A Methodology Concept for Territorial Metabolism – Life Cycle Assessment: Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling from Urban to Territorial Assessment

Abstract

To allow for the assessment of regional-scale geographically non-contiguous production system derived environmental impacts, a combined method of Territorial Metabolism – Life Cycle Assessment (TM-LCA) is proposed. By creating a two-pronged framework for the development of background system modelling, the TM-LCA method allows for process-based environmental impact modeling at a regional scale utilizing the concept of a production territory for the assessment of changes to durable production systems, such as energy infrastructure and agricultural systems. The TM-LCA framework creates the opportunity for direct assessment of environmental impacts, incorporation of system dynamics, and the use of multi-criteria decision analysis, which might be difficult or impossible to implement in other regional scale environmental impact assessment frameworks.