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1 Introduction

During the LCM 2017 conference, the Circular Economy & Industrial Leadership unit of the Joint Research Centre chaired a session on ‘Sustainability of bio-based products: linking life cycle thinking with standards, certification and labelling schemes’.

This session aimed at gathering contributions showing how Life Cycle Thinking can be used to feed into the development of sustainability criteria, the certification and ultimately the policy making for bio-based products and processes, as for instance lubricants, cosmetics, plastics, construction materials.

Products and processes using bio-based materials play an important role in the economy and, consequently, in the European policy. Bio-based materials may offer potential benefits in terms of reducing fossil fuel depletion and emission of greenhouse gases and creating employment opportunities in rural areas, among others. However, their sustainability depends on the geographical and technical characteristics of each biomass-to-product value chain, which may result in trade-offs between different aspects (e.g. land use, water consumption, deforestation).

Efforts to develop multi-disciplinary approaches to assess the sustainability of bio-based products have yielded a broad range of case studies. Nevertheless, no commonly agreed approaches exist and the information available in the literature seems to have only limited practical application.

2 Session Wrap-up

The session was composed of five contributions and a closing panel discussion concerning the session’s theme. Above 70 participants attended this session. Results and discussion are summarised below.

2.1 Integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-design Strategies for a Sustainable Production of Bio-based Plastics

This presentation was given by Mr. Venkateshwaran Venkatachalam from the Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites of University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Hannover (Germany).

The authors described an approach for addressing the development of sustainable bio-plastic products since their early design phase [1]. The approach aims to integrate LCA considerations in the definition of eco-design strategies of a product, with the ambition to cover technical, economic, ergonomic, market, and environmental aspects along the entire production chain of a product system.

A personal computer’s mouse was taken as a case study to show how the approach could work in practice. Production and supply of materials were identified as the life cycle hot spots. Criteria required for the selection of bio-polymers were proposed based on technical and environmental aspects. Finally, further development needs and challenges of this approach were presented. These in particular refer to the comparison of bio- versus conventional plastic products and the integration of consequential LCA to better understand market mechanisms.

The presenter was asked about the future perspectives of their research and which eco-design requirements should be set to ensure the production and supply of sustainable materials, being these the main hot-spots from a life cycle point of view. It was answered that future perspectives may embrace biodegradability and composting of bio-plastics and that the identification of eco-design strategies has so far focused on processes and not on the applications.

2.2 Sustainability Assessment of Blue Biotechnology Processes: Addressing Environmental, Social and Economic Dimensions

This presentation was given by Ms. Maria Teresa Moreira from the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

The authors showed the results of their research on environmental, social and economic assessment of a marine biotechnology process for the production of the red carotenoid astaxanthin by the green microalga Haematococcus pluvialis [2].

This is an interesting and novel case study, since only few research projects have dealt so far with the assessment of bioactive compounds and pharmaceutical ingredients, mainly due to the lack of information from commercial-scale facilities. In this study, process data for the compilation of the life cycle inventory was collected from real facilities at lab, semi-pilot and pilot scale.

Consumption of electricity during the algal cultivation was spotted as the largest contribution to the environmental impacts. However, a significant improvement was observed in the scale-up of the process. A socio-economic evaluation completed the environmental assessment, identifying the main strengths of the process from a holistic perspective.

The presenter was asked how the social assessment was carried-out and also if a comparison with the conventional chemical process was conducted. It was explained that the social assessment was based on the reply of two SMEs to a survey sent in the course of the study. The assessed biotechnology process was compared with a conventional one and was found to have lower environmental impacts.

2.3 Addressing the Sustainability of Lubricants from an LCA Perspective

This presentation was given by Ms. Candela Vidal-Abarca Garrido from the Circular Economy and Industrial Leadership Unit of the Joint Research Centre.

The authors described their work about the revision of the EU Ecolabel for lubricants, a voluntary label targeting the best lubricants available on the market in terms of their environmental performance throughout the life cycle [3].

The existing award criteria focus on renewability of raw materials, aquatic toxicity, biodegradability and bio-accumulation of the ingredients. The label is currently suitable only for bio-based lubricants and considered the main reference to assess their sustainability.

A review of twelve LCA studies on lubricants was carried-out to identify hot-spots and improvement areas. Although impacts during use and disposal stages were found critical, most of the reviewed LCAs are cradle-to-gate studies, which calls for a more comprehensive assessment of the full life cycle. Outcomes of the LCA review did not support the environmental preference of bio-based lubricants. Based on this, the approach suggested for this EU Ecolabel revision is to focus on ‘loss lubricants’ (i.e. released during use phase) independently from their sourcing. Toxicity and biodegradability are considered the main aspects to be addressed.

Some clarifications were asked about how the LCA review was conducted and which differences were found between various types of lubricants. Trade-offs were identified between conventional and bio-based lubricants. For the latter ones, environmental concerns are significantly associated with the agricultural stage, impacts of which could be mitigated through third-party certified sourcing of sustainable bio-based materials. Additionally, the life cycle performance was found to depend on the application. For instance, conventional and/or synthetic lubricants tend to have longer lifetime, which can be advantageous in some cases. However, some synthetic (e.g. PAGs, PAOs, esters) and bio-based lubricants could have better performance with respect to toxicity and biodegradability than the conventional mineral ones.

2.4 Recommended Water Scarcity Footprint Method AWARE: Learning from 11 Case Studies

This presentation was given by Ms. Anne-Marie Boulay representing LIRIDE (University of Sherbrooke, Canada) and CIRAIG (Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada).

The authors described the testing phase of AWARE, a consensus-based indicator developed by the WULCA working group of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative in order to assess impacts from water consumption at the midpoint level. This method can be an important milestone for harmonising the assessment of products with respect to water scarcity [4].

The methodology, candidate for inclusion in the European Commission’s Environmental Footprint (EF) guide, has been applied to eleven case studies to gain insights on method, associated results and reference values. The selected case studies were: an Italian beer, a biofuel, a bio-based plastic, cement, sweet beverages, a flow-regulator, an average basket of food products, a burger, a Volkswagen car, a bowl of rice, the EU total consumption.

No major problems were found although some challenges were encountered for interpreting country level data and testing the sensitivity of modelling choices (e.g. cut-offs and water demand for ecosystems). All in all, the results are considered to build trust in this and contributing to its wider acceptance.

The presenter was asked to provide further arguments supporting the choice of AWARE since other methods can also be used to yield similar outcomes. It was clarified that AWARE is the result of a consensus process aiming to develop a widely agreed method.

2.5 Sustainability Assessment of the Portuguese Forest Sector

This poster spotlight was provided by Ms. Ana Dias from the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and the Department of Environment and Planning of University of Aveiro (Portugal).

Authors of this contribution introduced the audience to Sustain For, a project aiming at assessing the possible effects of a transition to a bio-economy in Portugal [5].

The project will select environmental, economic and social indicators to evaluate the sustainability of the forest sector and apply them to evaluate current impacts of two Portuguese forest sectors (eucalypt and maritime pine); and will also identify opportunities for improving the sustainability of these sectors.

The full value chain of a representative basket of products (paper, solid wood products, fuels and bio-based chemical products) will be assessed. Trade-offs between sustainability pillars, sectors, subsectors and impacts will be identified.

The authors wisely point out that a transition to a bio-economy, despite its opportunities and advantages, could reduce the availability of wood resources for other applications. This is already a reality in some countries as Portugal. Different management and policy strategies for using wood resources more efficiently should be adopted.

2.6 Panel Discussion

A panel discussion was opened after the five presentations. The first aspects discussed related to the comparison of bio-based and conventional products. It is clear that trade-offs exist. Raw materials and land use were pointed out by several presenters as hot-spots, which need to be carefully evaluated in the case of bio-based products. A consistent assessment should moreover include the end of life stage, which is quite often neglected.

A second point of discussion was related to the decision making process and what should be done to achieve practical effects. The main barrier seems to be the lack of LCA data. Improving data sharing could have positive effects. Another driver could be increasing the interest of industry. A presenter reported that environmental assessments conducted by industry are often driven by external factors rather than by real company interests. This calls for enhancing the interaction between research and industrial sectors, also to make clearer which are the data needs and the added value of outcomes. Another presenter raised the attention also to the importance of consumer behaviour and perception.

3 Conclusions

The session confirmed that there are still data and methodological gaps which need to be filled to get a comprehensive understanding of the life cycle impacts of bio-based materials. Challenging aspects include in particular the multiple assessment of alternative sources and uses of biomass feedstock, also in comparison with conventional materials, and the comprehensive understanding of the consequences at macro-level. Moreover, it seems necessary to incentivise the transition from theoretical assessments to more practical applications.

Although further developments are still needed, the contributions presented, which ranged from methodological approaches to case studies and real life examples, can hopefully contribute to make progresses in the assessment of bio-based products and to support the related decision making processes.