Europe is increasingly looking at assessing the economic, social and environmental impact of all products and materials — from raw material extraction to transport, consumption and final disposal. As part of the process, Life- Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged as a key concept to guide sustainable policymaking and business decision- making.

A Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe has been published on the 20th of September: how much is life- cycle thinking reflected in it?

How is LCA done in different sectors, and what are the lessons learnt?

Are existing ISO standards for LCA helpful, and which sectors already use them?

What are stakeholders’ expectations as to the LCA guidelines being developed by the EU’s Joint Research Centre?

Given LCA’s complexity, what should be its practical implications? What actions should assessments trigger?

Should policymakers intervene to support the further development of standards, and how?

Should standards be enforced, or is the creation of benchmarks sufficient?

Speaking in this video are:

David Pennington, Action Leader, Sustainability Assessment, Joint Research Centre
Reinhard Butikofer, MEP
Annick Carpentier, EHSDirector, Coordination & Product Policy, Eurometaux
Jean-Pierre BIRAT, ArcelorMittal Global
Johannes Drielsma, Deputy Director, European Association of Mining Industries

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