The development of the international standards for life cycle assessment (ISO 14040:1997, ISO 14041:1999, ISO 14042:2000, ISO 14043:2000) was an important step to consolidate procedures and methods of LCA. Their contribution to the general acceptance of LCA by all stakeholders and by the international community was crucial. Currently, the process of the revision of this first generation of LCA standards is close to completion. The paper explains the outline as well as formal and technical changes of the coming new international standards of LCA, i.e. the new ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
The paper refers to life cycle assessment based on the international standards for LCA (ISO 14040:1997, ISO 14041:1999, ISO 14042:2000, ISO 14043:2000). The content relates to the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) versions of the new ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
With the publication of the two new standards, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, the existing four standards ISO 14040:1997, ISO 14041:1999, ISO 14042:2000 and ISO 14043:2000 are technically revised, cancelled and replaced. According to the scope of the revision, the core part of the technical contents remains unchanged. Improved readability and the removal of errors and inconsistencies was the focus of the revision. However, despite the fact that the main technical content was confirmed to be still valid, some relevant formal and technical changes were made. On the technical side these include e.g. the addition of principles for LCA, the addition of an annex about applications, the addition of several definitions (e.g. product, process, etc.), clarifications concerning LCA intended to be used in comparative assertions intended to be disclosed to the public, clarifications concerning the critical review panel, clarifications concerning system boundary, etc. On the formal side, changes include the reduced number of standards, a reduced number of annexes, a reduced number of pages that contain requirements, alignment of definitions and clarification of compliance with the standards.
The two new standards, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, reconfirm the validity of the main technical content of the previous standards. Errors and inconsistencies were removed and the readability was improved. The added technical content is in line with the previous requirements and serves mainly as a clarification of the technical content. The unanimous vote on the Draft International Standard versions proved that this was achieved on the basis of the broadest possible international consensus.
Currently the national member bodies undertake the final voting on the FDIS-versions of the standards. Based on the voting results at the previous stages of the documents, a positive result is expected. The publication of the new international standards for life cycle assessment (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) is expected around mid-2006. For the sake of the international and stakeholder acceptance of LCA, it is recommended that the new standards serve as core reference documents for the users and practitioners of LCA.
This publication contains the results of an on-line discussion held October 20o7 on the topic of allocation in recycling.
The consequential approach to system delimitation in LCA requires that consideration of the technologies and suppliers included are ‘marginal’, i.e. that they are actually affected by a change in demand. Furthermore, coproduct allocation must be avoided by system expansion. Vegetable oils constitute a significant product group included in many LCAs that are intended for use in decision support. This article argues that the vegetable oil market has faced major changes around the turn of the century. The aim of this study is to study the marginal supply of vegetable oil as it has shifted to palm oil and describe the product system of the new supply.
The methods for identification of marginal technologies and suppliers and for avoiding co-product allocation are based on the work of Weidema (2003). The marginal vegetable oil is identified on the basis of agricultural statistics on production volumes and prices. A co-product from palm oil production is palm kernel meal, which is used for fodder purposes where it has two main properties: protein and energy. When carrying out system expansion, these properties are taken into account.
The major vegetable oils are soy oil, palm oil, rapeseed oil and sun oil. These oils are substitutable within the most common applications. Based on market trends, a shift from rapeseed oil to palm oil as the marginal vegetable oil is identified around the year 2000, when palm oil turns out to be the most competitive oil. It is recommended to regard palm oil and its dependent co-product palm kernel oil as the marginal vegetable oil. The analysis of the product system shows that the demand for 1 kg palm oil requires 4.49 kg FFB (oil palm fruit) and the displacement of 0.035 kg soybeans (marginal source of fodder protein) and 0.066 kg barley (marginal source of fodder energy).
The identification of the marginal vegetable oil and the avoidance of co-product allocation by system expansion showed that several commodities may be affected when using the consequential approach. Hence, the product system for vegetable oils is relatively complex compared to traditional LCAs in which average technologies and suppliers are applied and in which co-product allocation is carried out by applying an allocation factor.
This article presents how the marginal vegetable oil can be identified and that co-product allocation between oils and meal can be avoided by system expansion, by considering the energy and protein content in the meal, which displaces a mix of the marginal sources of energy and protein for animal fodder (barley and soy meal, respectively).
The implication of a shift in the marginal vegetable oil is significant. Many LCAs on rapeseed oil have been conducted and are being used as decision support in the bio energy field. Thus, based on consequential LCA methodology, it is argued that these LCAs need to be revised, since they no longer focus on the oil actually affected.
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Livscyklusvurderinger kan bruges til mange forskellige formål, og det kan derfor være svært at sammenligne forskellige virksomheders resultater og erfaringer. Jeg har her forsøgt at sammenfatte de forskellige perspektiver under nogle stikord. De enkelte stikord vil også blive uddybet senere i mit indlæg.
Fokusering: Livscyklusvurderinger giver overblik, netop fordi de søger at inddrage samtli- ge miljøpåvirkninger fra et produkt. Når man har overblik spilder man ikke tiden på det uvæsentlige, men kan fokusere på det væsentlige. Når man har overblik undgår man sub- optimering, dvs. at skabe nye problemer mens man løser et andet.
Dokumentation: Det overblik man får via livscyklusvurderinger kan man nedfælde som dokumentation til ansatte, leverandører, myndigheder eller til kunder, f.eks. i en produkt- deklaration.
Beslutningsstøtte: Livscyklusvurderinger er først og fremmest redskaber til at understøtte miljørigtige valg. De giver svar på spørgsmålet ”Hvilke af de alternative produkter eller udviklingsmuligheder er mest miljøvenlige?”
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Publikationen omfatter en oversættelse af de 4 standarder 14040-43, som sammen med den originale engelske tekst er gengivet på venstresiderne. På højresiderene har forfattergruppen, som har deltaget i standardiseringsarbejdet, udarbejdet forklaringer og eksempler til brugen af de 4 standarder. Standarderne er DS/EN ISO 14040 Livscyklusvurdering. Principper og opbygning DS/EN ISO 14041 Livscyklusvurdering. Formål og afgrænsning DS/EN ISO 14042 Livscyklusvurdering. Vurdering af miljøpåvirkninger DS/EN ISO 14043 Livscyklusvurdering. Fortolkning af resultater Målet med publikationen er at give brugerne af livscyklusvurderinger et samlet værktøj som udgangspunkt for arbejdet med LCA efter ISO-standarderne i 14040 serien.
Der er ifølge Miljøstyrelsen stadig en række miljøproblemer, som er vanskelige at håndtere. De er kendetegnede ved at være knyttet til miljøpåvirkningen fra mere diffuse kilder og til samfundets generelle ressourceforbrug. En væsentlig del af disse problemer er knyttet til anvendelsen af produkter i alle samfundets funktioner. Det er derfor ifølge Miljøstyrelsen nødvendigt at nedbringe den miljøpåvirkning, som er knyttet til produktion, brug og bortskaffelse af produkter. Indsatsen skal sikre, at de mere miljøvenlige produkter kan afsættes i konkurrence med de miljømæssigt ringere produkter - og det i så store mængder - at det medfører miljømæssige forbedringer. Det er altså nødvendigt at fokusere på det marked, som produkterne konkurrerer på samt på de aktører, der har indflydelse på dette marked.
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The aim of the study is to develop a tool, which can be used for calculation of carbon footprint (using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach) of milk both at a farm level and at a national level. The functional unit is ‘1 kg energy corrected milk (ECM) at farm gate’ and the applied methodology is LCA. The model includes switches that enables for, within the same scope, transforming the results to comply with 1) consequential LCA, 2) allocation/average modelling (or ‘attributional LCA’), 3) PAS 2050 and 4) The International Dairy Federations (IDF) guide to standard life cycle assessment methodology for the dairy sector. The key elements of consequential LCA and the IDF guide are presented and explained by examples. The national carbon footprints (CF) for milk produced in Denmark and Sweden in 2005 are presented.
The Novo Nordisk Environmental Profit and Loss Account (E P&L) is a response to PUMA’s call for contributions to the E P&L methodology and the expert review of PUMA’s E P&L.
The Novo Nordisk E P&L is reported in two parts; the main report, which focuses on the results and the application of these in a Novo Nordisk context, and the methodology report which focuses on the methodology applied for establishing the E P&L results.
The following methodology report:
Not all of the points from the review have been addressed in this E P&L, but those that have are listed in section 1.1. These are the main conclusions and contributions to the E P&L methodology from this analysis.
