 Harbin, China.
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5
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Scherer L, Rosa F, Sun Z, Michelsen O, De Laurentiis V, Marques A, Pfister S, Verones F, Kuipers KJJ. Biodiversity Impact Assessment Considering Land Use Intensities and Fragmentation. Environ Sci Technol 2023; 57:19612-19623. [PMID: 37972360 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Land use is a major threat to terrestrial biodiversity. Life cycle assessment is a tool that can assess such threats and thereby support environmental decision-making. Within the Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (GLAM) project, the Life Cycle Initiative hosted by UN Environment aims to create a life cycle impact assessment method across multiple impact categories, including land use impacts on ecosystem quality represented by regional and global species richness. A working group of the GLAM project focused on such land use impacts and developed new characterization factors to combine the strengths of two separate recent advancements in the field: the consideration of land use intensities and land fragmentation. The data sets to parametrize the underlying model are also updated from previous models. The new characterization factors cover five species groups (plants, amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles) and five broad land use types (cropland, pasture, plantations, managed forests, and urban land) at three intensity levels (minimal, light, and intense). They are available at the level of terrestrial ecoregions and countries. This paper documents the development of the characterization factors, provides practical guidance for their use, and critically assesses the strengths and remaining shortcomings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Scherer
- Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Francesca Rosa
- Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Zhongxiao Sun
- College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Ottar Michelsen
- Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | | | - Alexandra Marques
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2500 GH The Hague, The Netherlands
| | - Stephan Pfister
- Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department for Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Koen J J Kuipers
- Department of Environmental Science, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES), Radboud University, 6525AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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6
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Chessa C, Susca T. Development of an LCA characterization factor to account UHI local effect on terrestrial ecosystems damage category: Evaluation of European Bombus and Onthophagus genera heat-stress mortality. Sci Total Environ 2023; 897:165183. [PMID: 37385499 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Life Cycle Assessment as currently implemented fails in detecting and measuring the interactions between urban climate and built environment, specifically the urban heat island, providing potentially misleading results. The present study offers an advancement in Life Cycle Assessment methodology, and specifically in ReCiPe2016 method, by (a) suggesting the implementation of the Local Warming Potential midpoint impact category where the variation of urban temperature converges; (b) developing a new characterization factor through the definition of damage pathways to assess the effect of urban heat island on terrestrial ecosystems damage category, specifically on European Bombus and Onthophagus genera; (c) defining local endpoint damage categories where environmental local impacts can be addressed. The developed characterization factor has been applied to the case study of an urban area in Rome, Italy. The results show that the evaluation of the effects of urban overheating on local terrestrial ecosystems is meaningful and may support urban decision-makers who want to holistically assess urban plans.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tiziana Susca
- ENEA Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Department Unit for Energy Efficiency, Italy.
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7
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Oginah SA, Posthuma L, Hauschild M, Slootweg J, Kosnik M, Fantke P. To Split or Not to Split: Characterizing Chemical Pollution Impacts in Aquatic Ecosystems with Species Sensitivity Distributions for Specific Taxonomic Groups. Environ Sci Technol 2023; 57:14526-14538. [PMID: 37732841 PMCID: PMC10552544 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Bridging applied ecology and ecotoxicology is key to protect ecosystems. These disciplines show a mismatch, especially when evaluating pressures. Contrasting to applied ecology, ecotoxicological impacts are often characterized for whole species assemblages based on Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSDs). SSDs are statistical models describing per chemical across-species sensitivity variation based on laboratory toxicity tests. To assist in the aligning of the disciplines and improve decision-support uses of SSDs, we investigate taxonomic-group-specific SSDs for algae/cyanobacteria/aquatic plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates for 180 chemicals with sufficient test data. We show that splitting improves pollution impact assessments for chemicals with a specific mode of action and, surprisingly, for narcotic chemicals. We provide a framework for splitting SSDs that can be applied to serve in environmental protection, life cycle assessment, and management of freshwater ecosystems. We illustrate that using split SSDs has potentially large implications for the decision-support of SSD-based outputs around the globe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan Anyango Oginah
- Quantitative
Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource
Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Leo Posthuma
- National
Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- Department
of Environmental Science, Radboud University
Nijmegen, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Michael Hauschild
- Quantitative
Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource
Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jaap Slootweg
- National
Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
| | - Marissa Kosnik
- Quantitative
Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource
Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Peter Fantke
- Quantitative
Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource
Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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8
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Pierrat É, Laurent A, Dorber M, Rygaard M, Verones F, Hauschild M. Advancing water footprint assessments: Combining the impacts of water pollution and scarcity. Sci Total Environ 2023; 870:161910. [PMID: 36736405 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Several water footprint indicators have been developed to curb freshwater stress. Volumetric footprints support water allocation decisions and strive to increase water productivity in all sectors. In contrast, impact-oriented footprints are used to minimize the impacts of water use on human health, ecosystems, and freshwater resources. Efforts to combine both perspectives in a harmonized framework have been undertaken, but common challenges remain, such as pollution and ecosystems impacts modelling. To address these knowledge gaps, we build upon a water footprint assessment framework proposed at conceptual level to expand and operationalize relevant features. We propose two regionalized indicators, namely the water biodiversity footprint and the water resource footprint, that aggregate all impacts from toxic chemicals, nutrients, and water scarcity. The first impact indicator represents the impacts on freshwater ecosystems. The second one models the competition for freshwater resources and its consequences on freshwater availability. As part of the framework, we complement the two indicators with a sustainability assessment representing the levels above which ecological and human freshwater needs are no longer sustained. We test our approach assessing the sustainability of water use in the European Union in 2010. Water stress hampers 15 % of domestic, agricultural and industrial water demand, mainly due to irrigation and pesticide emissions in southern Europe. Moreover, damage to the freshwater ecosystems is widespread and mostly resulting from chemical emissions from industry. Approximately 5 % of the area is exceeding the regional sustainability limits for ecosystems and human water requirements altogether. Concerted efforts from all sectors are needed to reduce the impacts of emissions and water consumption under the sustainability limits. These advances are considered an important step toward the harmonization of volumetric and impact-oriented approaches to achieve consistent and holistic water footprinting as well as contributing to strengthen the policy relevance of water footprint assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Éléonore Pierrat
- Section for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
| | - Alexis Laurent
- Section for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Martin Dorber
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Høgskøleringen 5, 7034, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Martin Rygaard
- Water Technology and Processes, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Høgskøleringen 5, 7034, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Michael Hauschild
- Section for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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9
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Pierrat E, Barbarossa V, Núñez M, Scherer L, Link A, Damiani M, Verones F, Dorber M. Global water consumption impacts on riverine fish species richness in Life Cycle Assessment. Sci Total Environ 2023; 854:158702. [PMID: 36108858 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Revised: 08/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Reduced river discharge and flow regulation are significant threats to freshwater biodiversity. An accurate representation of potential damage of water consumption on freshwater biodiversity is required to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of global value chains. The effect of discharge reduction on fish species richness was previously modeled in life cycle impact assessment, but models were limited by the restricted geographical scope of underlying species-discharge relationships and the small number of species data. Here, we propose a model based on a novel regionalized species-discharge relationship (SDR). Our SDR-based model covers 88 % of the global landmass (2320 river basins worldwide excluding deserts and permanently frozen areas) and is based on a global dataset of 11,450 riverine fish species, simulated river discharge, elevation, and climate zones. We performed 10-fold cross-validation to select the best set of predictors and validated the obtained SDRs based on observed discharge data. Our model performed better than previous SDRs employed in life cycle impact assessment (Kling-Gupta efficiency coefficient about 4 times larger). We provide both marginal and average models with their uncertainty ranges for assessing scenarios of small and large-scale water consumption, respectively, and include regional and global species loss. We conducted an illustrative case study to showcase the method's applicability and highlight the differences with the currently used approach. Our models are useful for supporting sustainable water consumption and riverine fish biodiversity conservation decisions. They enable a more specific, reliable, and complete impact assessment by differentiating impacts on regional riverine fish species richness and irreversible global losses, including up-to-date species data, and providing spatially explicit values with high geographical coverage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonore Pierrat
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment division, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
| | - Valerio Barbarossa
- Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague, the Netherlands
| | - Montserrat Núñez
- Sustainability in Biosystems, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), Caldes de Montbui, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Laura Scherer
- Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Andreas Link
- Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technical University of Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Mattia Damiani
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Martin Dorber
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
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10
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Oginah SA, Posthuma L, Maltby L, Hauschild M, Fantke P. Linking freshwater ecotoxicity to damage on ecosystem services in life cycle assessment. Environ Int 2023; 171:107705. [PMID: 36549223 PMCID: PMC9875201 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems provide major benefits to human wellbeing-so-called ecosystem services (ES)-but are currently threatened among others by ecotoxicological pressure from chemicals reaching the environment. There is an increased motivation to incorporate ES in quantification tools that support decision-making, such as life cycle assessment (LCA). However, mechanistic models and frameworks that can systematically translate ecotoxicity effect data from chemical tests into eventual damage on species diversity, functional diversity, and ES in the field are still missing. While current approaches focus on translating predicted ecotoxicity impacts to damage in terms of species loss, no approaches are available in LCA and other comparative assessment frameworks for linking ecotoxicity to damage on ecosystem functioning or ES. To overcome this challenge, we propose a way forward based on evaluating available approaches to characterize damage of chemical pollution on freshwater ES. We first outline an overall framework for linking freshwater ecotoxicity effects to damage on related ES in compliance with the boundary conditions of quantitative, comparative assessments. Second, within the proposed framework, we present possible approaches for stepwise linking ecotoxicity effects to species loss, functional diversity loss, and damage on ES. Finally, we discuss strengths, limitations, and data availability of possible approaches for each step. Although most approaches for directly deriving damage on ES from either species loss or damage to functional diversity have not been operationalized, there are some promising ways forward. The Threshold Indicator Taxa ANalysis (TITAN) seems suitable to translate predicted ecotoxicity effects to a metric of quantitative damage on species diversity. A Trait Probability Density Framework (TPD) approach that incorporates various functional diversity components and functional groups could be adapted to link species loss to functional diversity loss. An Ecological Production Function (EPF) approach seems most promising for further linking functional diversity loss to damage on ES flows for human wellbeing. However, in order to integrate the entire pathway from predicted freshwater ecotoxicity to damage on ES into LCA and other comparative frameworks, the approaches adopted for each step need to be harmonized in terms of assumptions, boundary conditions and consistent interfaces with each other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan A Oginah
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Leo Posthuma
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Department of Environmental Science, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Lorraine Maltby
- School of Biosciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Hauschild
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Peter Fantke
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
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11
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Owsianiak M, Hauschild MZ, Posthuma L, Saouter E, Vijver MG, Backhaus T, Douziech M, Schlekat T, Fantke P. Ecotoxicity characterization of chemicals: Global recommendations and implementation in USEtox. Chemosphere 2023; 310:136807. [PMID: 36228725 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Chemicals emitted to the environment affect ecosystem health from local to global scale, and reducing chemical impacts has become an important element of European and global sustainability efforts. The present work advances ecotoxicity characterization of chemicals in life cycle impact assessment by proposing recommendations resulting from international expert workshops and work conducted under the umbrella of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative in the GLAM project (Global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment indicators). We include specific recommendations for broadening the assessment scope through proposing to introduce additional environmental compartments beyond freshwater and related ecotoxicity indicators, as well as for adapting the ecotoxicity effect modelling approach to better reflect environmentally relevant exposure levels and including to a larger extent chronic test data. As result, we (1) propose a consistent mathematical framework for calculating freshwater ecotoxicity characterization factors and their underlying fate, exposure and effect parameters; (2) implement the framework into the USEtox scientific consensus model; (3) calculate characterization factors for chemicals reported in an inventory of a life cycle assessment case study on rice production and consumption; and (4) investigate the influence of effect data selection criteria on resulting indicator scores. Our results highlight the need for careful interpretation of life cycle assessment impact scores in light of robustness of underlying species sensitivity distributions. Next steps are to apply the recommended characterization framework in additional case studies, and to adapt it to soil, sediment and the marine environment. Our framework is applicable for evaluating chemicals in life cycle assessment, chemical and environmental footprinting, chemical substitution, risk screening, chemical prioritization, and comparison with environmental sustainability targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikołaj Owsianiak
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Michael Z Hauschild
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
| | - Leo Posthuma
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, Netherlands; Department of Environmental Science, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Erwan Saouter
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate D - Sustainable Resources, 21027 Ispra, Italy
| | - Martina G Vijver
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9518, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Thomas Backhaus
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 40530, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Mélanie Douziech
- Centre of Observations, Impacts, Energy, MINES Paris Tech, PSL University, Sophia Antipolis, France; LCA Research Group, Agroscope, Reckenholzstrasse 191, Zurich, 8046, Switzerland
| | - Tamar Schlekat
- Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, United States
| | - Peter Fantke
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
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12
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Byun J, Han J. Green Methane as a Future Fuel for Light-Duty Vehicles. Fermentation 2022; 8:680. [DOI: 10.3390/fermentation8120680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Food waste (FW) has traditionally been disposed by incineration or landfilling; however, it can be converted to green methane (GM) via anaerobic digestion, and GM can be used as fuel for light-duty natural gas vehicles (LDNGVs). A lifecycle assessment (LCA) of FW-based GM production and LDNGV operation in China, a new scenario, was performed. The LCA results were compared with those for the conventional FW treatment, where a “well-to-wheel” system boundary including FW collection, GM production from FW, and vehicle manufacturing, operation, and disposal was defined. The LCA results showed that the global warming impacts of the new FW scenario are 44.3% lower than those of the conventional option. The fine particulate matter formation impact of the new FW scenario was dominated by the displacement effect of electricity supply to anaerobic digestion, followed by CO2 adsorption by the primary source. The sensitivity analysis showed that hydroelectric power as the best primary source for electricity supply could substantially reduce both global warming and FRS in the new scenario. In the short term, the proposed FW scenario could be a feasible option for achieving sustainable society by minimizing environmental impacts of FW treatment.
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Izaola B, Akizu-gardoki O, Oregi X. Life Cycle Analysis Challenges through Building Rating Schemes within the European Framework. Sustainability 2022; 14:5009. [DOI: 10.3390/su14095009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
The decarbonisation of buildings is a crucial milestone if European cities mean to reach their mitigation targets. The construction sector was responsible for 38% of the GHG emissions in 2020. From these emissions, 11% is calculated to be currently embodied in building materials. In this context, an evaluation from a life cycle perspective is becoming increasingly necessary to achieve the objectives set. Currently, there are different building rating systems (BRS) at European level that allow the evaluation of the degree of sustainability of buildings. During this study, the authors have evaluated to what extent and how the most extended five BRS (NF Habitat HQE, VERDE, DGNB, BREEAM, and HPI systems) in the European framework have integrated the life cycle methodology during their evaluation process. Four methodologies have been used in the research in order to analyse these five systems: quantitative assessment, multi-level perspective, mapping–gap analysis, and expert interviews. Although each methodology has produced different results, the need to harmonise the evaluation criteria at the European level, the insufficient consistency of data software, and the availability of skilled LCA professionals for wider LCA market penetration, among others, should be highlighted. The quality and harmonised data of construction products is required for LCA to give aggregated and transformative results.
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Skaar C, Lausselet C, Bergsdal H, Brattebø H. Towards a LCA Database for the Planning and Design of Zero-Emissions Neighborhoods. Buildings 2022; 12:512. [DOI: 10.3390/buildings12050512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The integration of science-based knowledge on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into practice-based neighborhood design and planning is key to inform and implement climate mitigation strategies. LCA is a method that is commonly used to provide objective and science-based information on the environmental impacts of specified systems or products. To use a LCA methodology at neighborhood scale is in turn dependent on the development of a common structure for life cycle inventory data. Such a LCA database does not operate on its own, but functions as a structured source of relevant high-quality data inputs linked to other different analytical tools. The aim of this study is to analyze the needs and requirements and provide a foundation for a LCA database at neighborhood scale that can provide users with an interface to find and access life cycle data in the users’ preferred format. The result of this study is the outline of the foundations of a user-centric LCA database for neighborhoods, including several sub-systems (buildings, infrastructure, mobility, and energy supply). Recommendations are given in the Conclusions Section to provide harmonized decision support on reducing GHG emissions at local levels in the planning and design of urban development projects at the neighborhood scale.
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Roibás-Rozas A, Núñez M, Mosquera-Corral A, Hospido A. Modeling the Impact of Salinity Variations on Aquatic Environments: Including Negative and Positive Effects in Life Cycle Assessment. Environ Sci Technol 2022; 56:874-884. [PMID: 34985874 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c04656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Salinity is changing in aquatic systems due to anthropogenic activities (like irrigation or dam management) and climate change. Although there are studies on the effects of salinity variations on individual species, little is known about the effects on overall ecosystems, these impacts being more uncertain in transitional waters such as estuaries or fiords. The few works that do address this topic have considered these impacts using ecotoxicity models. However, these models state that an increase in the concentration of a pollutant generates an increase in the impacts, disregarding the effects of water freshening. The present research work introduces a general framework to address the impacts of salinity variations, including emission-related positive effects. We validated this framework by applying it to an estuarine area in Galicia (northwestern Spain), where sharp drops in the salt concentration have caused mass mortalities of shellfish in recent decades. This research work addresses for the first time the potential effects on the environment derived from a decrease in the concentration of essential substances, where the effects of an emission can also generate positive impacts. Moreover, it is expected that the framework can also be applied to model the environmental impacts of other essential substances in life cycle assessment (LCA), such as metals and macronutrients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Roibás-Rozas
- Cross-disciplinary Research Center in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
| | - Montserrat Núñez
- Sustainability in Biosystems, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), 08140 Caldes de Montbuí, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Anuska Mosquera-Corral
- Cross-disciplinary Research Center in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
| | - Almudena Hospido
- Cross-disciplinary Research Center in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS), Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
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Kuipers KJJ, May R, Verones F. Considering habitat conversion and fragmentation in characterisation factors for land-use impacts on vertebrate species richness. Sci Total Environ 2021; 801:149737. [PMID: 34525717 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Revised: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Human land use is one of the primary threats to terrestrial species richness and is considered a priority for meeting global sustainability and biodiversity targets. Decision-support tools, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), are widely used for developing strategies to achieve such objectives. Currently available life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods apply the countryside species-area relationship (c-SAR) to quantify habitat conversion impacts on species richness. However, additional effects of habitat fragmentation are yet ignored in these assessments. We use the species-habitat relationship (SHR), an adaptation of the c-SAR that considers both habitat conversion and fragmentation effects, to develop a new set of land-use characterisation factors for 702 terrestrial ecoregions (in 238 countries), four land-use types (urban, cropland, pasture, and forestry), and four taxonomic groups (amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles; plus the aggregate of these vertebrate groups). The SHR generally predicts higher per-area impacts of land-use than the impacts estimated by the c-SAR (a median relative difference of +9%), indicating that land-use impacts may be systematically underestimated when ignoring fragmentation effects. Whereas per-area impacts of land-use on regional species richness are highest in temperate regions, reflecting the diminished extent of natural habitat, per-area impacts of land-use on global species richness are highest in the subtropics, reflecting the importance of tropical regions and islands to global vertebrate species diversity. The large variety in magnitude of land-use impacts across the world's regions emphasizes the importance of regionalised assessments. The set of characterisation factors proposed here can be readily used in environmental decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen J J Kuipers
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
| | - Roel May
- Terrestrial Ecology, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
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Brooks JR, Ebi KL. Climate Change Warning Labels on Gas Pumps: The Role of Public Opinion Formation in Climate Change Mitigation Policies. Glob Chall 2021; 5:2000086. [PMID: 34631148 PMCID: PMC8495559 DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202000086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Revised: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
This article analyzes City of Cambridge, Massachusetts legislation that requires all gasoline and diesel pumps to display a consumer warning label outlining the climate change and public health impacts from fuel combustion. This review of empirical and theoretical scholarship on efficacy of carbon label programs and health warning labels suggests government-sponsored "warming labels" may increase self-efficacy beliefs. The analysis reveals warming labels may activate extant climate concern norms and shift public opinion toward long term support of sustainable transportation emissions policies and practices.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kristie L. Ebi
- University of Washington4225 Roosevelt Way NE #100SeattleWA98105USA
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Sevigné-Itoiz E, Mwabonje O, Panoutsou C, Woods J. Life cycle assessment (LCA): informing the development of a sustainable circular bioeconomy? Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci 2021; 379:20200352. [PMID: 34334023 PMCID: PMC8326828 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2020.0352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
The role of life cycle assessment (LCA) in informing the development of a sustainable and circular bioeconomy is discussed. We analyse the critical challenges remaining in using LCA and propose improvements needed to resolve future development challenges. Biobased systems are often complex combinations of technologies and practices that are geographically dispersed over long distances and with heterogeneous and uncertain sets of indicators and impacts. Recent studies have provided methodological suggestions on how LCA can be improved for evaluating the sustainability of biobased systems with a new focus on emerging systems, helping to identify environmental and social opportunities prior to large R&D investments. However, accessing economies of scale and improved conversion efficiencies while maintaining compatibility across broad ranges of sustainability indicators and public acceptability remain key challenges for the bioeconomy. LCA can inform, but not by itself resolve this complex dimension of sustainability. Future policy interventions that aim to promote the bioeconomy and support strategic value chains will benefit from the systematic use of LCA. However, the LCA community needs to develop the mechanisms and tools needed to generate agreement and coordinate the standards and incentives that will underpin a successful biobased transition. Systematic stakeholder engagement and the use of multidisciplinary analysis in combination with LCA are essential components of emergent LCA methods. This article is part of the theme issue 'Bio-derived and bioinspired sustainable advanced materials for emerging technologies (part 1)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Sevigné-Itoiz
- Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), Imperial College London, (ICL), 18-19 Princess Garden, South Kensington, London SW7 1NE, UK
| | - Onesmus Mwabonje
- Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), Imperial College London, (ICL), 18-19 Princess Garden, South Kensington, London SW7 1NE, UK
| | - Calliope Panoutsou
- Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), Imperial College London, (ICL), 18-19 Princess Garden, South Kensington, London SW7 1NE, UK
| | - Jeremy Woods
- Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), Imperial College London, (ICL), 18-19 Princess Garden, South Kensington, London SW7 1NE, UK
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Côté S, Beauregard R, Margni M, Bélanger L. Using Naturalness for Assessing the Impact of Forestry and Protection on the Quality of Ecosystems in Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainability 2021; 13:8859. [DOI: 10.3390/su13168859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
A novel approach is proposed to evaluate the impact of forestry on ecosystem quality in life cycle assessment (LCA) combining a naturalness assessment model with a species richness relationship. The approach is applied to a case study evaluating different forest management strategies involving concomitantly silvicultural scenarios (plantation only, careful logging only or the current mix of both) combined with an increasing share of protected area for wood production in a Québec black spruce forest. The naturalness index is useful to compare forest management scenarios and can help evaluate conservation needs considering the type of management foreseen for wood production. The results indicate that it is preferable to intensify forest management over a small proportion of the forest territory while ensuring strict protection over the remaining portion, compared to extensive forest management over most of the forested area. To explore naturalness introduction in LCA, a provisory curve relating the naturalness index (NI) with the potential disappeared fraction of species (PDF) was developed using species richness data from the literature. LCA impact scores in PDF for producing 1 m3 of wood might lead to consistent results with the naturalness index but the uncertainty is high while the window leading to consistent results is narrow.
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Fantke P, Chiu WA, Aylward L, Judson R, Huang L, Jang S, Gouin T, Rhomberg L, Aurisano N, McKone T, Jolliet O. Exposure and Toxicity Characterization of Chemical Emissions and Chemicals in Products: Global Recommendations and Implementation in USEtox. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2021; 26:899-915. [PMID: 34140756 PMCID: PMC8208704 DOI: 10.1007/s11367-021-01889-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Reducing chemical pressure on human and environmental health is an integral part of the global sustainability agenda. Guidelines for deriving globally applicable, life cycle based indicators are required to consistently quantify toxicity impacts from chemical emissions as well as from chemicals in consumer products. In response, we elaborate the methodological framework and present recommendations for advancing near-field/far-field exposure and toxicity characterization, and for implementing these recommendations in the scientific consensus model USEtox. METHODS An expert taskforce was convened by the Life Cycle Initiative hosted by UN Environment to expand existing guidance for evaluating human toxicity impacts from exposure to chemical substances. This taskforce evaluated advances since the original release of USEtox. Based on these advances, the taskforce identified two major aspects that required refinement, namely integrating near-field and far-field exposure and improving human dose-response modeling. Dedicated efforts have led to a set of recommendations to address these aspects in an update of USEtox, while ensuring consistency with the boundary conditions for characterizing life cycle toxicity impacts and being aligned with recommendations from agencies that regulate chemical exposure. The proposed framework was finally tested in an illustrative rice production and consumption case study. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION On the exposure side, a matrix system is proposed and recommended to integrate far-field exposure from environmental emissions with near-field exposure from chemicals in various consumer product types. Consumer exposure is addressed via submodels for each product type to account for product characteristics and exposure settings. Case study results illustrate that product-use related exposure dominates overall life cycle exposure. On the effect side, a probabilistic dose-response approach combined with a decision tree for identifying reliable points of departure is proposed for non-cancer effects, following recent guidance from the World Health Organization. This approach allows for explicitly considering both uncertainty and human variability in effect factors. Factors reflecting disease severity are proposed to distinguish cancer from non-cancer effects, and within the latter discriminate reproductive/developmental and other non-cancer effects. All proposed aspects have been consistently implemented into the original USEtox framework. CONCLUSIONS The recommended methodological advancements address several key limitations in earlier approaches. Next steps are to test the new characterization framework in additional case studies and to close remaining research gaps. Our framework is applicable for evaluating chemical emissions and product-related exposure in life cycle assessment, chemical alternatives assessment and chemical substitution, consumer exposure and risk screening, and high-throughput chemical prioritization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Fantke
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Weihsueh A. Chiu
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Lesa Aylward
- Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Richard Judson
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA
| | - Lei Huang
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - Suji Jang
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Todd Gouin
- TG Environmental Research, Sharnbrook, MK44 1PL, UK
| | | | - Nicolò Aurisano
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Thomas McKone
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
| | - Olivier Jolliet
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Mullen E, Morris MA. Green Nanofabrication Opportunities in the Semiconductor Industry: A Life Cycle Perspective. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2021; 11:1085. [PMID: 33922231 PMCID: PMC8146645 DOI: 10.3390/nano11051085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The turn of the 21st century heralded in the semiconductor age alongside the Anthropocene epoch, characterised by the ever-increasing human impact on the environment. The ecological consequences of semiconductor chip manufacturing are the most predominant within the electronics industry. This is due to current reliance upon large amounts of solvents, acids and gases that have numerous toxicological impacts. Management and assessment of hazardous chemicals is complicated by trade secrets and continual rapid change in the electronic manufacturing process. Of the many subprocesses involved in chip manufacturing, lithographic processes are of particular concern. Current developments in bottom-up lithography, such as directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs), are being considered as a next-generation technology for semiconductor chip production. These nanofabrication techniques present a novel opportunity for improving the sustainability of lithography by reducing the number of processing steps, energy and chemical waste products involved. At present, to the extent of our knowledge, there is no published life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluating the environmental impact of new bottom-up lithography versus conventional lithographic techniques. Quantification of this impact is central to verifying whether these new nanofabrication routes can replace conventional deposition techniques in industry as a more environmentally friendly option.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor Mullen
- CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, D02 W085 Dublin, Ireland
| | - Michael A. Morris
- CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, D02 W085 Dublin, Ireland
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Ahmad Ludin N, Ahmad Affandi NA, Purvis-roberts K, Ahmad A, Ibrahim MA, Sopian K, Jusoh S. Environmental Impact and Levelised Cost of Energy Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic Systems in Selected Asia Pacific Region: A Cradle-to-Grave Approach. Sustainability 2021; 13:396. [DOI: 10.3390/su13010396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Sustainability has been greatly impacted by the reality of budgets and available resources as a targeted range of carbon emission reduction greatly increases due to climate change. This study analyses the technical and economic feasibility for three types of solar photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy (RE) systems; (i) solar stand-alone, a non-grid-connected building rooftop-mounted structure, (ii) solar rooftop, a grid-connected building rooftop-mounted structure, (iii) solar farm, a grid-connected land-mounted structure in three tropical climate regions. Technical scientific and economic tools, including life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) with an integrated framework from a Malaysian case study were applied to similar climatic regions, Thailand, and Indonesia. The short-term, future scaled-up scenario was defined using a proxy technology and estimated data. Environmental locations for this scenario were identified, the environmental impacts were compared, and the techno-economic output were analysed. The scope of this study is cradle-to-grave. Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) was greatly affected due to PV performance degradation rate, especially the critical shading issues for large-scale installations. Despite the land use impact, increased CO2 emissions accumulate over time with regard to energy mix of the country, which requires the need for long-term procurement of both carbon and investment return. With regards to profitably, grid-connected roof-mounted systems achieve the lowest LCOE as compared to other types of installation, ranging from 0.0491 USD/kWh to 0.0605 USD/kWh under a 6% discounted rate. A simple payback (SPB) time between 7–10 years on average depends on annual power generated by the system with estimated energy payback of 0.40–0.55 years for common polycrystalline photovoltaic technology. Thus, maintaining the whole system by ensuring a low degradation rate of 0.2% over a long period of time is essential to generate benefits for both investors and the environment. Emerging technologies are progressing at an exponential rate in order to fill the gap of establishing renewable energy as an attractive business plan. Life cycle assessment is considered an excellent tool to assess the environmental impact of renewable energy.
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Dorber M, Arvesen A, Gernaat D, Verones F. Controlling biodiversity impacts of future global hydropower reservoirs by strategic site selection. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21777. [PMID: 33311532 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78444-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Further reservoir-based hydropower development can contribute to the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) on affordable and clean energy, and climate action. However, hydropower reservoir operation can lead to biodiversity impacts, thus interfering with the SDGs on clean water and life on land. We combine a high-resolution, location-specific, technical assessment with newly developed life cycle impact assessment models, to assess potential biodiversity impacts of possible future hydropower reservoirs, resulting from land occupation, water consumption and methane emissions. We show that careful selection of hydropower reservoirs has a large potential to limit biodiversity impacts, as for example, 0.3% of the global hydropower potential accounts for 25% of the terrestrial biodiversity impact. Local variations, e.g. species richness, are the dominant explanatory factors of the variance in the quantified biodiversity impact and not the mere amount of water consumed, or land occupied per kWh. The biodiversity impacts are mainly caused by land occupation and water consumption, with methane emissions being much less important. Further, we indicate a trade-off risk between terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity impacts, as due to the weak correlation between terrestrial and aquatic impacts, reservoirs with small aquatic biodiversity impacts tend to have larger terrestrial impacts and vice versa.
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Liu X, Bakshi BR, Rugani B, de Souza DM, Bare J, Johnston JM, Laurent A, Verones F. Quantification and valuation of ecosystem services in life cycle assessment: Application of the cascade framework to rice farming systems. Sci Total Environ 2020; 747:141278. [PMID: 32795796 PMCID: PMC7944463 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The integration of ecosystem service (ES) assessment with life cycle assessment (LCA) is important for developing decision support tools for environmental sustainability. A prequel study has proposed a 4-step methodology that integrates the ES cascade framework within the cause-effect chain of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) to characterize the physical and monetary impacts on ES provisioning due to human interventions. We here follow the suggested steps in the abovementioned study, to demonstrate the first application of the integrated ES-LCIA methodology and the added value for LCA studies, using a case study of rice farming in the United States, China, and India. Four ES are considered, namely carbon sequestration, water provisioning, air quality regulation, and water quality regulation. The analysis found a net negative impact for rice farming systems in all three rice producing countries, meaning the detrimental impacts of rice farming on ES being greater than the induced benefits on ES. Compared to the price of rice sold in the market, the negative impacts represent around 2%, 6%, and 4% of the cost of 1 kg of rice from China, India, and the United States, respectively. From this case study, research gaps were identified in order to develop a fully operationalized ES-LCIA integration. With such a framework and guidance in place, practitioners can more comprehensively assess the impacts of life cycle activities on relevant ES provisioning, in both physical and monetary terms. This may in turn affect stakeholders' availability to receive such benefits from ecosystems in the long run.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyu Liu
- William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Bhavik R Bakshi
- William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
| | - Benedetto Rugani
- Environmental Research & Innovation (ERIN) Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Danielle Maia de Souza
- Département de Stratégie, Responsabilité Sociale et Environnementale, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Jane Bare
- Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency (United States EPA), Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - John M Johnston
- Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency (United States EPA), Athens, GA, United States
| | - Alexis Laurent
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA) Group, Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
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Dorber M, Kuipers K, Verones F. Global characterization factors for terrestrial biodiversity impacts of future land inundation in Life Cycle Assessment. Sci Total Environ 2020; 712:134582. [PMID: 31831240 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2019] [Revised: 08/26/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool for analyzing and comparing environmental impacts of products throughout their life cycles, facilitating shifts towards more environmentally friendly products. However, LCA does currently not address terrestrial biodiversity impacts related to the conversion of terrestrial habitat into aquatic habitat. This conversion can occur because of sea level rise, establishment of new land-based aquaculture, as well as reservoir expansion or creation. Here, we focus on land occupation and terrestrial biodiversity impacts, while transformation impacts, and habitat gain for aquatic species were beyond the scope of the study. To be able to estimate the regional and global terrestrial biodiversity impacts of future land occupation from terrestrial to aquatic habitat in LCA, we developed new characterization factors (CFs) for 781 terrestrial ecoregions, 5 land cover/use types, and 4 taxonomic groups. The basis for the development of the proposed CFs is the model concept of the currently recommended method for quantifying land use impacts on biodiversity in LCA by the Life Cycle Initiative hosted by United Nations Environmental Program. The global CFs vary between 7.44 E-20 PDF/m2 and 6.25 E-09 PDF/m2, showing that a highly variable terrestrial biodiversity impact of land inundation between land cover/use types, taxonomic groups and ecoregions exists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Dorber
- Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Koen Kuipers
- Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Francesca Verones
- Department of Energy and Process Engineering, NTNU, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
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Hélias A. Comments on the international consensus model for the water scarcity footprint (AWARE) and proposal for an improvement. Sci Total Environ 2020; 709:136189. [PMID: 31884286 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Revised: 11/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a structured framework, addressing environmental impacts of human activities. LCA requires consensual and scientifically sound characterisation factors to quantify impacts and allow comparisons. This is the objective of the AWARE model, recently published by an international consortium, which is now the reference for water impact in LCA. Looking back at the shape of the equation, linking human water use and water impact, we discuss the limits of the AWARE model and the associated cut-offs. They imply that all regions in a less than fair ecosystem condition are treated at the same level of severity, regardless of the extent of degradation. From this statement, we propose to define the impact by the ratio between the ecosystem demands and the remaining after human activities (DTR model). We use the marginal and average approaches, common approaches in LCA, to determine the corresponding characterisation factors. Through a sensitivity analysis with respect to parameters used (total water availability, ecosystem demand, human consumption and area of the region), we show that the DTR-based characterisation factors have the same properties than the AWARE-based ones between cut-offs. This article therefore provides a new alternative way of quantifying the impact of water use, in line with the AWARE model features, but without its validity limits and induced thresholds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnaud Hélias
- LBE, Univ Montpellier, INRAE, Montpellier SupAgro, Narbonne, France; Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; ITAP, Univ Montpellier, INRAE, Montpellier SupAgro,ELSA Research Group, ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France.
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Núñez M, Finkbeiner M. A Regionalised Life Cycle Assessment Model to Globally Assess the Environmental Implications of Soil Salinization in Irrigated Agriculture. Environ Sci Technol 2020; 54:3082-3090. [PMID: 32083479 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b03334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
We present a global, locally resolved life cycle assessment (LCA) model to assess the potential effects on soil quality due to the accumulation of water-soluble salts in the agricultural soil profile, allowing differentiation between agricultural practices. Using globally available soil and climate information and crop specific salt tolerances, the model quantifies the negative implications that salts in irrigation water have on soil quality, in terms of change in the soil electrical conductivity and the corresponding change in the amount of crops that can be grown at increasing soil salinity levels. To facilitate the use of the model, we provide a life cycle inventory tool with information on salts emitted with irrigation water per country and 160 crops. Global average soil susceptibility is 0.19 dS/m per grams of salt in 1 m3 of soil, and the average resulting relative crop diversity loss is 5.7 × 10-2 per grams of salt in 1 m3 of soil. These average values vary tangibly as a function of the location. In most humid regions worldwide, the characterization factor is null, showing that in these cases soil salinization due to irrigation does not contribute to soil degradation. We displayed how to apply the model with a case study. The model serves for guiding decision-making processes toward improving the sustainability of irrigated agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Montserrat Núñez
- Technische Universität Berlin, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
- GIRO Program, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), Torre Marimon, E08140 Caldes de Montbuí, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Matthias Finkbeiner
- Technische Universität Berlin, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Strasse des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
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Debaveye S, De Smedt D, Heirman B, Kavanagh S, Dewulf J. Quantifying the handprint-Footprint balance into a single score: The example of pharmaceuticals. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229235. [PMID: 32069318 PMCID: PMC7028282 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2019] [Accepted: 02/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Life Cycle Assessment typically focuses on the footprint of products and services, expressed on three Areas of Protection (AoP): Human Health, Ecosystems and Resources. While the handprint is often expressed qualitatively, quantified handprints have recently been compared directly to the footprint concerning one AoP: Human Health. We propose to take this one step further by simultaneously comparing the quantified handprint and footprint on all AoPs through normalization and weighting of the results towards a single score. We discuss two example cases of a pharmaceutical treatment: mebendazole to treat soil-transmitted helminthiases and paliperidone palmitate to treat schizophrenia. Each time, treatment is compared to 'no treatment'. The footprint of health care is compared to the handprint of improved patient health. The handprint and footprint were normalized separately. To include sensitivity in the normalization step we applied four sets of external normalization factors for both handprint (Global Burden of Disease) and footprint (ReCiPe and PROSUITE). At the weighting step we applied 26 sets of panel weighting factors from three sources. We propose the Relative Sustainability Benefit Rate (RSBR) as a new metric to quantify the relative difference in combined handprint and footprint single score between two alternatives. When only considering the footprint, the first case study is associated with an increased single score burden of treatment compared to 'no treatment', while in the second case study treatment reduces the single score burden by 41.1% compared to 'no treatment'. Also including the handprint provided new insights for the first case study, now showing a decrease of 56.4% in single score burden for treatment compared to 'no treatment'. For the second case study the reduction of single score burden was confirmed as the handprint burden was also decreased because of treatment by 9.9%, reinforcing the findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Debaveye
- Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Campus Coupure, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Delphine De Smedt
- Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Campus UZ, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Bert Heirman
- Johnson & Johnson Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium
| | - Shane Kavanagh
- Health Economics, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium
| | - Jo Dewulf
- Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Campus Coupure, Ghent, Belgium
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29
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Laurent A, Weidema BP, Bare J, Liao X, de Souza DM, Pizzol M, Sala S, Schreiber H, Thonemann N, Verones F. Methodological review and detailed guidance for the life cycle interpretation phase. J Ind Ecol 2020; 24:986-1003. [PMID: 33746505 PMCID: PMC7970486 DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Life cycle interpretation is the fourth and last phase of life cycle assessment (LCA). Being a "pivot" phase linking all other phases and the conclusions and recommendations from an LCA study, it represents a challenging task for practitioners, who miss harmonized guidelines that are sufficiently complete, detailed, and practical to conduct its different steps effectively. Here, we aim to bridge this gap. We review available literature describing the life cycle interpretation phase, including standards, LCA books, technical reports, and relevant scientific literature. On this basis, we evaluate and clarify the definition and purposes of the interpretation phase and propose an array of methods supporting its conduct in LCA practice. The five steps of interpretation defined in ISO 14040-44 are proposed to be reorganized around a framework that offers a more pragmatic approach to interpretation. It orders the steps as follows: (i) completeness check, (ii) consistency check, (iii) sensitivity check, (iv) identification of significant issues, and (v) conclusions, limitations, and recommendations. We provide toolboxes, consisting of methods and procedures supporting the analyses, computations, points to evaluate or check, and reflective processes for each of these steps. All methods are succinctly discussed with relevant referencing for further details of their applications. This proposed framework, substantiated with the large variety of methods, is envisioned to help LCA practitioners increase the relevance of their interpretation and the soundness of their conclusions and recommendations. It is a first step toward a more comprehensive and harmonized LCA practice to improve the reliability and credibility of LCA studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis Laurent
- Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Bo P. Weidema
- Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Jane Bare
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - Xun Liao
- Industrial Process and Energy Systems EngineeringÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Sion, Switzerland
| | - Danielle Maia de Souza
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
- Département de stratégie, responsabilité sociale et environnementale, Université du Quebec a Montreal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Massimo Pizzol
- Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Serenella Sala
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
| | - Hanna Schreiber
- Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, Vienna, Austria
| | - Nils Thonemann
- Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT, Osterfelder Straße 3, Oberhausen, Germany
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Luderer G, Pehl M, Arvesen A, Gibon T, Bodirsky BL, de Boer HS, Fricko O, Hejazi M, Humpenöder F, Iyer G, Mima S, Mouratiadou I, Pietzcker RC, Popp A, van den Berg M, van Vuuren D, Hertwich EG. Environmental co-benefits and adverse side-effects of alternative power sector decarbonization strategies. Nat Commun 2019; 10:5229. [PMID: 31745077 PMCID: PMC6864079 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13067-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
A rapid and deep decarbonization of power supply worldwide is required to limit global warming to well below 2 °C. Beyond greenhouse gas emissions, the power sector is also responsible for numerous other environmental impacts. Here we combine scenarios from integrated assessment models with a forward-looking life-cycle assessment to explore how alternative technology choices in power sector decarbonization pathways compare in terms of non-climate environmental impacts at the system level. While all decarbonization pathways yield major environmental co-benefits, we find that the scale of co-benefits as well as profiles of adverse side-effects depend strongly on technology choice. Mitigation scenarios focusing on wind and solar power are more effective in reducing human health impacts compared to those with low renewable energy, while inducing a more pronounced shift away from fossil and toward mineral resource depletion. Conversely, non-climate ecosystem damages are highly uncertain but tend to increase, chiefly due to land requirements for bioenergy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gunnar Luderer
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), P.O. Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany.
- Chair of Global Energy Systems, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Michaja Pehl
- Chair of Global Energy Systems, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anders Arvesen
- Industrial Ecology Programme and Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Høgskoleringen 5, 7034, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Thomas Gibon
- Industrial Ecology Programme and Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Høgskoleringen 5, 7034, Trondheim, Norway
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 41 rue du Brill, L-4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Benjamin L Bodirsky
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), P.O. Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Harmen Sytze de Boer
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, The Hague, The Netherlands
| | - Oliver Fricko
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, 2361, Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Mohamad Hejazi
- Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5825 University Research Court Suite 3500, College Park, MD, 20740, USA
| | - Florian Humpenöder
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), P.O. Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Gokul Iyer
- Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5825 University Research Court Suite 3500, College Park, MD, 20740, USA
| | - Silvana Mima
- Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INRA, Grenoble INP, GAEL, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Ioanna Mouratiadou
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), P.O. Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany
- Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Robert C Pietzcker
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), P.O. Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Alexander Popp
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), P.O. Box 60 12 03, 14412, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Maarten van den Berg
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, The Hague, The Netherlands
| | - Detlef van Vuuren
- PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bezuidenhoutseweg 30, The Hague, The Netherlands
- Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Edgar G Hertwich
- Industrial Ecology Programme and Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Høgskoleringen 5, 7034, Trondheim, Norway
- Center for Industrial Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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31
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Rugani B, Maia de Souza D, Weidema BP, Bare J, Bakshi B, Grann B, Johnston JM, Pavan ALR, Liu X, Laurent A, Verones F. Towards integrating the ecosystem services cascade framework within the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) cause-effect methodology. Sci Total Environ 2019; 690:1284-1298. [PMID: 31470491 PMCID: PMC7791572 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2019] [Revised: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The assessment of ecosystem services (ES) is covered in a fragmented manner by environmental decision support tools that provide information about the potential environmental impacts of supply chains and their products, such as the well-known Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Within the flagship project of the Life Cycle Initiative (hosted by UN Environment), aiming at global guidance for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) indicators, a dedicated subtask force was constituted to consolidate the evaluation of ES in LCA. As one of the outcomes of this subtask force, this paper describes the progress towards consensus building in the LCA domain concerning the assessment of anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems and their associated services for human well-being. To this end, the traditional LCIA structure, which represents the cause-effect chain from stressor to impacts and damages, is re-casted and expanded using the lens of the ES 'cascade model'. This links changes in ecosystem structure and function to changes in human well-being, while LCIA links the effect of changes on ecosystems due to human impacts (e.g. land use change, eutrophication, freshwater depletion) to the increase or decrease in the quality and/or quantity of supplied ES. The proposed cascade modelling framework complements traditional LCIA with information about the externalities associated with the supply and demand of ES, for which the overall cost-benefit result might be either negative (i.e. detrimental impact on the ES provision) or positive (i.e. increase of ES provision). In so doing, the framework introduces into traditional LCIA the notion of "benefit" (in the form of ES supply flows and ecosystems' capacity to generate services) which balances the quantified environmental intervention flows and related impacts (in the form of ES demands) that are typically considered in LCA. Recommendations are eventually provided to further address current gaps in the analysis of ES within the LCA methodology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedetto Rugani
- Environmental Research & Innovation (ERIN) department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Belvaux, Luxembourg.
| | - Danielle Maia de Souza
- Département de stratégie, responsabilité sociale et environnementale, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Bo P Weidema
- Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Jane Bare
- Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Bhavik Bakshi
- William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - John M Johnston
- Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), Athens, GA, USA
| | - Ana Laura Raymundo Pavan
- Center for Water Resource and Environmental Studies, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
| | - Xinyu Liu
- William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Alexis Laurent
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA) Group, Sustainability Division, DTU Management, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
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Maury T, Loubet P, Trisolini M, Gallice A, Sonnemann G, Colombo C. Assessing the impact of space debris on orbital resource in life cycle assessment: A proposed method and case study. Sci Total Environ 2019; 667:780-791. [PMID: 30851611 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Revised: 02/26/2019] [Accepted: 02/27/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The space sector is a new area of development for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies. However, it deals with strong particularities which complicate the use of LCA. One of the most important is that the space industry is the only human activity crossing all stages of the atmosphere during the launch event or the atmospheric re-entry. As a result, interactions occur not only with the natural environment but also with the orbital environment during the use phase and the end-of-life of space missions. In this context, there is a lack of indicators and methods to characterise the complete life-cycle of space systems including their impact on the orbital environment. The end-of-life of spacecraft is of particular concern: space debris proliferation is today a concrete threat for all space activities. Therefore, the proposed work aims at characterising the orbital environment in term of space debris crossing the orbital resource. A complete methodology and a set of characterisation factors at midpoint level are provided. They are based on two factors: (i) the exposure to space debris in a given orbit and (ii) the severity of a potential spacecraft break-up leading to the release of new debris in the orbital environment. Then, we demonstrate the feasibility of such approach through three theoretical post-mission disposal scenarios based on the Sentinel-1A mission parameters. The results are discussed against the propellant consumption needed in each case with the purpose of addressing potential 'burden shifting' that could occur between the Earth environment and the orbital one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibaut Maury
- Université de Bordeaux, ISM, UMR 5255, F-33400 Talence, France; ArianeGroup, Design for Environment, BP 20011, F-33165 Saint Médard en Jalles, France
| | - Philippe Loubet
- Bordeaux INP - ENSCBP, ISM, UMR 5255, Pessac, France; CNRS, ISM, UMR 5255, F-33400 Talence, France
| | - Mirko Trisolini
- Politecnico di Milano, - Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Aurélie Gallice
- ArianeGroup, Design for Environment, BP 20011, F-33165 Saint Médard en Jalles, France
| | - Guido Sonnemann
- Université de Bordeaux, ISM, UMR 5255, F-33400 Talence, France; CNRS, ISM, UMR 5255, F-33400 Talence, France.
| | - Camilla Colombo
- Politecnico di Milano, - Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, 20156 Milan, Italy
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Mutel C, Liao X, Patouillard L, Bare J, Fantke P, Frischknecht R, Hauschild M, Jolliet O, de Souza DM, Laurent A, Pfister S, Verones F. Overview and recommendations for regionalized life cycle impact assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2019; 24:856-865. [PMID: 33122880 PMCID: PMC7592718 DOI: 10.1007/s11367-018-1539-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2018] [Accepted: 10/05/2018] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Regionalized life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) has rapidly developed in the past decade, though its widespread application, robustness, and validity still faces multiple challenges. Under the umbrella of UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, a dedicated cross-cutting working group on regionalized LCIA aims to provides an overview of the status of regionalization in LCIA methods. We give guidance and recommendations to harmonize and support regionalization in LCIA for developers of LCIA methods, LCI databases, and LCA software. METHOD A survey of current practice among regionalized LCIA method developers was conducted. The survey included questions on chosen method spatial resolution and scale, the spatial resolution of input parameters, choice of native spatial resolution and limitations, operationalization and alignment with life cycle inventory data, methods for spatial aggregation, the assessment of uncertainty from input parameters and model structure, and variability due to spatial aggregation. Recommendations are formulated based on the survey results and extensive discussion by the authors. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Survey results indicate that majority of regionalized LCIA models have global coverage. Native spatial resolutions are generally chosen based on the availability of global input data. Annual modelled or measured elementary flow quantities are mostly used for aggregating characterization factors (CFs) to larger spatial scales, although some use proxies, such as population counts. Aggregated CFs are mostly available at the country level. Although uncertainty due to input parameter, model structure, and spatial aggregation are available for some LCIA methods, they are rarely implemented for LCA studies. So far, there is no agreement if a finer native spatial resolution is the best way to reduce overall uncertainty. When spatially differentiated models CFs are not easily available, archetype models are sometimes developed. CONCLUSIONS Regionalized LCIA methods should be provided as a transparent and consistent set of data and metadata using standardized data formats. Regionalized CFs should include both uncertainty and variability. In addition to the native-scale CFs, aggregated CFs should always be provided, and should be calculated as the weighted averages of constituent CFs using annual flow quantities as weights whenever available. This paper is an important step forward for increasing transparency, consistency and robustness in the development and application of regionalized LCIA methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Mutel
- Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 PSI Villigen, Switzerland
| | - Xun Liao
- Industrial Process and Energy Systems Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL Valais Wallis, Rue de l'Industrie 17, CH-1951 Sion, Switzerland
- Quantis, EPFL Innovation Park (EIP-D), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Laure Patouillard
- CIRAIG, Polytechnique Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Montréal, Québec H3C 3A7, Canada
- IFP Energies nouvelles, 1-4 avenue de Bois-Préau, 92852 Rueil-Malmaison, France
- UMR 0210 INRA-AgroParisTech Economie publique, INRA, Thiverval-Grignon, France
| | - Jane Bare
- US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
| | - Peter Fantke
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | | | - Michael Hauschild
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Olivier Jolliet
- Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Danielle Maia de Souza
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2P5, AB, Canada
- Département de Stratégie, Responsabilité Sociale et Environnementale, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, H3C 3P8, QC, Canada
| | - Alexis Laurent
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Stephan Pfister
- Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
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Di Fulvio F, Forsell N, Korosuo A, Obersteiner M, Hellweg S. Spatially explicit LCA analysis of biodiversity losses due to different bioenergy policies in the European Union. Sci Total Environ 2019; 651:1505-1516. [PMID: 30360280 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2018] [Revised: 08/27/2018] [Accepted: 08/29/2018] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
In this study, the potential global loss of species directly associated with land use in the EU and due to trade with other regions is computed over time, in order to reveal differences in impacts between the considered alternatives of plausible bioenergy policies development in the EU. The spatially explicit study combines a life cycle analysis (LCA) for biodiversity impact assessment with a global high resolution economic land use model. Both impacts of domestic land use and impacts through imports were included for estimating the biodiversity footprint of the member states of the (EU28). The analyzed scenarios assumed similar biomass demand until 2020 but differed thereafter, from keeping the growth of demand for bioenergy constant (CONST), to a strong increase of bioenergy in line with the EU target of decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2050 (EMIRED) and with the baseline (BASE) scenario falling between the other two. As a general trend, the increasing demand for biomass was found to have substantial impact on biodiversity in all scenarios, while the differences between the scenarios were found to be modest. The share caused by imports was 15% of the overall biodiversity impacts detected in this study in the year 2000, and progressively increased to 24% to 26% in 2050, depending on the scenario. The most prominent future change in domestic land use in all scenarios was the expansion of perennial cultivations for energy. In the EMIRED scenario, there is a larger expansion of perennial cultivations and a smaller expansion of cropland in the EU than in the other two scenarios. As the biodiversity damage is smaller for land used for perennial cultivations than for cropland, this development decreases the internal biodiversity damage per unit of land. At the same time, however, the EMIRED scenario also features the largest outsourcing of damage, due to increased import of cropland products from outside the EU for satisfying the EU food demand. These two opposite effects even out each other, resulting in the total biodiversity damage for the EMIRED scenario being only slightly higher than the other two scenarios. The results of this study indicate that increasing cultivation of perennials for bioenergy and the consequent decrease in the availability of cropland for food production in the EU may lead to outsourcing of agricultural products supply to other regions. This development is associated with a leakage of biodiversity damages to species-rich and vulnerable regions outside the EU. In the case of a future increase in bioenergy demand, the combination of biomass supply from sustainable forest management in the EU, combined with imported wood pellets and cultivation of perennial energy crops, appears to be less detrimental to biodiversity than expansion of energy crops in the EU.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fulvio Di Fulvio
- Ecosystems Services and Management Program (ESM), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria.
| | - Nicklas Forsell
- Ecosystems Services and Management Program (ESM), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Anu Korosuo
- Ecosystems Services and Management Program (ESM), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Michael Obersteiner
- Ecosystems Services and Management Program (ESM), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Stefanie Hellweg
- Ecological Systems Design, Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
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Hélias A, Heijungs R. Resource depletion potentials from bottom-up models: Population dynamics and the Hubbert peak theory. Sci Total Environ 2019; 650:1303-1308. [PMID: 30308817 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2018] [Revised: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 09/09/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Life cycle impact assessment uses so-called characterization factors to address different types of environmental impact (e.g. climate change, particulate matter, land use…). For the topic of resource depletion, a series of proposals was based on heuristic and formal arguments, but without the use of expert-based models from relevant research areas. A recent study in using fish population models has confirmed the original proposal for characterization factors for biotic resources of the nineties. Here we trace the milestones of the arguments and the designs of resource depletion, delivering an ecological-based foundation for the biotic case, and extend it by a novel analysis of the Hubbert peak theory for the abiotic case. We show that the original abiotic depletion potential, used for two decades in life cycle assessment, estimates accurately a marginal depletion characterization factor obtained from a dynamic model of the available reserve. This is illustrated for 29 metal resources using published data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnaud Hélias
- LBE, Montpellier SupAgro, INRA, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France; Elsa, Research group for Environmental Lifecycle and Sustainability Assessment, Montpellier, France; Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Reinout Heijungs
- Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Department of Industrial Ecology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Econometrics and Operations Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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Woods JS, Verones F. Ecosystem damage from anthropogenic seabed disturbance: A life cycle impact assessment characterisation model. Sci Total Environ 2019; 649:1481-1490. [PMID: 30308916 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Revised: 07/31/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Despite the high amount of pressure placed on benthic habitats by anthropogenic activities, particularly in coastal shelf areas, as yet, the impact of seabed damaging activities on ecosystem quality has not been included in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). We present a globally applicable impact characterisation approach, parameterized within 17 marine ecoregions in Europe. Our modelling approach includes two perspectives: the single-impact perspective and the repeated-impact perspective. The approach for the single-impact perspective is a function of the spatio-temporal scale and intensity of the anthropogenic disturbance, the initial benthic response, and an estimated ecological recovery period. The approach for the repeated-impact perspective additionally accounts for the industry-specific interval between disturbance events, allowing for consideration of potentially incomplete ecological recovery between disturbance events and therefore the potential for both recoverable and non-recoverable potential impacts. We exemplify the repeated-impact perspective for the benthic trawl fishing industry in Europe. Analogous to current approaches for characterizing land use impacts in LCA, we quantify characterisation factors (CFs) for both occupation and transformation impacts. CFs for occupation impacts are ecoregion-specific. CFs for transformation impacts are spatially differentiated at the resolution of seabed substrate type, categories of hydrodynamic energy, i.e. water movement due to the influence of waves and currents, fisheries management zone (repeated-impact perspective only) and marine ecoregion. We estimate ecological recovery times with consideration of the influence of seabed substrate type, hydrodynamic energy at the seabed and the stock of potential recolonizers. The characterisation factors allow for quantifying indicators of ecosystem damage from seabed disturbance in terms of a time-integrated relative species loss. With a single-impact perspective, the largest impact intensities are found in areas with the longest estimated ecological recovery time. In the repeated-impact perspective, the largest intensity of time-integrated non-recoverable impact occurs when the disturbance interval is equal to half the ecological recovery time.
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Affiliation(s)
- John S Woods
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Sem Sælands vei 7, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Sem Sælands vei 7, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
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Pradinaud C, Northey S, Amor B, Bare J, Benini L, Berger M, Boulay AM, Junqua G, Lathuillière MJ, Margni M, Motoshita M, Niblick B, Payen S, Pfister S, Quinteiro P, Sonderegger T, Rosenbaum RK. Defining freshwater as a natural resource: A framework linking water use to the area of protection natural resources. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2019; 24:960-974. [PMID: 31501640 PMCID: PMC6733276 DOI: 10.1007/s11367-018-1543-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2018] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE While many examples have shown unsustainable use of freshwater resources, existing LCIA methods for water use do not comprehensively address impacts to natural resources for future generations. This framework aims to (1) define freshwater resource as an item to protect within the Area of Protection (AoP) natural resources, (2) identify relevant impact pathways affecting freshwater resources, and (3) outline methodological choices for impact characterization model development. METHOD Considering the current scope of the AoP natural resources, the complex nature of freshwater resources and its important dimensions to safeguard safe future supply, a definition of freshwater resource is proposed, including water quality aspects. In order to clearly define what is to be protected, the freshwater resource is put in perspective through the lens of the three main safeguard subjects defined by Dewulf et al. (2015). In addition, an extensive literature review identifies a wide range of possible impact pathways to freshwater resources, establishing the link between different inventory elementary flows (water consumption, emissions and land use) and their potential to cause long-term freshwater depletion or degradation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Freshwater as a resource has a particular status in LCA resource assessment. First, it exists in the form of three types of resources: flow, fund, or stock. Then, in addition to being a resource for human economic activities (e.g. hydropower), it is above all a non-substitutable support for life that can be affected by both consumption (source function) and pollution (sink function). Therefore, both types of elementary flows (water consumption and emissions) should be linked to a damage indicator for freshwater as a resource. Land use is also identified as a potential stressor to freshwater resources by altering runoff, infiltration and erosion processes as well as evapotranspiration. It is suggested to use the concept of recovery period to operationalize this framework: when the recovery period lasts longer than a given period of time, impacts are considered to be irreversible and fall into the concern of freshwater resources protection (i.e. affecting future generations), while short-term impacts effect the AoP ecosystem quality and human health directly. It is shown that it is relevant to include this concept in the impact assessment stage in order to discriminate the long-term from the short-term impacts, as some dynamic fate models already do. CONCLUSION This framework provides a solid basis for the consistent development of future LCIA methods for freshwater resources, thereby capturing the potential long-term impacts that could warn decision makers about potential safe water supply issues in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Pradinaud
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France
- LGEI, IMT Mines Ales, Univ Montpellier, Ales, France
| | - Stephen Northey
- Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
| | - Ben Amor
- LIRIDE, Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke (QC) Canada
| | - Jane Bare
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268, USA
| | - Lorenzo Benini
- European Environment Agency, Kongens Nytorv 6, 1400 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Markus Berger
- Technische Universität Berlin, Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne-Marie Boulay
- LIRIDE, Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke (QC) Canada
- CIRAIG, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal (QC) Canada
| | | | - Michael J Lathuillière
- Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 1Z4, Canada
- Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Masaharu Motoshita
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, 16-1 Onogawa, 3058569 Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Briana Niblick
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268, USA
| | - Sandra Payen
- AgResearch Ruakura Research Centre, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand
| | - Stephan Pfister
- ETH Zurich, Chair of Ecological Systems Design, John-von-Neumann-Weg 9, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Paula Quinteiro
- Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Thomas Sonderegger
- ETH Zurich, Chair of Ecological Systems Design, John-von-Neumann-Weg 9, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ralph K Rosenbaum
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France
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Fantke P, Aylward L, Bare J, Chiu WA, Dodson R, Dwyer R, Ernstoff A, Howard B, Jantunen M, Jolliet O, Judson R, Kirchhübel N, Li D, Miller A, Paoli G, Price P, Rhomberg L, Shen B, Shin HM, Teeguarden J, Vallero D, Wambaugh J, Wetmore BA, Zaleski R, McKone TE. Advancements in Life Cycle Human Exposure and Toxicity Characterization. Environ Health Perspect 2018; 126:125001. [PMID: 30540492 PMCID: PMC6371687 DOI: 10.1289/ehp3871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/15/2018] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Life Cycle Initiative, hosted at the United Nations Environment Programme, selected human toxicity impacts from exposure to chemical substances as an impact category that requires global guidance to overcome current assessment challenges. The initiative leadership established the Human Toxicity Task Force to develop guidance on assessing human exposure and toxicity impacts. Based on input gathered at three workshops addressing the main current scientific challenges and questions, the task force built a roadmap for advancing human toxicity characterization, primarily for use in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). OBJECTIVES The present paper aims at reporting on the outcomes of the task force workshops along with interpretation of how these outcomes will impact the practice and reliability of toxicity characterization. The task force thereby focuses on two major issues that emerged from the workshops, namely considering near-field exposures and improving dose–response modeling. DISCUSSION The task force recommended approaches to improve the assessment of human exposure, including capturing missing exposure settings and human receptor pathways by coupling additional fate and exposure processes in consumer and occupational environments (near field) with existing processes in outdoor environments (far field). To quantify overall aggregate exposure, the task force suggested that environments be coupled using a consistent set of quantified chemical mass fractions transferred among environmental compartments. With respect to dose–response, the task force was concerned about the way LCIA currently characterizes human toxicity effects, and discussed several potential solutions. A specific concern is the use of a (linear) dose–response extrapolation to zero. Another concern addresses the challenge of identifying a metric for human toxicity impacts that is aligned with the spatiotemporal resolution of present LCIA methodology, yet is adequate to indicate health impact potential. CONCLUSIONS Further research efforts are required based on our proposed set of recommendations for improving the characterization of human exposure and toxicity impacts in LCIA and other comparative assessment frameworks. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3871.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Fantke
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Lesa Aylward
- National Centre for Environmental Toxicology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Jane Bare
- U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Weihsueh A Chiu
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
| | - Robin Dodson
- Silent Spring Institute, Newton, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Robert Dwyer
- International Copper Association, New York, New York, USA
| | | | | | - Matti Jantunen
- Department of Environmental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Olivier Jolliet
- School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | | | - Nienke Kirchhübel
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Dingsheng Li
- School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA
| | - Aubrey Miller
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Greg Paoli
- Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Paul Price
- U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - Beverly Shen
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | | | - Justin Teeguarden
- Health Effects and Exposure Science, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA
| | | | - John Wambaugh
- U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - Rosemary Zaleski
- ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Annandale, New Jersey, USA
| | - Thomas E McKone
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
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Pavan ALR, Ometto AR. Ecosystem Services in Life Cycle Assessment: A novel conceptual framework for soil. Sci Total Environ 2018; 643:1337-1347. [PMID: 30189550 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Revised: 06/15/2018] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystem Services (ES) are the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being, which include provision of food and water, regulation of flood and erosion processes, soil formation and non-material benefits such as recreation. The integration of ES impact modeling in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) still has limitations regarding the typology embodied and some conceptual errors in not actually evaluating the benefits provided by ES. In this context, soil is an important resource and provides a wide diversity of ES. Therefore, this article aims to: (i) Review the evolution of ES assessment in LCA and the current methods used to study the biophysical aspects of ES; (ii) Compare the ES cascade model and LCA environmental mechanism for land use impacts; and (iii) Improve and synthesize a new conceptual framework for soil-ES assessment in LCA studies. Results show that the cascade model provides a useful framework for operationalizing ES assessment and should integrate LCA. Thus, this study proposes a new conceptual framework for soil-ES including the main soil processes, functions, services, benefits and values. Each of these cascade model steps is aligned with LCA terminology in order to match the usual midpoint or endpoint levels of modeling. Future works should focus on new indicators to measure the supply of ES and their benefit to humans as well as indicators to their value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Laura Raymundo Pavan
- Center for Water Resources and Applied Ecology, School of Engineering of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, 400 Trabalhador São-Carlense Avenue, São Carlos 13566-590, Brazil.
| | - Aldo Roberto Ometto
- Center for Water Resources and Applied Ecology, School of Engineering of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, 400 Trabalhador São-Carlense Avenue, São Carlos 13566-590, Brazil; Department of Production Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, 400 Trabalhador São-Carlense Avenue, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
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40
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Fantke P, Aurisano N, Bare J, Backhaus T, Bulle C, Chapman PM, De Zwart D, Dwyer R, Ernstoff A, Golsteijn L, Holmquist H, Jolliet O, McKone TE, Owsianiak M, Peijnenburg W, Posthuma L, Roos S, Saouter E, Schowanek D, van Straalen NM, Vijver MG, Hauschild M. Toward harmonizing ecotoxicity characterization in life cycle impact assessment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018; 37:2955-2971. [PMID: 30178491 PMCID: PMC7372721 DOI: 10.1002/etc.4261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Revised: 08/16/2018] [Accepted: 08/28/2018] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystem quality is an important area of protection in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Chemical pollution has adverse impacts on ecosystems on a global scale. To improve methods for assessing ecosystem impacts, the Life Cycle Initiative hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme established a task force to evaluate the state-of-the-science in modeling chemical exposure of organisms and the resulting ecotoxicological effects for use in LCIA. The outcome of the task force work will be global guidance and harmonization by recommending changes to the existing practice of exposure and effect modeling in ecotoxicity characterization. These changes will reflect the current science and ensure the stability of recommended practice. Recommendations must work within the needs of LCIA in terms of 1) operating on information from any inventory reporting chemical emissions with limited spatiotemporal information, 2) applying best estimates rather than conservative assumptions to ensure unbiased comparison with results for other impact categories, and 3) yielding results that are additive across substances and life cycle stages and that will allow a quantitative expression of damage to the exposed ecosystem. We describe the current framework and discuss research questions identified in a roadmap. Primary research questions relate to the approach toward ecotoxicological effect assessment, the need to clarify the method's scope and interpretation of its results, the need to consider additional environmental compartments and impact pathways, and the relevance of effect metrics other than the currently applied geometric mean of toxicity effect data across species. Because they often dominate ecotoxicity results in LCIA, we give metals a special focus, including consideration of their possible essentiality and changes in environmental bioavailability. We conclude with a summary of key questions along with preliminary recommendations to address them as well as open questions that require additional research efforts. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:2955-2971. © 2018 SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Fantke
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- Corresponding author: Tel.: +45 45254452, fax: +45 45933435.
| | - Nicolo Aurisano
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jane Bare
- United States Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268, United States
| | - Thomas Backhaus
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Cécile Bulle
- Department of Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility, CIRAIG, ESG UQAM, C.P. 8888, Succ. Centre Ville, Montréal (QC), H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Peter M. Chapman
- Chapema Environmental Strategies Ltd, 1324 West 22nd Avenue, North Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Robert Dwyer
- International Copper Association, 10016 New York, United States
| | - Alexi Ernstoff
- Quantis, EPFL Innovation Park, Bât. D, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Laura Golsteijn
- PRé Sustainability, Stationsplein 121, 3818 Amersfoort, The Netherlands
| | - Hanna Holmquist
- Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE- 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Olivier Jolliet
- School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
| | - Thomas E. McKone
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Mikołaj Owsianiak
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Willie Peijnenburg
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 Bilthoven, The Netherlands
| | - Leo Posthuma
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- Department of Environmental Science, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Sandra Roos
- Swerea IVF AB, P. O. Box 104, 431 22 Mölndal, Sweden
| | - Erwan Saouter
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate D - Sustainable Resources, 21027 Ispra, Italy
| | - Diederik Schowanek
- Procter & Gamble, Brussels Innovation Center, 1853 Strombeek-Bever, Belgium
| | - Nico M. van Straalen
- Department of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherland
| | - Martina G. Vijver
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9518, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Michael Hauschild
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Division, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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Roibás L, Loiseau E, Hospido A. On the feasibility and interest of applying territorial Life Cycle Assessment to determine subnational normalisation factors. Sci Total Environ 2018; 626:1086-1099. [PMID: 29898516 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2017] [Revised: 01/12/2018] [Accepted: 01/13/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Normalisation is an optional step in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), often used in decision making since it helps interpreting the results of LCA studies with regard to some reference information. The applicable ISO standard recommends considering different reference systems to guarantee the robustness of the normalisation step, and so the availability of different normalisation datasets becomes of high relevance. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods provide normalisation factors (NFs) for global and regional areas, but no NFs are proposed for smaller areas such as local or subnational scales. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of using territorial LCA approach to determine subnational NFs. Normalisation datasets for both Galician (NW Spain) production and consumption activities have been calculated considering a life cycle perspective. In addition to this, the normalisation datasets calculated for Galicia have been used to evaluate two food products produced and/or consumed in the region as case studies. Then, the normalised results have been compared to those obtained using different reference systems (Europe and the World), calculated following the same methodology (ReCiPe). A qualitative uncertainty analysis of the NFs has been carried out, and the usefulness of territorial LCA to determine them has been discussed. It was concluded that territorial LCA is a promising way to determine NFs but that some improvements could be made, which have also been pointed out here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Roibás
- Group of Environmental Biotechnology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
| | - Eléonore Loiseau
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, ELSA Research Group, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Almudena Hospido
- Group of Environmental Biotechnology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
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43
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Núñez M, Rosenbaum RK, Karimpour S, Boulay AM, Lathuillière MJ, Margni M, Scherer L, Verones F, Pfister S. A Multimedia Hydrological Fate Modeling Framework To Assess Water Consumption Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment. Environ Sci Technol 2018; 52:4658-4667. [PMID: 29565125 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Many new methods have recently been developed to address environmental consequences of water consumption in life cycle assessment (LCA). However, such methods can only partially be compared and combined, because their modeling structure and metrics are inconsistent. Moreover, they focus on specific water sources (e.g., river) and miss description of transport flows between water compartments (e.g., from river to atmosphere via evaporation) and regions (e.g., atmospheric advection). Consequently, they provide a partial regard of the local and global hydrological cycle and derived impacts on the environment. This paper proposes consensus-based guidelines for a harmonized development of the next generation of water consumption LCA indicators, with a focus on consequences of water consumption on ecosystem quality. To include the consideration of the multimedia water fate between compartments of the water cycle, we provide spatial regionalization and temporal specification guidance. The principles and recommendations of the paper are applied to an illustrative case study. The guidelines set the basis of a more accurate, novel way of modeling water consumption impacts in LCA. The environmental relevance of this LCA impact category will improve, yet much research is needed to make the guidelines operational.
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Affiliation(s)
- Montserrat Núñez
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, ELSA Research group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier , France
| | - Ralph K Rosenbaum
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, ELSA Research group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier , France
| | - Shooka Karimpour
- CIRAIG, Ecole des Sciences de la Gestion , Universite du Quebec A Montreal , Montreal , QC , Canada
| | - Anne-Marie Boulay
- CIRAIG , Polytechnique Montréal , Montreal , QC , Canada
- LIRIDE , Sherbrooke University , Sherbrooke , QC , Canada
| | - Michael J Lathuillière
- Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability , University of British Columbia , 2202 Main Mall , Vancouver , BC V6T 1Z4 , Canada
| | - Manuele Margni
- CIRAIG , Polytechnique Montréal , Montreal , QC , Canada
| | - Laura Scherer
- Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) , Leiden University , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department for Energy and Process Engineering , Norwegian University of Science and Technology , 7491 Trondheim , Norway
| | - Stephan Pfister
- ETH Zurich , Institute of Environmental Engineering , 8093 Zürich , Switzerland
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44
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Woods JS, Damiani M, Fantke P, Henderson AD, Johnston JM, Bare J, Sala S, de Souza DM, Pfister S, Posthuma L, Rosenbaum RK, Verones F. Ecosystem quality in LCIA: status quo, harmonization, and suggestions for the way forward. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2018; 23:1995-2006. [PMID: 31097881 PMCID: PMC6516497 DOI: 10.1007/s11367-017-1422-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results are used to assess potential environmental impacts of different products and services. As part of the UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative flagship project that aims to harmonize indicators of potential environmental impacts, we provide a consensus viewpoint and recommendations for future developments in LCIA related to the ecosystem quality area of protection (AoP). Through our recommendations, we aim to encourage LCIA developments that improve the usefulness and global acceptability of LCIA results. METHODS We analyze current ecosystem quality metrics and provide recommendations to the LCIA research community for achieving further developments towards comparable and more ecologically relevant metrics addressing ecosystem quality. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION We recommend that LCIA development for ecosystem quality should tend towards species-richnessrelated metrics, with efforts made towards improved inclusion of ecosystem complexity. Impact indicators-which result from a range of modeling approaches that differ, for example, according to spatial and temporal scale, taxonomic coverage, and whether the indicator produces a relative or absolute measure of loss-should be framed to facilitate their final expression in a single, aggregated metric. This would also improve comparability with other LCIA damage-level indicators. Furthermore, to allow for a broader inclusion of ecosystem quality perspectives, the development of an additional indicator related to ecosystem function is recommended. Having two complementary metrics would give a broader coverage of ecosystem attributes while remaining simple enough to enable an intuitive interpretation of the results. CONCLUSIONS We call for the LCIA research community to make progress towards enabling harmonization of damage-level indicators within the ecosystem quality AoP and, further, to improve the ecological relevance of impact indicators.
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Affiliation(s)
- John S Woods
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Sem Sælands vei 7, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Mattia Damiani
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, ELSA Research Group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, 361 rue Jean-François Breton, BP 5095, F-34196 Montpellier, France
| | - Peter Fantke
- Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Andrew D Henderson
- University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin, TX 78701, USA
- Noblis, Inc., San Antonio, TX 78232, USA
| | - John M Johnston
- US EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, 960 College Station Rd, Athens, GA 30605, USA
| | - Jane Bare
- US EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, 26 West MLK Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
| | - Serenella Sala
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate D: Sustainable Resource, Bioeconomy unit, Via E. Fermi, 2749 Ispra, VA, Italy
| | - Danielle Maia de Souza
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, T6G 2P5, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Stephan Pfister
- ETH Zurich, Institute of Environmental Engineering, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Leo Posthuma
- RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment), Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, P.O. Box 1, 3720, BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands
- Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525, AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ralph K Rosenbaum
- ITAP, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, ELSA Research Group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, 361 rue Jean-François Breton, BP 5095, F-34196 Montpellier, France
| | - Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Sem Sælands vei 7, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
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Kuczenski B, Marvuglia A, Astudillo MF, Ingwersen WW, Satterfield MB, Evers DP, Koffler C, Navarrete T, Amor B, Laurin L. LCA Capability Roadmap: Product System Model Description and Revision. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2018; 23:1685-1692. [PMID: 31178630 PMCID: PMC6550320 DOI: 10.1007/s11367-018-1446-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 01/30/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners face many challenges in their efforts to describe, share, review, and revise their product system models; and to reproduce the models and results of others. Current Life cycle inventory modeling techniques have weaknesses in the areas of describing model structure; documenting the use of proxy or non-ideal data; specifying allocation; and including modeler's observations and assumptions -- all affecting how the study is interpreted and limiting the reuse of models. Moreover, LCA software systems manage modeling information in different and sometimes non-compatible ways. Practitioners must also deal with licensing, privacy / confidentiality of data, and other issues around data access which impact how a model can be shared. The aim of this SETAC North America working group is to define a roadmap of the technical advances needed to achieve easier LCA model sharing and improve replicability of LCA results among different users in a way that is independent of the LCA software used to compute the results and does not infringe on any licensing restrictions or confidentiality requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Miguel F Astudillo
- Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on Sustainable Engineering and Ecodesign (LIRIDE), University of Sherbrooke
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Ben Amor
- Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on Sustainable Engineering and Ecodesign (LIRIDE), University of Sherbrooke
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