Life Cycle Environmental Assessment of a Green Wall System in Santiago, Chile

Main Presenter:    Edmundo Muñoz 

Co-Authors:   María Ignacia Pérez     Sergio Vera                                          

Urban heat islands, increasing cooling demand, and air pollution represent critical sustainability challenges for Latin American cities. In this context, nature-based solutions such as green walls have emerged as promising strategies to mitigate thermal stress and improve urban environmental quality. However, the available evidence has mainly focused on experimentally measured thermal or air quality benefits, without systematically integrating the environmental impacts associated with material manufacturing, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life disposal.
This study applies the LCA methodology in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards to quantify the environmental impacts associated with a modular green wall installed in Santiago, Chile, considering a cradle-to-grave system boundary and foreground data obtained from the Laboratory of Vegetative Infrastructure of Buildings (LIVE). The functional unit corresponds to 1 m² of green wall, including the manufacturing, installation, operation, and end-of-life stages. The experimentally based inventory enabled precise characterization of material composition, irrigation requirements, Sedum biomass, and energy savings during operation. The results show that the manufacturing phase constitutes the main environmental hotspot, contributing more than 50% of the total impact in 12 of the 16 categories assessed, mainly due to the steel support structure. The system’s global warming potential reaches 58.47 kg CO₂ eq m⁻² over its life cycle (≈ 5.8 kg CO₂ eq m⁻² year⁻¹). Energy savings
resulting from reduced cooling demand offset approximately 8% of total emissions, highlighting the relevance of thermal benefits at the building envelope level. End-of-life modeling indicates that landfill disposal is a key contributor to eutrophication, ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. Circular scenarios combining plastic recycling and biomass composting reduce climate impact by 13.7% and decrease eutrophication and toxicity indicators by up to 59%. When these strategies are integrated with a service life extension to 50 years, total climate impact is reduced by 70.8%, representing the most environmentally favorable scenario. In the particulate matter formation category, the system provides a net environmental benefit, as avoided electricity consumption and pollutant capture by vegetation offset life cycle emissions, generating negative PM2.5 values in optimized scenarios. Overall, the results demonstrate that integrating foreground data, circular end-of-life strategies, and long-term
operational benefits is essential to accurately assess the environmental performance of urban green infrastructure and to support sustainable design and climate adaptation decisions in the Global South.

©2026 Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation e.V. | Contact Us | Legal Info

CONTACT US

If you would like to get in touch with us, please feel free to send us a message. Thank you very much in advance.

Sending

Log in with your credentials

or    

Forgot your details?

Create Account