Recommendation and context: the missing links for increased life cycle impact in large industries

Abstract

Purpose This study takes an open and explorative approach to investigating the impact, or lack of impact, of life cycle information on behaviours throughout large production companies. Based on cases where life cycle information has been provided, this paper analyses how life cycle information has been interpreted and acted upon—not only by the life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioner conducting the study but also by employees outside the environmental departments. Methods To understand the impact of life cycle information on everyday actions in organisations and how this impact can be enhanced, this study takes a grounded approach to following flows of life cycle information from the environmental department through other departments of an organisation. From the flows of information, the research team selected rich descriptions of empirical data that reflect action and inaction. Using interviews and documents, we collected barriers and enablers for acting on life cycle information. Barriers and enablers were interpreted and clustered into categories and arranged into concepts. Next, we reviewed the empirical data using theories from social psychology. Results and discussion The results show that it is difficult for life cycle information to result in subsequent action outside of environmental departments. The barriers to this action were partly due to the life cycle information per se such as gaps between what life cycle information is available and what life cycle information is needed. Barriers and enablers were also found in relation to the context in which life cycle information was applied and new behaviours were adopted, including timing and software structures, reward systems, trade-offs, and personal beliefs about the profession. The results suggest a new role of the life cycle proponent that includes providing the right life cycle information and understanding and influencing the expected agents’ situations. Conclusions Assisted by theories from social psychology, we found that behaviour can be changed if ‘recommendations’ and ‘contexts’ are considered when providing life cycle information. The paper suggests that the impact of life cycle information could increase if normative arguments about environmental visions, strategies, and overarching goals are aligned with enablers that focus on personal goals, such as meeting a deadline, reducing uncertainty, and reaching the threshold for a bonus.

Making an impact through joint efforts - values, outcomes and lessons learned from 25 years of collaboration

“…The Centre is developing methods, tools and working practices via collaborative research projects, through case studies, in working groups and in round-table discussions. Some of these have resulted in the integration of life cycle assessment into product development processes [9,10], supply-chain management in purchasing [11], logistics planning [12], better understanding of recycling [13,14], and decision support being adopted for different business functions [15]. It has also resulted in better knowledge on life cycle thinking in environmental management systems [16], better understanding of policy initiatives and how they will affect various organisations such as the Product Environmental Footprint (an initiative of the European Commission) [17,18].…”

Making use of life cycle assessment and environmental product declarations: A survey with practitioners

“…These issues have also been addressed relating to the use of LCA‐information. For example, Rex, Fernqvist, and Ryding (2020) indicated that further guidance is needed for the interpretation of the results from an LCA study, and Sala and Andreasson (2018) pointed out that the results need to be presented and visualized better and in understandable ways. Considering that ISO 14025 states that EPD‐information is primarily intended for business‐to‐business communication, but nevertheless its use for business‐to‐consumer communication is also foreseen (ISO, 2006a), it emphasizes the need to improve interpretation and the understanding of the results, especially when aimed at an audience without much knowledge about LCA.…”