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Life Cycle Thinking and the Use of LCA in Policies Around the World

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Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The chapter explains what Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) is about, why it is about taking a life cycle approach and shows that SCP-related policies have been developed at the intergovernmental level and in different regions of the world. A key element at the international level is the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on SCP adopted in 2012 and the global agreements on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. Life cycle thinking has become mature, moving from its academic origins and limited uses, primarily in-house in large companies, to more powerful approaches that can support the provision of more sustainable goods and services through efficient use in product development, external communications, in support of customer choice, and in public debates. Now governments can use LCA for SCP policies. For this purpose LCA databases are needed. LCA is in particular relevant for policies focusing on design for sustainability, sustainable consumer information, sustainable procurement and waste management, minimization and prevention as well as sector-specific policies like sustainable energy and food supply. Examples of life cycle thinking and the use of LCA in policies are provided for numerous countries around the world but with a certain focus on the European Union. It can be expected that the use of LCA in policies for the sustainability assessment of products will further increase, also slowly covering more means of implementation such as incentives and legislative obligations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    www.scpclearinghouse.org/fr/.

  2. 2.

    Roundtable on sustainable biofuels.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank UNEP for the permission to use the material from the unpublished draft report (UNEP 2013b) on “Life cycle thinking and the use of life cycle assessment in sustainable consumption and production policies: Exchange of experiences and the need for quality data availability and capacity building” . This report was initiated by Jodie Bricout from cd2e and includes the content of the presentations from the 2nd Intergovernmental Dialogue on LCA held in Paris, France, in April 2013. We would like to thank the delegations from Switzerland, USA, Mexico, Japan, Australia, China, Thailand and Brazil for these presentations, without which it would not have been possible to give a worldwide overview of LCA promotion in policies , covering all these countries. These delegations included well-known LCA experts such as Rolf Frischknecht from Switzerland, Nydia Suppen from Mexico, Atsushi Inaba from Japan, Greg Foliente from Australia, Hongtao Wang from China and Thumrongrut Mungcharoen from Thailand. Moreover, Harro von Blottnitz from the University of Cape Town provided valuable information on the situation in the South Africa . Finally, the authors would like to thank especially Llorenç Milà i Canals from UNEP and Bruce Vigon from SETAC for their support in moving the Life Cycle Initiative through Phase 3 with the vision of a world where life cycle approaches are mainstreamed. We hope to testimony with this chapter that the world is slowly moving in this direction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISM-CyVi, UMR 5255, University of Bordeaux, Talence, France

    G. Sonnemann & E. D. Gemechu

  2. ISM-CyVi, UMR 5255, CNRS, 33400, Talence, France

    G. Sonnemann & E. D. Gemechu

  3. European Commission, Directorate D: Sustainable Resources, Bioeconomy Unit, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

    S. Sala, E. M. Schau & R. Pant

  4. Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering Science, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    K. Allacker

  5. PLATEFORME [avniR]-cd2e, Loos-en-Gohelle, France

    N. Adibi

  6. WELOOP, 27 Rue du Stade, 62300, Lens, France

    N. Adibi

  7. World Resources Forum, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    S. Valdivia

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  1. G. Sonnemann
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  2. E. D. Gemechu
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Correspondence to G. Sonnemann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Michael Z. Hauschild

  2. IRSTEA, UMR ITAP, ELSA Research group and ELSA-PACT, Environmental and Social Sustainability Assessment, Montpellier, France

    Ralph K. Rosenbaum

  3. Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Stig Irving Olsen

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The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative and the European Commission concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Moreover, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of the European Commission, UNEP or SETAC, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement.

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Sonnemann, G. et al. (2018). Life Cycle Thinking and the Use of LCA in Policies Around the World. In: Hauschild, M., Rosenbaum, R., Olsen, S. (eds) Life Cycle Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_18

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