How to better include environmental assessment in public decision-making: Lessons from the use of an LCA-calculator for wastewater systems

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), although widely disseminated in the industrial sector, remains underutilized in the public sector. The literature has addressed the relationship between scientific knowledge and decision-making from positivist and relativist epistemological perspectives. Both provide explanations for this weak dissemination and suggest solutions. Several of these solutions were explored through the implementation of a simplified LCA calculator in the public wastewater sector in France. This experiment highlighted the importance of two simplification principles: the first is to provide a calculator that already includes a catalogue of LCA readyfor use; the second is to guide the interpretation of LCA results by reducing, step by step, the number of impacts considered. A special effort has been made on the graphic format used to presents results. These principles can be generalized to other contexts. This work calls for the involvement of management sciences in LCA research and for co-building solutions with potential users. Highlights: • Obstacles to LCA use for public decision are identified and classified • Solutions are proposed and discussed to overcome these obstacles • One of the main obstacles concerns result interpretation • Tests conducted show how much results presentation can affect decisions based on LCA • Principles of simplification are implemented via a decision procedure and new graphs.

L'Analyse du Cycle de Vie pour réduire l'impact environnemental de la viticulture biologique

“…Les résultats de l'ACV peuventêtre difficilesà utiliser pour la prise de décision par les parties prenantes car ils sont constitués de plus de 10 catégories d'impact. Simplifier les résultats tout en préservant leur pertinence est unélément clé pour la communication des résultats aux parties prenantes [16].…”

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra): Assessing bioremediation and life-cycle impacts

“…times as high as the differences observed between impacts of the systems, meaning that they cannot be differentiated; thus, both systems had similar impacts. In a recent study, a threshold of 10-30% of difference, based on uncertainties quantified for multiple impact categories (Jolliet et al, 2010) was used to differentiate scenarios in LCA (Guérin-Schneider et al, 2018). According to the statistical analysis, some differences were still significant in our study, but they were probably artifacts caused by the large number of runs performed in the Monte Carlo analysis.…”

Application of Life Cycle Assessment and Similar Methodologies in Asset Management: A Multiple Case Study

“…Good leadership is therefore crucial (postulate 2). In literature, an incompatible time-frame between the assessment and the subsequent decision-making (postulate 3) is named as a reason for the lack of application of outcomes [20]. However, the lack of planning did not seem to substantially impact the application of outcomes.…”