LCA Discussion Forum 58

With the advance of LCA, the life cycle approach is increasingly applied on company level. However, the efficient assessment of life cycle impacts on a company level remains a real challenge, be it a retailer with a broad product portfolio or a manufacturing company with hundreds of suppliers. Nevertheless, more and more companies start analysing so-called scope 3 life cycle impacts, and include this in their environmental reports. This trend is pushed by new approaches and tools for efficient scope 3 reporting but also by governmental initiatives like the EU’s Organization Environmental Footprint (OEF). How do companies perform their scope 3 assessments? What are the key differences, strengths and weaknesses among approaches and standards? How to deal with avoided emissions (sometimes referred to as “scope 4”), i.e. emission reductions that occur outside of a product’s life cycle or value chain, but as a result of the use of that product? The forum will give the floor to representatives from industry, administration and LCA consultants to present the state-of-the-art of company LCA. Participants can exchange experiences and discuss pros and cons of the different approaches.