Call for Proposals: ‘Hotspots analysis for different value chains involving ozone-depleting substances’

The Life Cycle Initiative is issuing a Call for Proposals for a study aiming to carry out a hotspot analysis for different value chains involving ozone-depleting substances (ODS), regarding the impacts on ozone depletion and climate change as well as other relevant impacts. The deliverable should be a short summary report on the global overview of the hotspots in different value chains using ODS to deliver their functions and highlight the key areas of intervention.

The deadline for submission is 15 December, COB.

>> Access background information and download the application template

Call for Applications for the 2019 LCA Award Activity

With the great support from the World Resources Forum and various LCA databases and software companies (ecoinvent, IKE, ifu Hamburg, GreenDelta, Social Hotspot Database, PRé Sustainability, Thinkstep), the Life Cycle Initiative launches its new call for applications for the 2019 LCA Award. The award aims to enhance the capacity to apply life cycle thinking around the world, by generating local life cycle data, knowledge and application.

The deadline for application is 31 December 2019.

>> More information and Application web page

Calling for input on contributions from Life Cycle Thinking / LCA to Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Responding to Resolution 4/8, adopted by the UN Environment Assembly in March 2019, UNEP is synthesizing the analysis of best practices in sustainable chemistry into manuals on green and sustainable chemistry. The development of these manuals will take place in 2020. UNEP welcomes inputs of best practices from the lifecycle community on Sustainable Chemistry. These examples could demonstrate how life cycle thinking contributes to green and sustainable chemistry, or how green and sustainable chemistry are / should be based on lifecycle thinking.

For more background information, please refer to information document (SAICM/IP.3/INF/9) made available at the occasion of the third meeting of the intersessional process considering the Strategic Approach and sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020. This document outlined among others the approach to be taken in responding to the mandate to prepare manuals on green and sustainable chemistry.

>> Please contact Sandra Averous at sandra.averous@un.org if you would like to contribute.

Call for contributions: Position Paper on Circular Economy

The Life Cycle Initiative has recently started working on a position paper on circular economy (CE), which is expected to be finished in end 2019. It is based on the assumption that Life Cycle Assessment could become a useful tool in CE programs as a way to ensure that the best environmental decisions are made when evaluating different options to close the loop. This is partly because both CE and Life Cycle (LC) community consider environmental, social and economic dimension. Life cycle perspective can thus help prevent CE strategies from overlooking possible upstream and downstream impacts, potentially leading to less efficient or even bad solutions.

This position paper aims to provide the LC community’s perspective in terms of conceptual definitions, scope, methodology and measurements. We want to reach consensus within the LCA community on terminology and priority issues in order to improve the opportunity for the inclusion of the LC approach in the global discussion and in methodological tools for the implementation of Circular Economy.

If you would like to contribute to this position paper (e.g. providing knowledge, expertise, case study and editing), please write to Feng Wang, and copy Joséphine Courtois, with your area of expertise. Thank you! 

Call for working group participation: The GLAD Working Groups on Nomenclature and Metadata descriptors are back!

As we advance in the implementation of the Global LCA Data Access network (GLAD) we are happy to re-activate the working groups on Nomenclature and the Metadata Descriptors, two essential elements to ensure LCA data interoperability within GLAD. These working groups will be animated by the Technical Management Group of GLAD, and will be key to ensure the adequate evolution of metadata descriptors as well as to maintain the nomenclature system that is required to keep up to date with new versions of databases being published, as well as new life cycle impact assessment methods requiring new flows, etc. Do you have experience with developing, sorting and managing LCA datasets? Have you been dealing with the intricacies of managing LCA data within software packages?

You probably have what it takes! If so, and are willing to put some of your time for the good of the LCA community, please reply to this survey.