Life cycle sustainability assessment: Lessons learned from case studies

Abstract

Although methodological development of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is still under discussion, an increasing number of case studies have been published in recent years. A necessity to strengthen methodological trade-offs and obtain a consistent basis for future LCSA case studies exists. The aim of this research is to identify how LCSA is being applied for each of the pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) and how results are being integrated into the decision-making process. To achieve this aim, a systematic review of case studies was conducted. The methodology followed includes research questions to guide the process, search guidelines for selecting case studies to analyse and assessment rules to identify information to extract. The descriptive and content analyses of case studies provided key findings related to the main goals, divergences in the scope of the pillars of sustainability, data collection sources, the most readily applicable impact indicators for each of the three pillars of sustainability, operational research methods applied as drivers for communication and decision processes. In addition, the incipient interactions between LCSA and new sustainability approaches as circular economy and Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) is analysed. As a final conclusion, further research should be carried out to achieve consistency in the selection of the scope for each pillar of sustainability. This would make it possible to develop more accurate indicators for quantifying the social impact and to point out advantages and disadvantages of operation research methods for communication and support in decision-making.