Synonyms
Environmental effect, environmental damage, and environmental consequence are sometimes used as synonyms of environmental impact although they are located later in the causality chain that links an activity to its consequences. The activity (e.g., burning of fossil fuels) may cause an impact (e.g., increase of the concentration of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) that leads to an effect (increased radiative forcing of the atmosphere) that as a consequence has an increased global average temperature in the atmosphere which as a consequence has sea-level rise leading to damage to coastal land ecosystems (Hauschild and Wenzel 1998). Some confusion about the terms stems from the fact that the effect of one impact becomes in itself an impact with other effects and so forth along the cause-effect chain (see example of cause-effect chain in Fig. 1).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
EC (2011) General guide for life cycle assessment: detailed guidance. ILCD handbook – international reference life cycle data system, European Union EUR 24708 EN. Available at http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pdf-directory/ILCD-Handbook-General-guide-for-LCA-DETAIL-online-12March2010.pdf. Accessed 20 August 2013
EC- JRC (2010) Framework and requirements for LCIA models and indicators. ILCD handbook – international reference life cycle data system, European Union EUR24586EN. Available at http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu
Hauschild MZ, Wenzel H (1998) Environmental assessment of products, vol 2, Scientific background. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Hingham
ISO (2006) ISO 14044:2006 environmental management: life cycle assessment: requirements and guidelines. International Standards Organization. Geneva, Switzerland
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 CIRP
About this entry
Cite this entry
Hauschild, M. (2014). Environmental Impact. In: Laperrière, L., Reinhart, G. (eds) CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20617-7_6605
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20617-7_6605
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-20616-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20617-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering