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Environmental assessment of Swedish clothing consumption – six garments, sustainable futures
Abstract and Figures
The aim of this work was to map and understand the current environmental impact of
Swedish clothing consumption. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to evaluate the
environmental impact of six garments: a T-shirt, a pair of jeans, a dress, a jacket, a pair
of socks, and a hospital uniform, using indicators of climate impact (also called “carbon
footprint”), energy use, water scarcity, land use impact on soil quality, freshwater
ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. The environmental impact of the six garments was then
scaled up to represent Swedish national clothing consumption over one year.
Figures - uploaded by Gustav Sandin
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Content may be subject to copyright.
... Methods for the assessment of toxicity are changing relatively rapidly, so even the units used to express contributions to toxicity can differ, adding to the incomparability of those results. LCAs often include pesticide use data in toxicity assessments 1,52,57,58 . Excluding the effects of pesticides, the toxicity associated with garment life cycles is mainly attributed to the long-term effects of metallic pollutants resulting from combustion processes for energy production. ...
... Among published LCAs, either the garment production phase (including fibre spinning, fabric production and wet treatment) 52,57,[60][61][62] or the consumer use phase 58,63 dominates the carbon footprint (Fig. 3d). The underlying differences have much to do with the source of electrical energy in use by the household 52 and national variations in prevalent laundry technologies 57 . ...
... Among published LCAs, either the garment production phase (including fibre spinning, fabric production and wet treatment) 52,57,[60][61][62] or the consumer use phase 58,63 dominates the carbon footprint (Fig. 3d). The underlying differences have much to do with the source of electrical energy in use by the household 52 and national variations in prevalent laundry technologies 57 . Moreover, garments are increasingly shipped by air cargo, which typically has higher GHG emissions than the traditional ship cargo 8 . ...
... Life cycle assessment (LCA) quantifies the environmental impacts of a system from a life cycle perspective (International Organization for Standardization, 2006). The method allows for estimating the impacts of clothing consumption on an individual (Piontek et al., 2019) and regional level (Sandin et al., 2019;Beton et al., 2014). LCA studies of garment resale and rental showed that the impact reduction depends on consumer behavior through replacement rate, mode of transport, and frequency of use of rented garments (Amasawa et al., 2023;Johnson and Plepys, 2021;Levänen et al., 2021a;Zamani et al., 2017). ...
... The unit life-cycle impacts of production were taken from a previous study (S. Roos, personal communication, 2021;Sandin et al., 2019), which included six garment types associated with different treatments and types of fiber. These six archetypes were matched by Combined Nomenclature classification codes to the categories used here (Table 2). ...
... A round trip downtown was modeled as 11.1 km (three times farther than pick-up points) covered by 13% walking, 42% diesel car, 30% gasoline car, and 15% bus (Berge, 2019). Each trip was linked with the transport of 1 kg or approximately 2-3 garments (Sandin et al., 2019;Wiese et al., 2012). ...
The textile industry is causing environmental impacts, driven by consumption patterns and fast fashion. Here we explore how the closing of material loops can decrease the environmental impacts of clothing consumption. We analyze the clothing system of Norwegian households in 2018 by combining material flow analysis and life cycle assessment. We map the flows to explore this linear system, where most garments are acquired new and leave the system through incineration or export. We develop an alternative scenario, where the circularity increases from 5% to 74%, considering consumer willingness to rent various garment types or buy them secondhand. We reduce the climate change impacts by 57%, water scarcity by 62%, and cumulative energy demand by 47% by assuming a proper set-up of the alternative system and a change in shopping and disposal behavior. Such measures allow to keep the same consumption levels; further reductions require lowering the number of acquisitions.
... Medical workwear serves to protect the wearer's private clothing and also identifies the wearer as a member of a particular institution or occupational group. The medical workwear under study serves nursing staff and doctors with clothing size S. Depending on the source, information on the technical lifespan of medical workwear of 75, 100 or 150 washing cycles can be found in the literature (Babikir and Schuster, 2017;Müller et al., 2021;Sandin et al., 2019). In this study a technical lifespan of 100 washing cycles is assumed for each product based on Müller et al., 2021. ...
... Information on material composition and product description is largely taken from manufacturer information (Bierbaum-Proenen GmbH & Co. KG, n.d.-a, n.d.-b, n.d.-c; Engelbert Strauss GmbH & Co. KG, n.d.-a, n.d.-b). The assumptions on yarn count in dezitex (dtex) are based on values of similar products from the literature (Sandin et al., 2019). Fig. 1 depicts the generic product system boundaries and lifecycle phases for all five medical workwear items. ...
... Energy consumption of 0.11 kWh was considered for the scrub top and polo shirt, 0.08 kWh for the scrub trousers, 0.19 kWh for the doctor's coat and 0.12 kWh for doctor's trousers. The material loss during the garment production varies between 12 and 27 % depending on the literature source (Jewell et al., 2017;Rahman and Haque, 2016;Sandin et al., 2019). In this study it is modelled with 20 % based on Rahman and Haque (2016). ...
... For simplicity, it has been proxied as a small version of the high-voltage battery packs, Seats prod. (Sandin et al. 2019) Linkage prod. ...
... The production of cotton yarn was modelled using a market process for yarn in Ecoinvent. The continued production of denim from yarn was modelled based on the jeans production described in Sandin et al. (2019) (but without the elastane additive), including the datasets for bleaching, dying and drying cotton yarn, as well as weaving and confectioning. See Table S16 for the seat production unit process dataset and Figure S1 for an illustration of the cotton upholstery production modelling. ...
Purpose
Aviation is an important contributor to climate change and other environmental problems. Electrification is one option for reducing the environmental impacts of aviation. The aim of this study is to provide the first life cycle assessment (LCA) results representing an existing commercial, two-seater, all-electric aircraft.
Methods
An attributional cradle-to-grave LCA was conducted with a functional unit of 1 h flight time. Data and records from an aircraft manufacturer informed much of the study. Detailed modelling of important aircraft components is provided, including the battery, motor, inverter, instrument panel and seats. Impact results are compared to those from a similar but fossil fuel–based two-seater aircraft. A wide range of impact categories was considered, while the focus was on global warming, resource depletion, particulate matter, acidification and ozone formation.
Results and discussion
The main contributors to almost all impact categories are the airframe, the lithium-ion battery and emissions (in the use phase). The airframe has a major impact as it contains energy-intensive, carbon fibre–reinforced composites, the impact of which can be reduced by recycling. The battery dominates mineral resource depletion categories and contributes notably to emission-based categories. Producing batteries using non-fossil energy or shifting to less resource-intensive, next-generation batteries would reduce their impact. Use-phase impacts can be reduced by sourcing non-fossil electricity. Despite the need for multiple battery pack replacements, the comparison with the fossil fuel option (based on equal lifetimes) still showed the electric aircraft contributing less to global warming, even in a high-carbon electricity scenario. By contrast, when it concerned mineral resources, the electric aircraft had greater impact than the fossil fuel based one.
Conclusions
A sufficiently long lifetime is key to bringing the all-electric aircraft’s environmental impacts (such as global warming) below those of fossil fuel–based aircraft. The high burden of the airframe and batteries can then be outweighed by the benefit of more efficient and emission-free electric propulsion. However, this comes with a trade-off in terms of increased mineral resource use.
... Due to high resource consumption, the textile sector, including clothing, footwear and household textiles, has the fourth highest environmental impact of all categories of EU consumption and the fifth regarding greenhouse gas emissions (Christis et al., 2019). It is estimated that Fashion is responsible for approximately 3% to 8% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions (Niinimäki et al., 2020;Quantis, 2018) and it is of interest to notice that these emissions are quite equally distributed between both the production and use phases (Benkirane, 2019;Beton et al., 2014;Sandin et al., 2019;Steinberger et al., 2009). Thus, manufacturers and consumers have the possibility to contribute to reducing the environmental impact. ...
... Considering the consumer's influence on design or end-of-life choices is limited, he/she remains a fundamental actor in the life cycle of a garment. The lifetime of products is partly under his responsibility and has a significant incidence on the environmental impact (Benkirane et al., 2016;Cooper, 1994;Cooper & Claxton, 2022;Leffland et al., 1997;Sandin et al., 2019). ...
The Fashion-related value chain is complex and globally spread. It is well known that the textile sector generates tremendous environmental impacts that are fairly well distributed throughout the life cycle of textile articles. Considering the consumer's influence on design or end-of-life choices is limited, he/she remains a fundamental actor in the life cycle of a garment: the use phase being under its full responsibility. Use commonly refers to the wearing and caring for clothes (including washing, drying and ironing). In recent decades, care solutions have largely evolved and now tend to respond to increasingly specific needs. In this sense, the laundry care scenarios are much more diversified and the associated environmental impacts become more difficult to evaluate. In this article, a non-exhaustive literature review is proposed to outline the available solutions of textile care. It covers washing, drying and ironing technologies as well as detergents. By roughly considering these four axes, hundreds of cleaning scenarios are identified. Some are then covered in environmental evaluation that involves primary data collection and life cycle assessment. About 30 different cleaning scenarios are modelled to investigate an overall dispersion of impact results. Huge differences are observed. In a critical global context (considering resources), it should question the future cleaning practices.
... Therefore, the use step is often excluded from thematic reports such as the Environmental Profit & Loss, the Danish apparel sector natural (Høst-Madsen et al. 2014), and the PUMA Carbon Footprint (Puma 2018). The Environmental Assessment of Swedish fashion consumption (Sandin et al. 2019) made several assumptions regarding user behavior, including the number of uses and washes, washing methods, transportation means and distances, and lifespan. The study also developed various scenarios based on these assumptions. ...
... Munasinghe et al. (2021) expressed similar concerns about this phase, emphasizing how the frequency of washing can affect the lifespan of a product. Interestingly, the Sandin et al. (2019) report identified the use phase as the primary source of emissions, while raw materials were found to have the second-largest impact, which contrasts with other studies. According to the International Carbon Flows report, approximately 50% of the emissions associated with a cotton t-shirt occur during the use phase. ...
Purpose
Environmental impacts associated with the fashion industry concern society and require commitment to sustainable development goals from leading companies. The role of the luxury sector in setting trends and negotiating power within the supply chain can lead this industry towards sustainability. This study constructs a comprehensive operational flux inventory attributed to an Italian luxury garment brand, aiming to investigate and propose feasible strategies to reduce potential impacts coupled with their products.
Methods
Under the operational control criteria, a whole year of activities was tracked using mainly primary data from its management system. According to ISO 14064–1:2019, potential greenhouse gas emissions were classified, organized, and processed into six categories. The analysis, at the company level, covered the product’s complete life cycle, i.e., from cradle to the grave. The ecoinvent database considered preferentially local geography, and the cut-off system approach, therefore assigning emissions to the primary user.
Results and discussion
Results showed that the only unit in central Italy where the headquarter is located (excluding retail stores), producing 485,193 women’s clothing in a year, emitted 9804 t CO2 eq. Most of these impacts (69% or 6752 t CO2 eq) can be associated with indirect emissions related to raw products and materials, and about 93% of this amount results from the high-quality products used by the company. Transportation represents 14% of the total emissions, while the use phase accounts for about 13%. As a final step, six different mitigation scenarios were proposed and analyzed by focusing on non-core production activities, i.e., upstream, and downstream operations, and consumers’ habits. Once combined, these strategies can potentially reduce by about 25% the study case company overall emissions.
Conclusions
As a conclusion, exploring possible alternatives through environmental assessment tools can support strategies for achieving impact reduction. While aggressive changes can be done in non-core activities with excellent results, changes perceived by the customers can also be well desired to mark innovation and advances in the business mindset.
... It is estimated that every kg of cotton requires around 125 L of water to be dyed and finished [4]. Moreover, the dyeing and finishing stage relies heavily on hazardous chemicals and represents a hotspot in terms of carcinogenic human toxicity and a hotspot for non-carcinogenic human toxicity because of the use of detergents, dyes, and water-repellent agents [5]. ...
The dyeing and finishing step represents a clear hotspot in the textile supply chain as the wet processing stages require significant amounts of water, energy, and chemicals. In order to tackle environmental issues, natural dyes are gaining attention from researchers as more sustainable alternatives to synthetic ones. This review discusses the topic of natural dyes, providing a description of their main features and differences compared to synthetic dyes, and encompasses a summary of recent research in the field of natural dyes with specific reference to the following areas of sustainable innovation: extraction techniques, the preparation of substrates, the mordanting process, and the dyeing process. The literature review showed that promising new technologies and techniques have been successfully employed to improve the performance and sustainability of natural dyeing processes, but several limitations such as the poor fastness properties of natural dyes, their low affinity with textiles substrates, difficulties in the reproducibility of shades, as well as other factors such as cost-effectiveness considerations, still prevent industry from adopting natural dyes on a larger scale and will require further research in order to expand their use beyond niche applications.
... According to UPC (2022), the production of fabric will result in 25 kg of CO2e being released into the atmosphere. Based on the LCA study performed by Sandin et al. (2019), 3% of the emission will be emitted during the fabric's end of life. An important public health and environmental concern that affects biodiversity, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions is the accumulation of postconsumer textile waste (PCTW) in landfills and open-air dumps (Bick et al., 2018). ...
Responsibility and sustainability play a larger role in the activities of global businesses. The practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be used to promote more responsible and sustainable behavior. PT PLN Indonesia Power PLTGU Cilegon OMU is a sub holding of an Indonesian state-owned corporation committed to fostering a responsible and sustainable culture through CSR. The old CSR program in Margasari village, the company’s first ring area, must be replaced because it has come to its exit time. Based on the Social Mapping Document 2022 and interviews, a SWOT analysis is conducted taking into account the current situation of the community. The analysis indicates that a new sewing group named Pujasari could be implemented as the new CSR program in the village of Margasari. Nevertheless, since a CSR program is a social investment, the company must be confident in the program’s future return for the community. This study aims to determine the program’s economic feasibility, Social Return on Investment (SROI) value, variables that may influence SROI achievement, and contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In calculating SROI, the triple bottom line concept will be used, while the economic feasibility will use capital budgeting method. A sensitivity analysis will be conducted to determine the critical variable for achieving SROI. The study demonstrates that the calculation utilizing the triple bottom line concept (considering economic, social, and environmental benefit) over a 5-year project period yields an NPV of IDR 1,988 mio, an IRR of 109%, with a WACC of 13.349%. The program’s SROI is 20.39, indicating that for every IDR 1 invested by the company in this program, IDR 20.39 in social benefit will be generated. Analysis of sensitivity reveals that WACC, the selling price of rags, working productivity, and price of rag primary materials are, in order, the most sensitive variables affecting the project’s SROI value. In addition, the program demonstrates contribution to SDGs 1, 5, 8, 12, and 13.
A indústria da moda, com sua forma linear de produção e consumo, pautada no extrativismo e no descarte, é responsável por uma quantidade considerável de emissões de gases do efeito estufa que contribuem para o aquecimento global e as alterações climáticas, o que evidencia a relevância do estudo dessa temática e da necessidade de buscar alternativas sustentáveis a fim de garantir a continuidade da espécie humana neste planeta. Diante da urgência de transição do modelo de produção e consumo atual para outro mais sustentável, a pesquisa busca investigar os impactos ambientais negativos decorrentes da cadeia de produção da indústria da moda, com foco na produção de fibras têxteis, e como isso está relacionado ao aquecimento global, a fim de coletar as informações necessárias para a promoção de ações para o combate às mudanças climáticas. A partir desse conjunto de dados, procura-se avaliar as ferramentas jurídicas existentes no Brasil para solucionar os problemas da sustentabilidade na produção nacional de fibras têxteis e quais as suas deficiências. Por fim, são apresentadas recomendações de organizações internacionais para atingir as metas de combate ao aquecimento global e proposta de modelo econômico fundado na circularidade e as ações adotadas pela Suécia para atingi-las.
This is condensed version of Roos et al. (2019) White paper on textile recycling (DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31018.77766), which aims at providing a neutral and scientific state-of-the-art compilation of information on existing and emerging textile recycling technologies,
environmental gains and losses of textile recycling, and important factors influencing the future of textile recycling: challenges of upscaling, geography, logistics, etc. Much of the content is relevant for any actor with an interest in textile recycling globally, but there is a specific focus on the Swedish and Nordic context.
Production of cotton and synthetic fibres are known to cause negative environmental effects. For cotton, pesticide use and irrigation during cultivation contributes to emissions of toxic substances that cause damage to both human health and the ecosystem. Irrigation of cotton fields cause water stress due to large water needs. Synthetic fibres are questionable due to their (mostly) fossil resource origin and the release of microplastics. To mitigate the environmental effects of fibre production, there is an urgent need to improve the production of many of the established fibres and to find new, better fibre alternatives.
For the first time ever, this reports compiles all currently publicly available data on the environmental impact of fibre production. By doing this, the report illuminates two things:
• There is a glaring lack of data on the environmental impact of fibres – for several fibres just a few studies were found, and often only one or a few environmental impacts are covered. For new fibres associated with sustainability claims there is often no data available to support such claims.
• There are no ”sustainable” or ”unsustainable” fibre types, it is the suppliers that differ. The span within each fibre type (different suppliers) is often too large, in relation to differences between fibre types, to draw strong conclusions about differences between fibre types.
Further, it is essential to use the life cycle perspective when comparing, promoting or selecting (e.g. by designers or buyers) fibres. To achieve best environmental practice, apart from considering the impact of fibre production, one must consider the functional properties of a fibre and how it fits into an environmentally appropriate product life cycle, including the entire production chain, the use phase and the end-of-life management. Selecting the right fibre for the right application is key for optimising the environmental performance of the product life cycle.
The report is intended to be useful for several purposes:
• as input to broader studies including later life cycle stages of textile products,
• as a map over data gaps in relation to supporting claims on the environmental preferability of certain fibres over others, and
• as a basis for screening fibre alternatives, for example by designers and buyers (e.g. in public procurement).
For the third use it is important to acknowledge that for a full understanding of the environmental consequences of the choice of fibre, a full cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) is recommended.
Regardless of the life cycle stage, all products and services inevitably produce an impact on the environment. By identifying critical issues present in the life cycle of products and taking constructive response actions in practice, the European Integrated Product Policy (IPP) aims to reduce the environmental impacts of products and to improve their performances with a "life cycle thinking". The first action taken under IPP was to identify the market products contribute most to the environmental impacts in Europe.
Completed in May 2006 by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO) study was conducted from a life cycle perspective. The EIPRO study indentified food and drink, transport and private housing as the highest areas of impact. Together they account for 70–80 % of the environmental impact of consumption. Of the remaining areas, clothing dominated across all impact categories with a contribution of 2–10 %.
While initially analysing the current life cycle impacts of products, studies on the Environmental Improvement of Products (IMPRO) have been developed in order to identify technically and socioeconomically feasible means of improving the environmental performance of products.
As identified by the EIPRO study as a priority group which makes a significant contribution to environmental impacts in Europe, textile products are the focus of this study.
The main objectives of this study are to:
- identify the market share and consumption of textile products in the EU-27;
- estimate and compare the potential environmental impacts of textile products consumed in the EU-27, taking into account the entire value chain (life cycle) of these products;
- identify the main environmental improvement options and estimate their potential;
- assess the socioeconomic impacts of the identified options.
Purpose
Toxicity impacts of chemicals have only been covered to a minor extent in LCA studies of textile products. The two main reasons for this exclusion are (1) the lack of life cycle inventory (LCI) data on use and emissions of textile-related chemicals, and (2) the lack of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) data for calculating impacts based on the LCI data. This paper addresses the first of these two.
Methods
In order to facilitate the LCI analysis for LCA practitioners, an inventory framework was developed. The framework builds on a nomenclature for textile-related chemicals which was used to build up a generic chemical product inventory for use in LCA of textiles. In the chemical product inventory, each chemical product and its content was modelled to fit the subsequent LCIA step. This means that the content and subsequent emission data are time-integrated, including both original content and, when relevant, transformation products as well as impurities. Another key feature of the framework is the modelling of modularised process performance in terms of emissions to air and water.
Results and discussion
The inventory framework follows the traditional structure of LCI databases to allow for use together with existing LCI and LCIA data. It contains LCI data sets for common textile processes (unit processes), including use and emissions of textile-related chemicals. The data sets can be used for screening LCA studies and/or, due to their modular structure, also modified. Modified data sets can be modelled from recipes of input chemicals, where the chemical product inventory provides LCA-compatible content and emission data. The data sets and the chemical product inventory can also be used as data collection templates in more detailed LCA studies.
Conclusions
A parallel development of a nomenclature for and acquisition of LCI data resulted in the creation of a modularised inventory framework. The framework advances the LCA method to provide results that can guide towards reduced environmental impact from textile production, including also the toxicity impacts from textile chemicals.
Recommendations
The framework can be used for guiding stakeholders of the textile sector in macro-level decisions regarding the effectiveness of different impact reduction interventions, as well as for guiding on-site decisions in textile manufacturing.
This paper reviews studies of the environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling, to provide a summary of the current knowledge and point out areas for further research. Forty-one studies were reviewed, whereof 85% deal with recycling and 41% with reuse (27% cover both reuse and recycling). Fibre recycling is the most studied recycling type (57%), followed by polymer/oligomer recycling (37%), monomer recycling (29%), and fabric recycling (14%). Cotton (76%) and polyester (63%) are the most studied materials.
The reviewed publications provide strong support for claims that textile reuse and recycling in general reduce environmental impact compared to incineration and landfilling, and that reuse is more beneficial than recycling. The studies do, however, expose scenarios under which reuse and recycling are not beneficial for certain environmental impacts. For example, as benefits mainly arise due to the avoided production of new products, benefits may not occur in cases with low replacement rates or if the avoided production processes are relatively clean. Also, for reuse, induced customer transport may cause environmental impact that exceeds the benefits of avoided production, unless the use phase is sufficiently extended.
In terms of critical methodological assumptions, authors most often assume that textiles sent to recycling are wastes free of environmental burden, and that reused products and products made from recycled materials replace products made from virgin fibres. Examples of other content mapped in the review are: trends of publications over time, common aims and geographical scopes, commonly included and omitted impact categories, available sources of primary inventory data, knowledge gaps and future research needs. The latter include the need to study cascade systems, to explore the potential of combining various reuse and recycling routes.
Purpose
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to assess freshwater-related impacts according to a new water footprint framework formalized in the ISO 14046 standard. To date, no consensus-based approach exists for applying this standard and results are not always comparable when different scarcity or stress indicators are used for characterization of impacts. This paper presents the outcome of a 2-year consensus building process by the Water Use in Life Cycle Assessment (WULCA), a working group of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, on a water scarcity midpoint method for use in LCA and for water scarcity footprint assessments.
Methods
In the previous work, the question to be answered was identified and different expert workshops around the world led to three different proposals. After eliminating one proposal showing low relevance for the question to be answered, the remaining two were evaluated against four criteria: stakeholder acceptance, robustness with closed basins, main normative choice, and physical meaning.
Results and discussion
The recommended method, AWARE, is based on the quantification of the relative available water remaining per area once the demand of humans and aquatic ecosystems has been met, answering the question “What is the potential to deprive another user (human or ecosystem) when consuming water in this area?” The resulting characterization factor (CF) ranges between 0.1 and 100 and can be used to calculate water scarcity footprints as defined in the ISO standard.
Conclusions
After 8 years of development on water use impact assessment methods, and 2 years of consensus building, this method represents the state of the art of the current knowledge on how to assess potential impacts from water use in LCA, assessing both human and ecosystem users’ potential deprivation, at the midpoint level, and provides a consensus-based methodology for the calculation of a water scarcity footprint as per ISO 14046.
[Purpose] The dichotomy between the attributional approach and the consequential approach is one of the major unsettled questions in life cycle assessment (LCA). Debates continue on. Here, I suggest a different view that hopefully will help us move past the dichotomy and toward a unified framework for decision support. [Methods] I argue the dichotomy is unnecessary. Attributional LCA, as reflected in how the conventional models like process- and input-output (IO)-based LCA have been applied, is simply a linear consequential modeling that establishes cause and effect through product supply chain. This is how economists see IO analysis, namely, a linear model based on Leontief production functions. There are other consequential and causal models, such as computable general equilibrium(CGE) and system dynamics (SD), that may have different production functions or focus on other aspects of the economy. These models have been increasingly integrated into LCA to estimate the environmental effects, impacts, or consequences of products, which is at the core of LCA. I further argue that as a field, we may be better off eliminating both terms: attributional fails to capture the essence of LCA and consequential is redundant. Likewise, economists did not call IO attributional and CGE consequential because both are consequential models, nor did they use the term consequential as that would be stating the obvious. [Results and discussion] I suggest LCA be unified around its goal to support decision-making, which requires estimating the impact of changes associated with a decision versus that without it (the counterfactual). This is the basic methodology adopted in many other fields. LCA then becomes an overarching framework that encompasses a suite of models, including our conventional IO/process-based LCA, to support different levels of decision-making related to products. Which distinguishes LCA from other fields of study is the focus on product systems. I also discuss, for the linear IO/process-based models, under what circumstances their estimates of the existing systems as an approximation of changes may be meaningful or misleading for decision-making. I further touch upon the importance of understanding the counterfactual, which has been largely neglected in LCA literature. [Recommendations] For an LCA to support decision-making, (1) make explicit what the potential changes are and clearly define the scale of change and (2) derive range estimates to capture the high uncertainties in modeling complex systems and be willing to admit inconclusiveness. For decisions with potentially large impacts across sectors, a multi-model approach may be helpful.
Sweden has a large per capita carbon footprint, particularly compared to the levels recommended for maintaining a stable climate. Much of that footprint falls outside Sweden's territory; emissions occurring abroad are “embodied” in imported goods consumed in Sweden. In this study we calculate the total amount and geographical hotspots of the Swedish footprint produced by different multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models, and compare these results in order to gain a picture of the present state of knowledge of the Swedish global footprint. We also look for insights for future model development that can be gained from such comparisons. We first compare a time series of the Swedish carbon footprint calculated by the Swedish national statistics agency, Statistics Sweden, using a single-region model, with data from the EXIOBASE, GTAP, OECD, Eora, and WIOD MRIO databases. We then examine the MRIO results to investigate the geographical distribution of four types of Swedish footprint: carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and materials use. We identify the hotspot countries and regions where environmental pressures linked to Swedish consumption are highest. We also consider why the results may differ between calculation methods and types of environmental pressure. As might be expected, given the complexity and modelling assumptions, the MRIO models and Statistics Sweden data provide different (but similar) results for each footprint. The MRIO models have different strengths that can be used to improve the national calculations. However, constructing and maintaining a new MRIO model would be very demanding for one country. It is also clear that for a single country's calculation, there will be better and more precise data available nationally that would not have priority in the construction of an MRIO model. Thus, combining existing MRIO data with national economic and environmental data seems to be a promising method for integrated footprint analysis. Our findings are relevant not just for Sweden but for other countries seeking to improve national consumption-based accounts. Based on our analysis we offer recommendations to guide future research and policy-making to this end.
About 50 percent of earth's land area is used by mankind. Every day 5,000 to 15,000 ha of natural area is sealed worldwide for human purposes. Land use is increasingly becoming not only a scientific but also a political and societal discussion. To cover all relevant environmental impacts of a product or process, land use aspects have to be integrated into methods like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
In this publication country and land use type specific characterization factors are presented for the land use impact categories Erosion Resistance, Mechanical Filtration, Physicochemical Filtration, Groundwater Regeneration, and Biotic Production. All factors are calculated for the land use related flows of the ELCD - European reference Life-Cycle Database based on globally available spatial data. For the calculation of the impact categories, the LANCA method published in 2010 was refined and new background data is used.
The authors have been working on the integration of land use aspects into LCA for several years and contribute to international working groups as well as specific projects on this topic. All of them have been involved in the development of the LANCA tool and in the conduction of respective case studies.
Fast fashion is a clothing supply chain model that is intended to respond quickly to the latest fashion trends by frequently updating the clothing products available in stores. The shift towards fast fashion leads to shorter practical service lives for garments. Collaborative consumption is an alternative way of doing business to the conventional model of ownership-based consumption, and one that can potentially reduce the environmental impacts of fashion by prolonging the practical service life of clothes. In this study, we used life cycle assessment to explore the environmental performance of clothing libraries, as one of the possible ways in which collaborative consumption can be implemented, and compared the advantages and disadvantages in relation to conventional business models. Furthermore, the key factors influencing the environmental impact of clothing libraries were investigated. We based our assessment on three key popular garments that are stocked in clothing libraries: jeans, T-shirts and dresses. The results showed the benefits of implementing clothing libraries associated with the garments´ prolonged service lives. Therefore to achieve environmental gains, it is important to substantially increase garment service life. Moreover, the results quantitatively demonstrated the potential risk of problem shifting: increased customer transportation can completely offset the benefits gained from reduced production. This highlighted the need to account for the logistics when implementing collaborative consumption business models.