News for the Global Life Cycle Community • LC Net • September/October 2018 Edition

September/October 2018 Edition

• LC Net Focus

• Announcements

• Activity Updates

• Event Feedback

• LCT Success Story

• Our calendar of upcoming events

• Jobs

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www.lifecycleinitiative.org

LC Net Focus

Life Cycle Initiative members to gather for 2nd virtual General Assembly on 27 September 2018

Time: 11:30 – 15:00 (GMT+2, Paris time)

On September 27, 2018, the Life Cycle Initiative will hold its second online General Assembly, which is open for participation to all members of the Initiative. Participants will hear the annual progress update on the Initiative’s activities, elect the new members of the Steering Committee, and discuss the engagement and closer collaboration of members with the Initiative.

For all members, please block your agenda for the General Assembly on September 27, 2018 from 11:30-15:00 (GMT+2). The connection/dial-in details, agenda and pre-reads will be delivered to your inbox in mid-September.

Steering Committee Election process and deadlines

Initiative members will elect 3 new members of the Steering Committee. As stipulated in the governance of the Initiative (Annexes 3.2 and 3.3 of the strategy document), one seat of each constituency in the Steering Committee (government, business, science & civil society) rotates every year. In order to respect the geographical representation rule, members from the following regions may opt for election to the Steering Committee:

• Government: Africa; Europe; North America; West Asia.

• Business: Africa; Latin America and Caribbean; North America; West Asia.

• Science & Civil Society: only INDIVIDUAL members from Africa; Asia/Pacific; Latin America and Caribbean; West Asia (Note: there are no open positions for institutional members of this constituency until next year).

If you would like to stand for election to represent your constituency in the Steering Committee, you may send your candidacy application -- including a short description of your motivation and qualification to be in the Steering Committee -- until the 17th September by close of business in Europe via e-mail to [email protected] The profiles of the candidates standing for election will be shared via e-mail to all Initiative members by 20th September.

Remember: membership registration is open throughout the year. You or your institution can join by downloading, completing and returning a signed membership application form to [email protected].

4th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA4) to put focus on life cycle approaches

The Life Cycle Initiative is preparing for the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA4) that will take place in Nairobi in March 2019, and which will address life cycle approaches as one of the focus areas to deliver “innovative solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable consumption and production”.

Since it was created in the Rio+20 conference back in 2012, the UNEA is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment. With a universal membership, UNEA is now composed of 193 Member States. Already in its second session, the participating governments adopted a resolution on Sustainable Consumption and Production (Resolution 2/8), which “Encourages all Member States, as well as other relevant stakeholders, to move towards sustainable consumption and production patterns, while taking into account national development priorities, policies and strategies, and to collaborate to promote life-cycle approaches” (among others).

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Announcements

Call for volunteer reviewers for the reports of the Life Cycle Initiative

In the coming months, the Initiative will release several reports:

• Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods, Volume 2. This volume covers the following domain areas: human toxicity, ecotoxicity, acidification and eutrophication, soil quality and related ecosystem services, mineral resources, as well as crosscutting issues.

• National guidance on mapping plastics value chain and hotspots related to marine plastics

• Methodological framework for environmental hotspots analysis on the national economy based on life cycle approaches

We encourage our members, as well as experts from the life cycle community, to volunteer as reviewers for the outputs of the Initiative. Your support will be regarded as an in-kind contribution to the Initiative, and will be acknowledged in our publications and website.

If you are interested to be a reviewer, please send an email to Mr. Feng WANG with your relevant technical qualifications in the fields mentioned above.

Call for reviewers for the Global Assessment on Natural Resource Use and Management

As part of ongoing collaborations with the Life Cycle Initiative, the International Resource Panel is inviting nominations for peer reviewers for their forthcoming report - the Global Assessment on Natural Resource Use and Management – which will be submitted to the Fourth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA4) in March 2019. Particularly, we seek life cycle assessment experts to review Chapter 3 on the environmental and social impacts of natural resource use in the global economy. If you are interested to contribute to this peer review between 01-12 October 2018, please do submit your brief resumé with relevant experience and publications to Peder Jensen with cc Llorenç Mila i Canals by 14 September 2018.

The Life Cycle Initiative contributes to the One Planet network review of biodiversity assessment initiatives

The One Planet network programme on Sustainable Food Systems has been undertaking activities around measuring, valuing and communicating biodiversity. The Life Cycle Initiative and several of its members are active participants. A report on Biodiversity Assessment Initiatives has been published recently, which includes the impact assessment indicators recommended by the Life Cycle Initiative for land use impacts on biodiversity. We hope you will enjoy the report!

Journal article published on the road-testing experience of “Organizational LCA”

The project team of the “Organizational LCA” has published a journal article: The implementation of organizational LCA to internally manage the environmental impacts of a broad product portfolio: an example for a cosmetics, fragrances, and toiletry provider.

This article introduces the case study of NATURA (a Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer), one of the road testers of the “Guidance on Organizational LCA” (O-LCA). The study demonstrates that evolving towards a systematically structured model based on O-LCA can help the corporate strategy to internally manage the environmental impacts at the global level, and for every individual product. This paper also delves into the methodological choices and the decisions derived from the results.

>> Access the article.

You also can read more on NATURA, in the “Life Cycle in action: Case studies from our network” section below.

Swiss Federal Office for the Environment publishes its 1996-2015 footprint time series

It is our pleasure to share the most recent report by one of the Life Cycle Initiative’s founding funding partners, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN): Environmental Footprints of Switzerland. This report shows Switzerland’s consumption-based environmental impact from 1996 to 2015 (environmental footprints). It is based on a combination of emissions, trade, and life cycle assessment data, which were regionalized for the biodiversity and water footprint for the first time. The study follows the recommendations from the Life Cycle Initiative in terms of life cycle impact indicators for biodiversity and water impacts. We look forward to learning more on how the results of the study will be used to translate into public policy!

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Updates on Life Cycle Initiative projects

New projects in the Life Cycle Initiative portfolio

The Steering Committee of the Life Cycle Initiative approved three new projects in April 2018: 1) Linking UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to life cycle impact pathway frameworks; 2) Life Cycle Costing for Sustainable Public Procurement; and 3) Social LCA. This edition of the LC Net provides some insight on the project “Social LCA”:

An updated Guidelines for Social LCA – Scale up and road testing of Social LCA & Social Organizational LCA (S-LCA & SOLCA)

Over the past decade and since the Life Cycle Initiative’s publication “Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Products” (2009), the interest in social impact assessment of products and companies has dramatically increased. While the Guidelines and the related methodological sheets have played a decisive role initiating the practice of Social Life Cycle Assessment, the landscape has greatly evolved in the meantime. Databases for Social LCA have been made available and applied, and impact assessment methods have been created and tested. We have also seen the publication of several handbooks and the proliferation of case studies. Considering all these positive developments, an updated version of the Guidelines will be a useful product that the community is ready to apply, and will provide scientific and political recognition to the Initiative for this output. A strong work stream on Social LCA supports the Initiative’s work towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on sustainability in general.

>> More information on the project

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Event feedback and activity updates

Life Cycle Assessment for Key National Sectors in Peru

On July 3, new LCA data on refineries and waste treatment were presented in Lima, Peru. The data have been developed by Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú together with other stakeholders as part of the project “Advancing and measuring consumption and sustainable production for a low carbon economy in middle-income economies and new industrialized countries: Peru” funded by the International Climate Initiative and coordinated by UN Environment. The project aims to create environmental information that is relevant for consumers and in public policy. Life Cycle Thinking and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are used throughout the project to identify a wide range of environmental aspects in the Peruvian priority sectors and products. Another main goal of the project is the development of an LCA National Database. For this, the Life Cycle Initiative has provided support to establish a roadmap for the development of the database. These LCA results are intended to be used in the implementation of policies related to sustainable consumption and production, more specifically in the development of sustainable public procurement criteria.

During the presentation, the importance of these data was highlighted for the purposes of providing technical recommendations for other initiatives and national priorities such as the construction of new sanitary landfills, the revision of the National Determine Contributions (NDCs) and the update of INFOCARBONO database.

Life Cycle Initiative presented at the Chilean LCA Conference

The Life Cycle Initiative, through its host UN Environment, was invited to participate at the II Chilean LCA Conference that took place in Santiago de Chile in August 8-10. The event was organized by TALCA University together with the Chilean LCA Network and the support of the Ibero American LCA Network (RICV). This second edition focused on the National Agenda for Sustainable Consumption and Production. UN Environment’s presentation focused on the 2030 Agenda and the importance of Life Cycle Thinking for the achievement of its 17 goals.

It was also an opportunity to present the Global LCA Data Access network (GLAD), coordinated by the Life Cycle Initiative, and highlight the importance of GLAD to connect and access global LCA information. The audience, comprised of LCA practitioners, private sector and government representatives, welcomed the creation of the GLAD network.

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Life Cycle in Action: Case studies from our network

How Life Cycle Thinking is Boosting a Brazilian Cosmetics Firm

For Brazil’s NATURA Cosméticos, sustainability has been at the centre of its business strategy for more than four decades – a “guiding principle” since the company was founded in 1969. But this manufacturer of cosmetics, fragrances and toiletries has also moved up a gear in recent times, from simply thinking about sustainability to now applying Life Cycle Thinking across its value chain. This is how NATURA’s management has taken on the challenge.

As a company, NATURA has been aware of its environmental responsibilities for quite some time. Since the 1980s the company sought to minimize its environmental impacts with a host of initiatives, including the use of refill packaging, a self-declared eco-label for all its products, and since 2007, a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Corporate Inventory. But now the company is more aware than ever of the opportunities that it can gain by applying Life Cycle Thinking to its commercial operations.

>> Read the full LCA Success Story.

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Our Calendar: where we and our partners will be active

International Conference on Social Life Cycle Assessment | 10–12 September 2018 | Pescara, Italy

The University “G. d’Annunzio” of Pescara-Chieti, in collaboration with Ecoinnovazione srl, is organising the 6th International Conference on Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The theme of the conference is “Social LCA: People and Places for Partnership”.

>> More event details

Coinciding with the conference, the Life Cycle Initiative will organise two workshops related to our projects:

1) Workshop on the Revision of the S-LCA Guidelines

A SLCAlliance/ Life Cycle Initiative workshop will be held on September 12-14th at the University of G. D’Annunzio in Pescara, Italy, back–to-back with the 6th International S-LCA Seminar! Register for the workshop, and find more information.

2) Stakeholder workshop on linking life cycle thinking to SDGs

As introduced in the project section of this newsletter, a stakeholder consultation workshop on linking life cycle thinking to SDGs will take place as a side event of the International Conference on Social Life Cycle Assessment and is invitation only. This workshop will establish an agenda for the project, to understand the context of how SDGs are being used by decision makers, how LCA-based metrics can contribute to that, the requirements and wishes of the various stakeholders, and the need for capacity building. If you are interested in participating, please contact the workshop organisers for more information.

Argentina’s Annual Life Cycle National Meeting | 4-5 October 2018 | Rosario, Argentina

The VI Argentine Meeting of Life Cycle and V Meeting of the Argentine Network of Water Footprint, ENARCIV-2018, will be held at the Amphitheater of the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences, National University of Rosario (Parque Villarino, Zavalla, Santa Fe) on October 4 and 5, 2018.

>> More information

Indian Life Cycle Management Conference (ILCM) | 4-5 October 2018 | New Delhi, India

Join the Life Cycle Initiative Steering Committee member, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with India LCA Alliance, as they host the 7th edition of the Indian Life Cycle Management Conference (ILCM) later this year.

ILCM is an exclusive event that brings government, industry, and academia together to explore the applicability of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) in enabling transition towards a truly sustainable economy. The underlying focus is to enable capacity building, networking and peer to peer learning. This year’s conference will follow a unique format with a one-day conference followed by knowledge-sharing sessions/site visits and B2B meetings.

>> Download the conference brochure
>> Contact the organizers

Ecobalance 2018 | October 9-12 | Tokyo, Japan

The Institute of Life Cycle Assessment Japan is hosting the 13th Biennial International Conference on EcoBalance the theme being, “Nexus of Ideas: Innovation by linking through life cycle thinking.”

EcoBalance serves as a forum for discussions on environmental performance evaluation, information disclosure regarding evaluation results, and for the development and implementation of discussed methods.

>> More information

11th International Conference Life Cycle Assessment of FOOD |17-19 October 2018 | Bangkok, Thailand

The 11th International Conference Life Cycle Assessment of FOOD 2018 is organized by KU-JGSEE-NSTDA-FTI, Thailand in conjunction with 6th LCA AgriFood ASIA and 7th ICGSI: International Conference on Green and Sustainable Innovation from 17-19 October in Bangkok.

>> More event details
>> Contact the organizers

3rd International Conference Series on Life Cycle Assessment (ICSoLCA) | 24-25 October 2018 | Jakarta, Indonesia

Life Cycle Initiative member ILCAN, is hosting the 3rd Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in October 2018. Organized by the University of Indonesia, the conference will be held in collaboration with the Centre of Environment and Forestry Standardization within the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The theme of this event is “Life Cycle Assessment as a Metric to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”.

>> More event details

6th International Seminar of the Ibero-American Network of LCA | 24-26 October 2018 | Tegucigalpa, Honduras

The 2018 RICV Seminar will be held in the city of Tegucigalpa, from 24 to 26 of October. The Seminar is being organized by the Honduran Life Cycle Network main co-founders: the National Council for Sustainable Development (CONADES), CICOMER and LAC Footprint Initiative. The Seminar is being supported and co-organized with the RICV, the support and collaboration of the Life Cycle Initiative and UN Environment with the dissemination of this Seminar and other international organizations.

For more information please contact Xiomara Cubas or Svetlana Samayoa.
>> Event website: www.rhcv.com

Latin American Congress of Eco-design (EcodAl 2018) | 29-31 October 2018 | Cholula (Puebla) Mexico

EcodAl, the Latin American Congress of Eco-design will take place in México, from 29 to 31 October. Our motto: Kuali Nextiyotl, Nahuatl expression for “good design”; a good design that aims to lower the environmental footprint of products and services, through life cycle assessment.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is May 15. Themes include: eco-design, life cycle assessment, education, FabLab, ancient technologies, behavioral design for sustainability and much more.

>> Event website: www.ecodal.org/ecodal2018/ 
>> Contact the organizers

You can also consult our Events page for more information about the events above. Is there an event coming up in your area? Just let us know and we'll add it to our list.

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Jobs

Advertise your job posting here

If you have a job posting to send to our network of LCA practitioners, send us an email.

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On-going Call for LCNet Contributions!

Members of the Life Cycle Initiative, please feel free to submit your event, job vacancy, news, capacity development opportunities, topics and stories related to life cycle thinking and LCA, to be shared with the global life cycle community. We are always looking for featured coverage on the experience how life cycle thiking contributes to different policy agendas, sustainable business and decision making, in various countries and regions. You may send your content to info(at)lifecycleinitiative.org and copy Feng Wang. Note that we cannot accept contributions of a commercial nature.

LCNet is released bimonthly in the beginning of January, March, May, July, September and November, so please send us your piece approximately at least two weeks before the release date.

We look forward to your contributions in disseminating life cycle knowledge from global policy and business agendas!

Secretariat of the Life Cycle Initiative

For more information, please visit our website, or feel free to contact us by email.