Challenge clusters facing LCA in environmental decision-making—what we can learn from biofuels

Abstract

PurposeBioenergy is increasingly used to help meet greenhouse gas (GHG) and renewable energy targets. However, bioenergy’s sustainability has been questioned, resulting in increasing use of life cycle assessment (LCA). Bioenergy systems are global and complex, and market forces can result in significant changes, relevant to LCA and policy. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the complexities associated with LCA, with particular focus on bioenergy and associated policy development, so that its use can more effectively inform policymakers.MethodsThe review is based on the results from a series of workshops focused on bioenergy life cycle assessment. Expert submissions were compiled and categorized within the first two workshops. Over 100 issues emerged. Accounting for redundancies and close similarities in the list, this reduced to around 60 challenges, many of which are deeply interrelated. Some of these issues were then explored further at a policy-facing workshop in London, UK. The authors applied a rigorous approach to categorize the challenges identified to be at the intersection of biofuels/bioenergy LCA and policy.Results and discussionThe credibility of LCA is core to its use in policy. Even LCAs that comply with ISO standards and policy and regulatory instruments leave a great deal of scope for interpretation and flexibility. Within the bioenergy sector, this has led to frustration and at times a lack of obvious direction. This paper identifies the main challenge clusters: overarching issues, application and practice and value and ethical judgments. Many of these are reflective of the transition from application of LCA to assess individual products or systems to the wider approach that is becoming more common. Uncertainty in impact assessment strongly influences planning and compliance due to challenges in assigning accountability, and communicating the inherent complexity and uncertainty within bioenergy is becoming of greater importance.ConclusionsThe emergence of LCA in bioenergy governance is particularly significant because other sectors are likely to transition to similar governance models. LCA is being stretched to accommodate complex and broad policy-relevant questions, seeking to incorporate externalities that have major implications for long-term sustainability. As policy increasingly relies on LCA, the strains placed on the methodology are becoming both clearer and impedimentary. The implications for energy policy, and in particular bioenergy, are large.

Disclosure of Product System Models in Life Cycle Assessment: Achieving Transparency and Privacy

“…; McManus et al. ). As noted above, this level of consensus is hard to realize, in part because of the conflicting implications inherent in different analytic modes.…”

“…As LCA gains prominence, particularly in the policy realm, these problems become more acute. If LCA is to be used in policy, it will necessarily have the effect of recommending certain product systems, technologies, or approaches at the expense of others; yet in that event it is critically important that there be a consensus among stakeholders that the quantitative results are credible and well-supported (Rainville et al 2015;McManus et al 2015). As noted above, this level of consensus is hard to realize, in part because of the conflicting implications inherent in different analytic modes.…”

Techno‐economic and greenhouse gas analyses of lignin valorization to eugenol and phenolic products in integrated ethanol biorefineries

“…The technical, economic, and environmental challenges for cost‐competitive, second‐generation bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass have been well documented .…”

Exergy and CO2 Analyses as Key Tools for the Evaluation of Bio-Ethanol Production

“…Exergetic analysis is closely related to a different method of sustainability assessment, i.e., the life cycle assessment (LCA) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. A combination of both methods is the so-called exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA) [14][15][16][17][18].…”