Life cycle thinking in Brazil: challenges and advances towards a more comprehensive practice

Souza, Danielle Maia de; Braga, Tiago Emmanuel Nunes; Figueiredo, M. de L. C.; Matsuura, Marília I. S. Folegatti; Dias, Fernando Rodrigues Teixeira; Ugaya, Cássia Maria Lie

doi:10.1007/s11367-016-1234-2

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Current European initiatives on building life cycle-based policies are observed with attention from other parts of the globe, as stated, e.g. by Maia de Souza et al (2017) for Brazil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Latin America and the Caribbean region have developed its SCP strategy since 2003 and are considered a pioneer on SCP by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP 2015). Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil have used LCA in several policies, in a context of emerging awareness of policy-makers in these emerging economies (Valdivia et al 2017;Maia de Souza et al 2017;Güereca et al 2015). However, the EU has been in the forefront in using LCA into development and application to a much larger extent than in any other region in the world (Sonnemann et al 2018;Reed 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The evolution of life cycle assessment in European policies over three decades

Sala

Amadei

Beylot

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

125

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Purpose Life cycle thinking (LCT) and life cycle assessment (LCA) are increasingly considered pivotal concept and method for supporting sustainable transitions. LCA plays a relevant role in decision support, for the ambition of a holistic coverage of environmental dimensions and for the identification of hotspots, possible trade-offs, and burden shifting among life cycle stages or impact categories. These features are also relevant when the decision support is needed in policy domain. With a focus on EU policies, the present study explores the evolution and implementation of life cycle concepts and approaches over three decades. Methods Adopting an historical perspective, a review of current European Union (EU) legal acts and communications explicitly mentioning LCT, LCA, life cycle costing (LCC), and environmental footprint (the European Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint PEF/OEF) is performed, considering the timeframe from 1990 to 2020. The documents are categorised by year and according to their types (e.g. regulations, directives, communications) and based on the covered sectors (e.g. waste, energy, buildings). Documents for which life cycle concepts and approaches had a crucial role are identified, and a shortlist of these legal acts and communications is derived. Results and discussion Over the years, LCT and life cycle approaches have been increasingly mentioned in policy. From the Ecolabel Regulation of 1992, to the Green Deal in 2019, life cycle considerations are of particular interest in the EU. The present work analysed a total of 159 policies and 167 communications. While in some sectors (e.g. products, vehicles, and waste) life cycle concepts and approaches have been adopted with higher levels of prescriptiveness, implementation in other sectors (e.g. food and agriculture) is only at a preliminary stage. Moreover, life cycle (especially LCT) is frequently addressed and cited only as a general concept and in a rather generic manner. Additionally, more stringent and rigorous methods (LCA, PEF/OEF) are commonly cited only in view of future policy developments, even if a more mature interest in lifecycle is evident in recent policies. Conclusion The EU has been a frontrunner in the implementation of LCT/LCA in policies. However, despite a growing trend in this implementation, the development of new stringent and mandatory requirements related to life cycle is still relatively limited. In fact, there are still issues to be solved in the interface between science and policy making (such as verification and market surveillance) to ensure a wider implementation of LCT and LCA.

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“…Current European initiatives on building life cycle-based policies are observed with attention from other parts of the globe, as stated, e.g. by Maia de Souza et al (2017) for Brazil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%