LCA has existed for several decades now. But still, there are no clear standards for technical issues, such as substance nomenclature and data quality in LCA, among other. Every now and then, initiatives arise with a new passion to tackle this problem. Right now, several powerful initiatives are doing just that. This article explores the status quo of LCA data standards at this moment, and shows you the latest developments in changing it.

GUEST POST | In general, the development of standards is a good thing, especially in such a complex environment as building and construction. But not all standards are an unmitigated benefit. This week, we feature a guest post by PhD student Sahar Mirzaie, about her research into the pitfalls and challenges in LCA for the building sector, including the EN 15804 standard.

At PRé, we’ve been very involved in the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprinting (PEF) and the Organizational Environmental Footprinting (OEF) initiative, as covered in our series of articles. A big part of the PEF initiative is its pilot phase, planned to last for 3 years and initially scheduled to end soon. However, the pilot phase has recently been extended. In this news article, you will read why and what the status is.

A water footprint is a measure of how much water your business uses and which direct and indirect environmental impacts result from this. It can help you understand and manage your water use and even protect your company from physical, regulatory and reputation risks, adding a valuable and actionable dimension to your environmental KPIs.

The European Parliament wants to ensure sustainable palm oil in Europe, demanding certification approved by Europe to all vegetable oils entering the European market. While this sounds logical, how about the use of vegetable oils? In this piece, our partner Jannick Schmidt displays his perspective on the European approach for sustainable palm oil production and proposes an alternative approach based on life cycle thinking

Now even the Dutch central bank clearly reports* that climate change, water stress, raw material scarcity, biodiversity loss and human rights controversies present risks to the financial sector, institutional investors worldwide are looking for ways to safeguard the value of their investments through sustainability analyses. But how can you do that?

Last year, PRé Sustainability and 2.-0 LCA Consultants started a UNEP Life Cycle Initiative project to link the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to life cycle assessment (LCA). Ever since the SDGs were introduced, companies have been wanting to contribute to achieving them. Unfortunately, the SDG targets and indicators were not developed with businesses in mind, so it is difficult to effectively measure and monitor the results of your effort. Together with 2.-0 LCA consultants, we have now developed two complementary approaches to help businesses measure their performance on the SDGs they care about.

At PRé, we are always keeping an eye on what impact assessment methodology developers are doing to make LCA even more reliable. In this 4-part series, we share with you the highlights of developments on a variety of topics: spatial differentiation, impact pathways, agricultural modelling and more. In this part 2, we discuss the 2019 developments in impact pathways. This article was written by Laura Golsteijn with contributions from Benedetto Rugani and Francesca Verones.

At PRé, we are always keeping an eye on what impact assessment methodology developers are doing to make LCA even more reliable. In this 4-part series, we share with you the highlights of developments on a variety of topics: spatial differentiation, impact pathways, agricultural modelling and more. In this part 3, we discuss 2 important 2019 accomplishments in agricultural modelling This article was written by Laura Golsteijn with contributions from Montserrat Nuñez.

Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity, with the theme ‘Our solutions are in nature’. People, businesses and research institutions around the world are commemorating this day by sharing their vision on what the global community can do to improve biodiversity. At PRé, biodiversity assessment is a growing part of our services. We are taking this opportunity to look back at all the reasons why biodiversity is so important.