Development of green manufacturing implementation framework based on life-cycle assessment

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Climate change stabilization at 1.5 to 2 °C requires a shift in paradigm of industries to transition to low carbon industries. The way forward to decarbonize industries is green manufacturing, as the environmental facet of manufacturing has often been compromised for the sake of economic gains. In order to implicate green manufacturing, it is incumbent upon manufacturing facilities to introduce such measures which ensure that carbon footprint and environmentally detrimental emissions are minimized. In this context, Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) is an excellent tool to record, analyze and critically review the environmental impact of a process. In order to investigate the environmental hotspots, the authors have performed LCA of an auto-parts manufacturing industry in Pakistan by using a unique gate-to-gate approach. ReCiPe Midpoint impact assessment method was utilized to investigate the effects of manufacturing and transportation related emissions of the monthly produce on climate change, fossil depletion, ionizing radiation and human toxicity. Furthermore, the authors discuss three scenarios, which include current state, optimized future state and an energy mix involving hydropower and photovoltaic generation. The results helped in developing a comprehensive framework for green manufacturing which suggests that the prerequisite of a green manufacturing process is an optimized process flow, which significantly reduces the environmental emissions up to 24%. Moreover, the use of photovoltaic cells results in 54% reduction, thus indicating that conventional hydropower systems in developing countries should be mixed with solar power to reduce the environmental burden. A detailed green manufacturing framework based on LCA is proposed by the authors to enhance the functionality and to improvise the carbon burden of the manufacturing sector of Pakistan.