Welcome to our new webinar series, Beyond Carbon, where we widen the perspective from greenhouse gas emissions to a broader set of environmental and social impacts. This is episode 1 where we focus on toxicity.

Natural or synthetic, chemicals are critical inputs to life and industrial products. For a chemical engineer, everything is a chemical, from the water we drink to the 23000 substances registered under the REACH legislation, but obviously some chemicals are more hazardous than others. Product and process designers want to avoid toxic chemicals but toxicity is a relatively rarely assessed impact category in LCA. So how should we handle toxicity in LCA?

In this webinar, we will explore the potential and limitations of recent developments in USEtox-allied methods. Current norms in LCA regarding the assessment of toxicological chemical effects on humans and ecological systems will be identified. An overarching question is: are you more interested in assessing hazard or risk?

The webinar contains a 30-minute presentation by Professor Greg Peters, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A and discussions where you get to explore what toxicity means in practice.

Presenter

Greg Peters is the Scientific Director of the Swedish Life Cycle Center, and Professor of Quantitative Sustainability Assessment in the Division of Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University of Technology.  His LCA work has focused on the water, clothing, chemicals and food sectors of the economy.  As part of this he has engaged in research on enhancing life cycle impact assessment and published scientific articles on alternative ways to handle toxicological matters when assessing products and processes.

More about the subject

Högstrand, S., Peters, G., Svanström, M., Önnby, L. (2025). Testing the incorporation of bioassays into life cycle assessment: A case study on advanced wastewater treatment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 30 (12), 3642-3660.

Aggarwal, R., Holmquist, H., Arvidsson, R., Chrysovitsinos, E.R., Peters, G. (2024). Influence of data selection on aquatic ecotoxicity characterization factors for selected persistent and mobile substances. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 29 (2), 344-354.

Holmquist, H., Fantke, P., Cousins I.T., Owsianiak, M., Liagkouridis, I., Peters, G. (2020). An (Eco)Toxicity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Framework for Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. Environmental Science & Technology, 54 (10), 6224-6234.

This meeting is arranged within the project Innovation cluster for the life cycle perspective, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and partners in Swedish Life Cycle Center.