Chapter 8 - Life cycle assessment for better sustainability: methodological framework and application

Abstract

Global awareness is becoming an indispensable business as production operations, both technically and geographically, are becoming increasingly diverse. This view along with the idea of sustainability has prompted environmental managers to look at the entire life cycle, that is, from the cradle-to-grave of a product or a service. To evaluate and quantify sustainability, different methods have been established. The need for a holistic tool thereby gave rise to life cycle assessment (LCA). But for scientific guidance, its outcome is either too narrow or too broad. So many issues regarding LCA remain unresolved, for example, concerning need or desire for multicriteria decision-analysis and sustainability dimensions definition. The lack of discussion regarding the concepts of sustainability is an underlying problem. The case studies for LCA performed in the community should also be utilized to develop guiding principles. Sustainability and assessment of the life cycle can contribute significantly in the assessment of products and processes, often accompanying early development processes. Such evaluations may define the critical sustainability criteria aspects and allow the determination or future evaluation of product and process performance and its consequences. This can help to support stakeholder communication, policy making, investment decision, and development processes. This chapter particularly deals with the methodical framework and application perspectives of LCA.