Framework for developing companies' environmental life-cycle impacts
Objectives of the project are
- to develop life-cycle assessment (LCA) clinics to a fully processed concept and framework enabling the identification and evaluation of environmental impacts in a value chains of SMEs.
- to increase resource-efficiency, waste management and recycling, decrease greenhouse gases, reduce transportation, identify more environmentally friendly raw materials, and to promote the change towards a low-carbon society.
Tasks
The project is divided in three tasks:
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Establishment of the concept and the framework for LCA clinics.
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Writing a manual for the concept of LCA clinics, including clear instructions for the implementation of LCA clinics, detailed information about common unit processes in different industries, description of available databases for LCA, calculation examples and instructions for reporting.
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Guidelines for the interpretation and illustration of the results: how to identify the subjects of development and how to evaluate the reliability of the results.
Life-cycle assessment is used for the evaluation of environmental performance and sustainability. The product or service under the assessment can be evaluated via multiple impact categories throughout the whole life-cycle: from cradle to grave. Impact categories taken into account in the assessment include e.g. climate impacts, land use, consumption of water, and metals and non-renewable fuels.
The LCA clinic concept will be tested and further developed in approximately 30 SMEs in North Karelia. The fully developed framework can be implemented by local consultants and regional development companies. These can further use LCA clinics to increase their services and thereby to create new jobs related to advancing low-carbon society. In the future, LCA clinics can be utilized also nationally. The framework will be freely available on the internet.
Additional information
Reseacher Johanna Niemistö, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE,
forename.surname@ymparisto.fi