EUBCE 2024 - Marle DE JONG - Critical Review: State of the Art of Dynamic Life Cycle Assessments for Bio-based Products

Critical Review: State of the Art of Dynamic Life Cycle Assessments for Bio-based Products

Short Introductive summary

Many bio-based products are reported to have lower GHG emissions than their fossil-based counterparts, but their increasing use raises concerns about spatial-explicit impacts associated with land use, fresh water availability and biodiversity. Yet, most published LCAs are based on static models and lack the spatial and temporal resolutions to assess the impacts on climate, water and biodiversity. Moreover, there is an ongoing discussion in LCA-methodology on how to account for biogenic carbon, both for carbon removals through the biomass growing phase, and carbon emissions throughout every single life cycle stages of a biobased product. A dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (dLCA) is a LCA framework that can analyse temporal and spatial explicit issues. We aim to provide a critical systematic literature review of recent dynamic LCAs, with the focus on bio-based systems and products. Through the development of dynamic methods for environmental impact assessment, this research contributes to identify key knowledge gaps of current dynamic life cycle assessments of bio-based products.

M. De Jong, Utrecht University, THE NETHERLANDS
B.C. Bellostas, Utrecht University, THE NETHERLANDS
L. Shen, Utrecht University, THE NETHERLANDS