Introduction

Many different approaches are used in the LCA community. Attempts to harmonize LCA has resulted in a multitude of conflicting guidelines and standards. Confusion is created because the guidelines and standards are often open to interpretation. This, in part, is because LCA experts do not agree on the meaning of key concepts such as life cycle and system expansion. The variety of LCA approaches means that results from different LCAs cannot be compared. There is a risk of greenwashing, which can greatly reduce the credibility of LCA. On the other hand, the variety of approaches makes LCA a versatile tool for research. It also allows for adapting the LCA to focus on aspects that are important in a specific decision context. Some LCA actors think the variety is a serious problem that should be fixed, while others think it is fine and/or that global agreement on a common LCA approach is impossible to reach.

Overall aim of working group

Follow the development and disseminate information on new standards and modifications of standards within the field of Life Cycle Assessment. Exchange information and experience between Life cycle professionals, among partners and other invited stakeholders on the methodologies and the implementation of standards.

Target group

Life cycle professionals, researchers, decision-makers, practitioners and policymakers.

Expected outcomes

Create awareness on standards in the Life Cycle Assessment field and find common ground for how to interpret and apply the same in the daily LCA work.

Webinar series

Starting in September 2022, a serie of webinars on the topic of “Recent and current standardization of LCA”. The webinars aim to inform and discuss implications of recently developed standards in the life cycle field and create awareness of ongoing work with new standards or modifications of current standards. Four digital meetings are planned, focusing on different standards.

This webinar series will be chaired by Bengt Steen (Chalmers University of Technology), Ellen Riise (Essity), Sven-Olof Ryding (IVL Swedish Environmental Institute) and Tomas Ekvall (Chalmers University of Technology), all with long experience of working with standardizations.

Webinar #1: ISO 14040 and 14044, featuring allocation in Amendment 2 of ISO 14044.

To the calendar

Webinar #2: Normalization, weighting and interpretation & monetary valuation.

To the calendar

Webinar #3: Environmental labels and declarations.

To the calendar

Webinar #4: Standardization and harmonization in LCA – What could and should be standardized in LCA?

To the calendar

About working groups and expert groups

Working groups and expert groups are organized within the project “Innovation cluster for the life cycle perspective”, with funding from Swedish Energy Agency and Life Cycle Center partners. The aim with these groups is to build competence and exchange experience and information between experts and other interested parties. The groups manage discussions about hands-on issues, methodologies and how to apply them, new research questions, joint strategic intelligence and how to impact initiatives.