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Evaluation of Environmental Life Cycle Approaches for Policy and Decision Making Support in Micro and Macro-Level Applications

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Evaluation of environmental life cycle approaches for policy and decision making support in micro and macro level applications Kathy Reimann, Matthias Finkbeiner, Arpad Horvath, Yasunari Matsuno EUR 24562 EN - 2010 The mission of the JRC-IES is to provide scientific-technical support to the European Union’s policies for the protection and sustainable development of the European and global environment. European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability Contact information Address: Via Enrico Fermi 2749, ,21027 Ispra (VA) Italy E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +39 0332 785601 http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ Legal Notice Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server http://europa.eu/ JRC 60640 EUR 24562 EN ISBN 978-92-79-17201-4 ISSN 1018-5593 doi:10.2788/32275 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union © European Union, 2010 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Printed in Italy Evaluation of environmental life cycle approaches for policy and decision making support in micro and macro-level applications Evaluation of environmental life cycle approaches for policy and decision making support in micro and macro level applications Authors: Kathy Reimann, Technische Universität Berlin Matthias Finkbeiner, Technische Universität Berlin Arpad Horvath, University of California, Berkeley Yasunari Matsuno, University of Tokyo Editors and project supervisors: Ugo Pretato, European Commission, Joint Research Centre David Pennington, European Commission, Joint Research Centre Rana Pant, European Commission, Joint Research Centre 3 Evaluation of environmental life cycle approaches for policy and decision making support in micro and macro-level applications CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 10 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 15 1.1 Level of perspective ................................................................................. 17 1.2 Possible applications of the life cycle information ............................... 17 2 CHARACTERISATION OF THE LIFE CYCLE METHODS................................................. 19 2.1 Characterisation of P-LCA ....................................................................... 19 2.1.1 Methodological description .................................................................. 19 2.1.2 Development of P-LCA ........................................................................ 20 2.1.3 Major applications of P-LCA ................................................................ 21 2.1.4 Identified gaps in the method .............................................................. 22 2.1.5 Methodological research ..................................................................... 23 2.2 Characterisation of EIO-LCA ................................................................... 25 2.2.1 Methodological description .................................................................. 25 2.2.2 Development of EIO-LCA .................................................................... 27 2.2.3 Major applications of EIO-LCA ............................................................ 28 2.2.4 Identified gaps in the method .............................................................. 28 2.2.5 Methodological research ..................................................................... 29 2.3 Characterisation of MFA .......................................................................... 31 2.3.1 Methodological description .................................................................. 31 2.3.2 Development of MFA ........................................................................... 33 2.3.3 Major applications of MFA ................................................................... 34 2.3.4 Identified gaps in the method .............................................................. 34 2.3.5 Methodological research ..................................................................... 35 2.4 Characterisation of Hybrid LCA .............................................................. 36 2.4.1 Methodological description .................................................................. 37 2.4.2 Development of Hybrid LCA ................................................................ 38 2.4.3 Major applications of Hybrid LCA ........................................................ 39 2.4.4 Identified gaps in the method .............................................................. 39 2.4.5 Methodological research ..................................................................... 41 2.5 Characterisation of EMC .......................................................................... 41 2.5.1 Methodological description .................................................................. 42 2.5.2 Development of the EMC .................................................................... 43 2.5.3 Major applications of EMC .................................................................. 43 2.5.4 Identified gaps in the method .............................................................. 43 2.5.5 Methodological research ..................................................................... 44 3 DEVELOPMENT OF AN EVALUATION SCHEME ........................................................... 46 3.1 General Criteria ........................................................................................ 46 3.1.1 Method documentation and transparency ........................................... 46 3.1.2 Applicability ......................................................................................... 47 3.1.3 Stakeholder acceptance ...................................................................... 48 3.1.4 Objectivity in application ...................................................................... 49 3.1.5 Communicability of method ................................................................. 50 3.2 Methodological criteria ............................................................................ 50 3.2.1 Scientific soundness............................................................................ 51 3.2.2 Methodological completeness ............................................................. 52 3.3 Technical criteria ...................................................................................... 52 3.3.1 Availability of software tools ................................................................ 53 3.3.2 Suitability for time specific models....................................................... 53 4 Evaluation of environmental life cycle approaches for policy and decision making support in micro and macro-level applications 3.4 Data criteria ............................................................................................... 54 3.4.1 Data availability and accessibility ........................................................ 54 3.4.2 Data quality ......................................................................................... 55 4 EVALUATION OF THE LIFE CYCLE METHODS ............................................................ 57 4.1 Evaluation of the present situation ......................................................... 58 4.1.1 General criteria .................................................................................... 58 4.1.2 Methodological criteria ........................................................................ 71 4.1.3 Technical criteria ................................................................................. 78 4.1.4 Data criteria ......................................................................................... 81 4.2 Evaluation of future potential .................................................................. 88 4.2.1 Projects considered for the future potential ......................................... 89 4.2.2 General criteria .................................................................................... 93 4.2.3 Methodological criteria ........................................................................ 97 4.2.4 Technical criteria ................................................................................. 98 4.2.5 Data criteria ......................................................................................... 99 5 DISCUSSION OF THE LIFE CYCLE METHODS .......................................................... 103 5.1 P-LCA ...................................................................................................... 103 5.2 EIO-LCA ................................................................................................... 104 5.3 MFA ......................................................................................................... 105 5.4 EMC ......................................................................................................... 106 5.5 Hybrid LCA .............................................................................................
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