Session: Corporate Use of LCA

A new LCA approach to assess company's environmental performances for a strategic environmental management
Renée Michaud, CIRAIG
Julie-Anne Chayer, CIRAIG
Edouard Clement, CIRAIG
Manuele Margni,^* CIRAIG
Réjean Samson, CIRAIG

This paper present a methodology aiming to identify companies environmental priorities based on a life cycle approach. Using data provided by and collected at the company an overall evaluation of quantitative and qualitative aspects is performed. Quantitative aspects such as purchased goods and services, on-site direct emissions, distribution and transport, sales and product requirements at the use phase and the end of life scenarios are evaluated with the Green-E LCA software (www.green-e.ch). Environmental performance indicators are obtained combining such flows with generic life cycle inventory databases and impact assessment methods. A semi-quantitative matrix analysis, adapted from Graedel (1), is used to evaluate environmental practices that cannot be directly quantified, such as working procedures, green purchasing, pollution emission control practices, etc. Both quantitative and semi-quantitative results are used to identify improvement actions and business opportunities.

Two case studies on furniture manufacturing and diary products companies are presented, where it is demonstrated that the LCA approach enabled to identify environmental hot-spots and proper trade-offs between the life cycle stages, such as material supply versus production phases or transportation. The furniture manufacturing company obtained a better evaluation for onsite environmental management activities compared to upstream and downstream activities and this because of the ISO 14001 certification already obtained in November 2003. Primary material supply was clearly the key point to adress in term of environmental impacts (linked to the use of resources and emission). The diary product producing company showed equal improvement opportunities along all the life cycle chain in terms of environmental management, whereas the quantitative analysis identified the packaging and transportation activities dominating the overall life cycle chain, i.e. more important compared to the onsite energy use and emissions.

The results of such an analysis can be directly used for the implementation or the amelioration of an EMS according ISO 14001. The integration of upstream and downstream processes results in tremendous impacts on the perception of environmental performance realigning priorities of the EMS, especially defining new priorities, such as procurement policies or eco-design. LCA on a company basis is therefore a useful tool for a strategic EMS enabling the decision maker identifying the right priorities, which are not necessarily within the classical company burdens.