What are the steps to reduce your environmental impact with life cycle assessment?

When defining the goal and scope of your LCA, it's essential to align it with our organization's sustainability objectives. Consider including not only the environmental aspects but also social and economic aspects. By doing so, we can comprehensively address sustainability and corporate responsibility. Additionally, we can engage stakeholders early in this process to ensure their concerns and priorities are considered, leading to more robust results.

The goal of the Corporate Sustainability LCA is to evaluate the environmental performance of sustainability initiatives implemented within organizations as part of the Corporate Sustainability solutions. By conducting an LCA, the aim is to identify potential environmental hotspots, assess resource consumption, emissions, and waste generation throughout the life cycle of Corporate Sustainability activities, and inform decision-making to minimize environmental impacts. Corporate Sustainability initiatives should be driver to spread the awareness with least impact to the ecosystem.

When defining goal and scope its worth pointing out uncertainties, nuances related to quality and source of data and reliability. At the end of the day, the LCA is only as good as the quality and completeness of the data with its underlying assumptions.

To properly analyse the impact of the Corporate Sustainability solution, various types of data are required across different stages of the project life cycle. First and foremost will be Baseline Data: Employee engagement levels: Surveys, interviews, or focus groups with employees to assess their current level of engagement with sustainability practices. Organizational culture assessment: Surveys, interviews, or organizational assessments to understand the existing culture and attitudes towards sustainability within the organization. Resource consumption data: Utility bills, waste management records, and procurement data to quantify the organization's resource consumption and waste generation.

Its worth noting that Scope 1 and 2 data is easier to collect but problem often arises for scope 3 due nature of supply chain players. A very good source to collect data are EPDs i.e Environment Product Declarations. They are mostly verified backed by LCA.

Collecting inventory data should extend beyond internal records. Collaborating with suppliers and partners can help us in gathering data related to their contributions to the product or service life cycle. Transparency in data sharing fosters trust and can lead to better-informed decisions. Furthermore, we should also consider using emerging technologies such as blockchain to enhance data traceability and reliability, especially for complex supply chains.

While calculating impacts, don't limit yourself to traditional metrics. Incorporate emerging metrics that address ecosystem services, social well-being, and circular economy principles. This broader perspective will provide a more holistic view of your environmental impact and help identify unconventional opportunities for improvement.

To properly conclude the impact of the Corporate Sustainability solution key Data will be Implementation Data: Attendance and participation rates: Attendance logs, sign-in sheets, or online registration data to track participation in workshops, training sessions, and events. Feedback and evaluation: Surveys, feedback forms, or post-event evaluations to gather feedback from participants on the effectiveness and relevance of Corporate Sustainability activities. Collaboration and partnership agreements: Documentation and records of collaborations with companies, organizations, and stakeholders involved in Corporate Sustainability initiatives.

Calculation of environmental impacts is a key goal. To achieve best estimates the most relevant models should be used. It is worth noting there are many different models to choose from. These models and underlaying assumptions, calculations can make significant difference later during interpretation stage. Eg TRACI model is often best used for North America.

When interpreting results, ensure that your organization fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Encourage cross-functional teams to analyze findings and brainstorm innovative solutions. Consider conducting sensitivity analyses to understand the potential impact of different scenarios, which can help prioritize actions and allocate resources effectively.

Interpretation should be done in such a way so that it helps to get the final objective. Eg If the LCA is meant for creating "positive marketing" instead of "compliance" purpose then focus and effort should go to creating an interpretation such that it addresses the key requirement needs of "positive marketing".

Once the main hotspots have been identified in previous stages now its time to implement tangible mitigation actions. Eg if one finds the major hotspot is due to high carbon energy mix then its prudent to shift towards low carbon energy mix source or renewables altogether. Another example is if one finds hotspot is due to certain raw material components which are made from virgin or primary materials then one can use recycled materials. These implementations must be done in a collaborative way with various stakeholders.

The implementation phase is where our commitment to sustainability shines. Prioritize actions that not only reduce environmental impact but also create value for your organization. Collaborating with R&D teams will help develop sustainable product innovations, invest in employee training to promote sustainability awareness, and engage with customers to communicate your sustainability efforts transparently. Remember that sustainability is an ongoing journey, so track progress and adapt strategies as needed.

Don't get fooled by the efficiency fallacy. If the LCA process leads to better efficiency, e.g., in energy performance or less CO2 per functional unit, it is typical that production increases. Thus, in the real world more often than not, efficiency gains lead to increase in emissions. Whatever the findings of an LCA, it is always best for the climate to avoid emissions in the first place, meaning producing less or none of the product the LCA was made for. Only after that comes reducing emissions through replacing power source or materials.

Well said Gaurav. A follow up consideration could then be to prioritize the decarbonization solutions in USD/Tonne cost to the organization to get the maximum bang for the buck.

Insights: -LCA gives an estimation not accurate results. -LCA is as good as the quality of data used. -Its prudent to use Product Category Rules properly. -Must be careful of the standard used to do the LCA. Eg Building LCA has different standards in different countries. -Use the right LCA software platform and data integrations. -Use of primary data is always advisable compared to secondary data sources.