Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

in a Blue World

Life-cycle thinking

• Social Life-Cycle Assessment (SLCA) aims to assess the social implications or potential impacts of a good or service. SLCA complements environmental LCA, building on the quantitative LCA data and adding quantitative approaches and information to identify the overarching social impacts. • Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) is the sum of all economic cost over the full life cycle (or a specified period) of a good or service. This can include the cost of purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance and estimated value at the end of its defined life cycle. After this the materials may become part of a different or new life cycle. The ISO 15600 series specifies LCC criteria. • Design for the Environment (DfE) includes three main design objectives: design for environmental processing and manufacturing; design for environmental packaging; and design for disposal or reuse. LCA is a key pillar and tool to optimize DfE. There are multiple ISO standards that cover this approach, contingent on application. • Eco-labeling is a communications tool to help consumers and businesses make better informed decisions. There are four main categories of labels, their criteria being defined by the ISO 14020 series. In the context of the green economy in a blue world, life-cycle thinking and life- cycle based tools have in particular been applied to assessments of the impact of industrial activity on the environment. This includes impact studies of the fisheries sector, shipping, transport fuels, drilling and mining activities. Source: UNEP (2011) http://lcinitiative.unep. fr/, UNEP (2009) Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products, CIRAIG (2011) http://www. ciraig.org, and International Standards Organization (2012) www.iso.org

Life-cycle thinking is an approach and a basis for strategy. It seeks to understand, account for and minimize all the environmental, economic and social impacts of producing and consuming a good or service, whether they occur locally, regionally or globally. The approach covers the entire life cycle, ‘from cradle to grave’, ideally ‘cradle to cradle’, offering a key means of improving the sustainability of industrial activities, which are about deriving economic capital from natural capital (natural resources). The typical life-cycle stages addressed as part of a life-cycle approach include resource extraction, manufacturing, packaging and distribution, impacts of the consumption and end-of-life including re-use or redesign when possible. Life-cycle thinking offers an integrated approach to reducing the negative impacts of production and consumption without transferring the problem from one stage of the life cycle to another. Life- cycle thinking and its supporting tools are critical to assisting policy and decision- making for sustainable development, and key to ensuring the development and design of more sustainable products and services. The toolbox for life cycle thinking includes: as a strategic business approach to integrate life-cycle thinking in day- to-day operations to decrease their environmental footprint and make value chains more sustainable. • Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), as a technical tool applied to gain detailed insight into the environmental impact of aspects of a product or service (a chemical compound used in an extraction or production process, or the impacts of unloading cargo from a certain type of ship). The ISO 14040 series defines LCA criteria. • Life-Cycle Management ,

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