Harmonization of life cycle assessment (LCA) for bio-based products

The production and use of bio-based products is expected to replace fossil resources. Methods such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be used to adequately assess environmental impacts of bio-based products.

LCA is a method that is internationally standardized according to EN ISO 14040 and 14044, well established, and widely used by research and industry to identify potential environmental impacts caused by production, use, and end-of-life stages of a product. The main objective of subproject 113 "Harmonization of Life Cycle Assessments of Biobased Products" and of this project report is to highlight the particularities of biobased products, to present the different approaches and practices in the mainly affected thematic areas, and make proposals for harmonization with reference to the Bioeconomy BW research program. Within the framework of the present recommendations for action, the topics LCA approaches are(attributional and consistent modelling) system boundaries, functional units, allocation, carbon balance, nitrogen balance, water balance, land use and other relevant impact categories. Those categories were examined and described with regard to their particularities in connection with life cycle assessments of renewable raw materials. Based on this, proposals were developed, e.g. for the consideration of fertilizer and machinery use, for the consistent indication of calorific value and water content, for allocation on the basis of physical properties for certain material flows. Further recommendations concern separate accounting and reporting of biogenic carbon and the consideration of carbon emissions through land use change. The topics of water balance, soil degradation and biodiversity were examined in detail and proposals for the use of promising methods were developed.