Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprinting
Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprinting Jacob Madsen 6th March 2009
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Scoping Questions • When will my organization be regulated on carbon? • How sensitive are customers about carbon emissions and other life cycle impacts?
• How likely is my organization/competitor differentiation on carbon?
• Questions about my organizations disclosure of carbon emissions?
• What level of detail is required? • Will we communicate externally, internally? • Does it need to be audit-ready?
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Life Cycle Assessment • ‘Cradle to grave’, from raw material extraction, through manufacture and use, to disposal
• Environmental accounting • Exchanges of energy and materials with the environment at each stage of the life cycle • Emissions to air, land and water
• Evolved from energy analysis in the 1960s and developed in the 1980s by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
• Standards published by the International Standards Organisation (ISO)
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Calculating a Carbon Footprint using LCA Map the project life cycle
Identify and quantify inputs and outputs at each stage
Source data to describe greenhouse gas (CO2 equiv) impacts for each input and output
Balance mapped flows (inputs and outputs) to reflect the scale of the activities
Multiply flows by greenhouse gas impacts to generate a carbon footprint (expressed in CO2 equiv)
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
What do footprints measure?
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Tesco Direct Footprint Boundary for Direct Carbon Footprint
International Freight
Tesco Offices/ Buildings
Refrigerant Emissions Business Travel
Production of Goods
Tesco Distribution Centres
Tesco Stores (incl. One Stop)
Distribution to Stores
Supplier Transport
(incl. outsourced)
Asset Sites
Waste Recycling & Disposal
Tesco Home Delivery
Employee Commuting
Consumption & Disposal of Goods
Customer Transport
Key Stationary sources Transport sources
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Tesco Life Cycle Footprint • The product life cycle is a series of ‘direct footprints’ • Too narrow a focus may be misleading and/or counterproductive (a result of ‘burden-shifting’)
Raw Materials
Transport
Production
Distribution
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Storage Retail & Retail
Transport
Storage & Consumption
Disposal
Lubrizol – LCA of lubricant • Chlorine LCA • Services to the Lubrizol Corporation named as the 2006 honouree for excellence in research - “Using the LCA approach, we have proven that the amount of chlorine carried into lubricant oil from conventional dispersant processing is irrelevant to any life cycle effects and thus should not be regulated at very low levels. This
will save Lubrizol and the industry hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise have been wasted, and allow more formulating choices resulting in better performing lubricants.” Lubrizol, October 2006.
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
The Carbon Footprint of Cut Flowers Kenyan grown roses vs. Dutch grown roses 1%
0.5%
91%
2%
98%
2%
End of life Retail and use
0.03% Transport
6% Production and packaging
10.9 kg CO2 equiv vs. 18.8 kg CO2 equiv for 12 roses
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
First we answered the scoping questions Then we calculated the footprint of our product/service Now that we understand the impact of our products and services, what do we do with that understanding? Real World: We want to use it for Business Advantage
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Scoping Questions • When will my organization be regulated on carbon? • How sensitive are customers about carbon emissions and other life cycle impacts?
• How likely is my organization/competitor differentiation on carbon?
• Questions about my organizations disclosure of carbon emissions?
• What level of detail is required? • Will we communicate externally, internally? • Does it need to be audit-ready?
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Life Cycle Assessment • ‘Cradle to grave’, from raw material extraction, through manufacture and use, to disposal
• Environmental accounting • Exchanges of energy and materials with the environment at each stage of the life cycle • Emissions to air, land and water
• Evolved from energy analysis in the 1960s and developed in the 1980s by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
• Standards published by the International Standards Organisation (ISO)
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Calculating a Carbon Footprint using LCA Map the project life cycle
Identify and quantify inputs and outputs at each stage
Source data to describe greenhouse gas (CO2 equiv) impacts for each input and output
Balance mapped flows (inputs and outputs) to reflect the scale of the activities
Multiply flows by greenhouse gas impacts to generate a carbon footprint (expressed in CO2 equiv)
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
What do footprints measure?
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Tesco Direct Footprint Boundary for Direct Carbon Footprint
International Freight
Tesco Offices/ Buildings
Refrigerant Emissions Business Travel
Production of Goods
Tesco Distribution Centres
Tesco Stores (incl. One Stop)
Distribution to Stores
Supplier Transport
(incl. outsourced)
Asset Sites
Waste Recycling & Disposal
Tesco Home Delivery
Employee Commuting
Consumption & Disposal of Goods
Customer Transport
Key Stationary sources Transport sources
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Tesco Life Cycle Footprint • The product life cycle is a series of ‘direct footprints’ • Too narrow a focus may be misleading and/or counterproductive (a result of ‘burden-shifting’)
Raw Materials
Transport
Production
Distribution
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
Storage Retail & Retail
Transport
Storage & Consumption
Disposal
Lubrizol – LCA of lubricant • Chlorine LCA • Services to the Lubrizol Corporation named as the 2006 honouree for excellence in research - “Using the LCA approach, we have proven that the amount of chlorine carried into lubricant oil from conventional dispersant processing is irrelevant to any life cycle effects and thus should not be regulated at very low levels. This
will save Lubrizol and the industry hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise have been wasted, and allow more formulating choices resulting in better performing lubricants.” Lubrizol, October 2006.
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
The Carbon Footprint of Cut Flowers Kenyan grown roses vs. Dutch grown roses 1%
0.5%
91%
2%
98%
2%
End of life Retail and use
0.03% Transport
6% Production and packaging
10.9 kg CO2 equiv vs. 18.8 kg CO2 equiv for 12 roses
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
First we answered the scoping questions Then we calculated the footprint of our product/service Now that we understand the impact of our products and services, what do we do with that understanding? Real World: We want to use it for Business Advantage
Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world
