Life Cycle Assessment: advantages and limitations of the methodology

The transition towards more sustainable development models can only take place through a systemic approach which makes it possible to evaluate the main environmental impacts of a process, product or service considering each stage of the life cycle, in such a way as to identify areas of priority intervention.

In this regard, Life Cycle Thinking (LCT), is an approach that allows you to analyze the environmental, economic and social sustainability of products, services, technologies and systems, considering all phases of the life cycle from the extraction of raw materials to end of life management.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is one of the main tools that allow the application of the LCT approach.

The LCA methodology stems from the awareness that environmental problems do not end at the factory "gate", but, on the contrary, the consumption and post-consumption phases have significant environmental impacts compared to production.

Definition of the Life Cycle Assessment

According to the ISO 14040:2006 standard, the LCA methodology is defined as an environmental management technique that makes it possible to identify and evaluate the potential environmental impacts of a product, process or service during its entire life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to to end-of-life management.

The Life Cycle Assessment is typically used to compare different alternatives (products, processes or services) that perform the same function with the aim of identifying the choice with the least impact or to highlight the critical phases of a system, identifying opportunities for improvement of the environmental profile .

The LCA methodology is limited to assessing the environmental impacts and does not address the economic or social aspects, for which specific methodologies have been defined (LCC and S-LCA).

The Life Cycle Assessment consists of 4 phases:

• Goal and scope definition;
• Inventory analysis;
• Impact assessement;
• Interpretation.

Establishing the goal of an LCA study means defining unambiguously the reasons why the study is carried out and the recipients to whom the results of the analysis will be communicated.

The definition of the field of application provides for the description of the type of data collected, the functional unit (the reference unit of measurement of the study to which all input and output data are normalised) and the system boundaries, i.e. the phases to be included or excluded from the study

In fact, the LCA study can be performed on the entire life cycle of a product or on a single phase, depending on business needs and on the basis of the phases to be analysed.

The company Successori Reda, for example, conducted a life cycle analysis to evaluate the environmental performance of two fabrics from the farm to the factory gate - the so-called "from cradle-to-gate" analysis).

The functional unit is the study's reference unit of measure to which all input and output data are normalized.

The second phase, the inventory analysis, is the longest and most demanding of an LCA study since it involves the collection of data and the quantification of input and output flows, referred to the functional unit, which are relevant for a specific product, process or service.

Once the second phase has been completed, in the third, i.e. the evaluation of the impacts, it is necessary to transform the input/output flows into potential contributions to the categories of environmental impact (for example, the contribution of methane gas, emitted during the production process of an item of clothing, to the greenhouse effect impact category).

The last phase, the interpretation, involves the analysis of the results obtained from the inventory analysis and the impact assessment, providing conclusive opinions on the study and identifying possible improvement actions on any environmental criticalities detected.

LCA and sustainability communication

In the fashion sector, greenwashing is unfortunately a very frequent practice by companies, which often share unclear, credible and non-transparent information with consumers.

In fact, the Changing Markets Foundation's Report Synthetics Anonymous shows that 59% of claims made by European and British fashion companies are misleading or unfounded.

To avoid greenwashing practices by companies, the family of the ISO 14020 standard defines common rules in the field of environmental labels and declarations, in order to avoid distortions of the mechanisms of free competition and impediments to the movement of goods.

The goal of the standard is to encourage the demand and supply of products with less impact on the environment, by communicating accurate, verifiable and non-misleading information.

The standard defines three types of environmental labels, which are in turn governed by different standards. Among these, the type 1 and type 3 environmental labels are based on LCA studies.

Type 1 environmental labels (ISO 14024) are based on a set of environmental criteria identified as relevant and certified by an independent body. These labels are issued only to products that exceed certain minimum requirements.

An example is the European Ecolabel, the EU ecological quality label which distinguishes products and services that are characterized by a reduced environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle (Life Cycle Assessment approach), while maintaining high performance standards at the same time.

Type III environmental labels (ISO 14025) or environmental declarations provide quantitative data on the environmental profile of a product calculated according to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology.

For these labels it is not required to exceed a minimum threshold of acceptability but the verification of an independent body.

Furthermore, compliance with a data communication format is required which makes it easier to compare different products.

An example of type III environmental labels is the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which makes it possible to transparently report objective, comparable and third-party verified data on the environmental performance of products and services based on an LCA study.

To facilitate the comparison of the environmental impacts of the same product or service, it is necessary to establish product category rules (PCR), i.e. documents that define the principles and requirements for drafting the EPDs of a specific product/service category.

Consequently, to facilitate the communication of the results achieved, the EPDs which are based on the same product category rules (PCR), are comparable with each other.

The advantages and limitations of the LCA methodology

The application of the LCA methodology makes it possible to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of a product, process or service throughout its entire life cycle.

This allows, on the one hand, to compare two different alternatives, with the aim of choosing the least impactful solution, but also to analyze all the phases of a production process in order to identify the priority areas of intervention and, consequently, the actions to improve the critical issues identified.

Furthermore, as previously mentioned, an LCA study can be the basis for companies to communicate the environmental performance of a product to stakeholders.

The market is increasingly looking for objective and verifiable data from companies to communicate the environmental profile of a specific product, process or service.

Consequently, type 1 and type 3 environmental labels allow the results to be shared outside a Life Cycle Assessment study conducted on a product in an objective way and without the risk of greenwashing.

Despite these advantages, the methodology has several limitations and critical points.

In general, in addition to the absence of data to carry out studies on certain types of products and processes, the LCA methodology evaluates potential and non-real environmental impacts.

In fact, LCA is a "site-independent" and not a "site-specific" method.

This means that the methodology calculates global or regional rather than local environmental effects.

In other words, solvent emissions could have insignificant impacts globally, but could cause significant effects on human health and natural ecosystems locally.

The limitations of the methodology are also evident in the textile sector since some impacts are not considered or only partially evaluated at a local level, such as for example the noise generated by machinery and the dust emitted by production processes.

Furthermore, other types of environmental impacts such as: irrigation and the use of chemical pesticides in cotton fields and the environmental impacts of chemicals used for water sources are only partially considered.

From the work conducted by the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, “Identifying Low Carbon Sources of Cotton and Polyester Fibers” some factors and gaps in the LCA data emerge which do not allow an appropriate comparison of the environmental performance of one fiber compared to another.

The study, which focuses on the comparison between the different types of cotton (conventional, organic, recycled, regenerative, etc.) and between the different types of polyester (bio-based, mechanically or chemically recycled), establishes that the various LCAs that are carried out over time on the various types of fibers are not comparable due to the following problems:

• Outdated data: LCA studies on cotton and polyester are modeled on fiber data approximately 10 years old. Factors such as: the change in climatic conditions, soil and agricultural practices used do not guarantee an appropriate comparison between the environmental performance of the fibers;
• Using different software and databases for an LCA study: The choice of different databases and software induces a significant degree of variability in the LCA results. Results may also vary based on database versions which may contain updated data from previous databases;
• Use of different LCA methodologies: in an LCA study it is possible to use different types of assessment of environmental impacts. In this regard, for each typology the characterization factors could vary which could lead to incomparable results.

To address these issues it may be necessary to increase the use of up-to-date and site-specific data, with the aim of providing the most complete and accurate assessment possible.

Case study of companies that have carried out an LCA study

Despite some limitations, the LCA methodology is considered a fundamental tool for assessing environmental impacts and communicating objective and verifiable data on the environmental performance of a product, process or service.

Let us now analyze some case studies of virtuous companies that have adopted the LCA methodology:

• Filpucci: a leading company in the creation of fancy yarns for high-end knitwear and knitting, conducted an LCA study on the various recycled yarns they produce, through which the environmental impacts were assessed throughout the product life cycle , comparing the results obtained with an equivalent yarn made from virgin raw materials;
• Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.): One of the largest apparel companies in the world and a global leader in jeans conducted the first Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study in the apparel industry in 2007 to assess the impact of the entire life cycle of a set of basic products. In 2013 it launched a new LCA study on 3 types of products which was concluded in 2015;
• MUD Jeans: is the first circular denim brand in the world and publishes LCA studies every year to compare its impacts with respect to past years and with respect to other fashion brands;
• Successors Reda: leading company in the production of merino wool fabrics for menswear. After conducting an LCA study it communicated the results obtained via an EPD in collaboration with The New Zealand Merino Company Ltd. The study evaluated the environmental performance of two Reda Fabrics from the farm to the factory gate.

Conclusions

The LCA methodology is one of the most useful tools to apply the Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) approach to analyze the environmental sustainability of products, processes and services considering all the phases of the life cycle from the extraction of raw materials to the management of the end of life .

An LCA study is useful for facilitating strategic decisions in the company, both as regards the choice between two different product alternatives, but also for optimizing the environmental performance of company processes.

Furthermore, the methodology represents a marketing tool that allows the data of the environmental profile of a product, process or service to be communicated in an objective and verifiable way, contrasting greenwashing practices.

However, LCA still has limitations as it focuses predominantly on global or regional impacts. Hence the need for more “site specific” data.

The LCA methodology also presents other critical issues which include the use of different methodologies for assessing environmental impacts, different software and databases and, in some cases, the analysis of out-of-date data.

Finally, the realization of a Life Cycle Assessment study requires adequate skills in the phases of data collection, processing and interpretation.

For this reason Cikis supports your company in conducting an LCA study, avoiding making mistakes that could compromise the results of the analysis.