Lecture 21

A.A. 2023-2024
School of Engineering
Second cycle degree courses in
CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING
STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Organizational LCA and

Footprints

Prof. Alessandro Manzardo

 ISO/TS 14072: 2014
Life cycle assessment — Requirements and guidelines for
organizational life cycle assessment
This Technical Specification (TS) provides additional requirements and guidelines for an
effective application of ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 to organizations.

This Technical Specification details

— the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) principles and methodology to
organizations,
— the benefits that LCA can bring to organizations by using LCA methodology at
organizational level,
— the system boundary,
— specific considerations when dealing with LCI, LCIA, and interpretation, and
— the limitations regarding reporting, environmental declarations, and comparative
assertions.

This Technical Specification applies to any organization that has interest in applying LCA. It is
not intended for the interpretation of ISO 14001 and specifically covers the goals of ISO
14040 and ISO 14044.

Aligned with ISO 14046 with reference to WF of Organizations

 Terms and definitions

Organization

• person or group of people that has its own functions with responsibilities,
authorities, and relationships to achieve its objectives

Reporting unit (+ PRODUCT PORTFOLIO ACCORDING TO UNEP)

• quantified performance expression of the organization under study to be used as

a reference

Facility
• single installation, set of installations or production processes (stationary or
mobile), which can be defined within a single geographical boundary,
organizational unit, or production process
 Terms and definitions

Organizational LCA is
defined as the
compilation and
evaluation of the inputs,
outputs and potential
environmental impacts
of the activities
associated with the
organization adopting a
life cycle perspective

Results are presented in a form of

eco-profile
 General Structure of the Study

In the case of Organizational Assessments the definition of the

boundaries of the Organization and its product portfolio are
fundamental
Organizational Life Cycle Assessment
Approaches
LC stages
Inventoy Impacts
data

Performances of a product of an
organization are assessed

LCA –ISO 14040-

44:2006

LC stages

Inventory Impacts
data
All of the activities of an
organization are taken into
account
OLCA –ISO/TS
14072:2015
 Goal and Scope definition
In defining the goal of the OLCA, the following items shall be
unambiguously stated that the results are not intended to be
used in comparative assertions intended to be disclosed to
the public

In defining the scope of the OLCA, the following items shall be

unambiguously stated
• The system under study, system boundary and organizational
boundary where relevant (see 5.2.3);
• The reporting unit
• Reference period / baseline conditions with which the
current conditions caused by the activities are being compared
if applicable; (Performance tracking).
 System Boundaries (Organizational
Boundaries)
The organization shall consolidate its facility potential environmental impacts
related to water by one of the following approaches:

a) control: the organization assesses potential environmental impacts

related to water of processes and physical units from facilities over which
it has financial or operational control;
CAN WE TAKE FINANCIAL AND/OR OPERATIONAL DECISIONS?

b) equity share: the organization assesses potential environmental impacts

related to water of processes and physical units from respective
facilities, according to its share of equity interest.
WHAT IS MY EQUITY ON THAT ACTIVITY/ORGANIZATION?
System Boundaries
System Boundaries (Organizational
Boundaries)

B(30%) C(100%)

D(100%) E(20%) F(10%)

System Boundaries (Organizational
Boundaries)

UNEP, 2015
ISO 14064-1:2018
Scope
This document specifies principles
and requirements at the organization
level for the quantification and
reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions and removals. It includes
requirements for the design,
development, management,
reporting and verification of an
organization’s GHG inventory.
The ISO 14064 series is GHG
programme neutral. If a GHG
programme is applicable,
requirements of that GHG
programme are additional to the
requirements of the ISO 14064
series.

THE TERM CARBON FOOTPRINT IS NEVER

USED
 General Structure of the Study
Organization
7. Mitigation al 5.1 Organizational boundaries
activities Boundaries

Operations to 5.2 Reporting

be included in boundaries
the study

Impact 6. Quantification of GHG

assessment emissions and removals

8. GHG inventory
quality
management

GHG 9. GHG reporting

Declaration
 Operational Boundaries
Direct emissions and removals
The organization shall quantify and report significant direct
emissions :
Indirect emissions and removals
The organization shall quantify and report significant emissions
coming from:
1. «indirect GHG emissions from imported energy

2. indirect GHG emissions from transportation

3. indirect GHG emissions from products used by organization

4. indirect GHG emissions associated with the use of products

from the organization

5. indirect GHG emissions from other sources”

Adopting a life Cycle Perspective

 Operational Boundaries (criteria)
—Magnitude: The indirect emissions or removals that are assumed to be
quantitatively substantial.

—Level of influence: The extent to which the organization has the ability to monitor
and reduce emission and removals (e.g. energy efficiency, eco- design, customer
engagement, terms of reference).

—Risk or opportunity: The indirect emissions or removals that contribute to the

organization’s exposure to risk (e.g. climate-related risks such as financial, regulatory,
supply chain, product and customer, litigation, reputational risks) or its opportunity
for business (e.g. new market, new business model).

— Sector-specific guidance: The GHG emissions deemed as significant by

the business sector, as provided by sector-specific guidance.

—Outsourcing: The indirect emissions and removals resulting from

outsourced activities that are typically core business activities.

—Employee engagement: The indirect emissions that could motivate employees to

reduce energy use or that federate team spirit around climate change (e.g. energy
conservation incentives,..)
 CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference, 2nd
May 2018

Organizational Life Cycle Assessment:

the introduction of the
production allocation burden

Alessandro Manzardo a, Andrea Loss a, Monia Niero

b, Chiara Vianello c, Antonio Scipioni a

a CESQA, University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, Via

Marzolo 9, Padova 35131
b Aalborg University, Department of Planning, AC Meyers Vaenge 15 2450

Copenhagen (Denmark)
c University of Padova, Department of Industrial Engineering, Via Marzolo

9, Padova 35131
 Research Background
Methodological context:
Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (OLCA):
“Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and
potential environmental impacts of the activities
associated with the organization as a whole or
portion thereof adopting a life cycle perspective” (ISO,
UNEP, 2015
2014)

Industrial context:
• Bottled water company (PET Bottles)
• Multisite: 1 in Poland and 1 in North-east Italy
• Has already applied LCA at product level
• Made changes to production allocation in
order to improve product environmental
performances
Research gaps and objectives

Research Gap:
OLCA potential benefits and synergies with traditional
product LCAs have not been investigated yet (Martínez-
Blanco et al., 2015; UNEP, 2017).

Research Objectives:
Objective 1: From a methodological perspective
verify whether it is necessary to use the results of
LCA and OLCA in a joint manner in order to reduce
environmental impacts;

Objective 2: In the context of the specific case

under study verify if the production allocation can
be an environmental burden.
 Research Structure

LCA Step 1, product LCA for the base year 2015

How can we reduce the potential environmental impacts of the
product understudy?
Step 2, product LCA performance tracking 2016
Were we succesfull in reducing Product potential environmental
impacts?

OLCA Step 3, OLCA for the base year 2015

What is the potential environmental impacts baseline at
Organizational level?
Step 4, OLCA performance tracking 2016
Have improvements at product level positively influenced the
performances at Organizational level?
OLCA VS Product LCA

1) Object of the analysis: Organization (or a

portion therof);

2) Organizational Boundaries definition: to

determine who is the Organization
understudy and what is Its structure;

3) Reporting unit definition: quantification of

the representative performance of the
organization;

4) Application of a consolidation approach:

to aggregate inventory and impact
assessment results at organizational level.
 Goal and Scope definition
OLCA
LCA Organizational Boundaries: both sites of the
Functional unit (FU): “to provide 2 l of still organization
water from a 2 l PET container ready to be Consolidation Method: financial control, 100% of
drunk at the mouth contributing to hydration” the activities of the two sites
(PEFCR, 2016) Reporting unit (RU): overall volume of water
Production location: Poland withdrawn by the company and bottled in PET
containers detailed at site level in the years 2015
and 2016.

System Boundaries: Cradle to grave approach

Impact Assessment Categories (PEFCR, 2016):
• Climate Change
• Water Scarcity
• Fossil depletion
Performance Tracking: over a two year period
 Inventory data and relevant information

Product Primary data: core process data

Portfolio (e.g. energy and water use, raw and
auxiliary material use, production
allocation data, transportation);
Secondary data: supply chain data
(Ecoinvent 3.1 Dataset), use stage
data (PEFCR, 2016)

Other relevant information over 2015-2016:

• Product portfolio did not change
• The production capacity was fully saturated in the two sites
• Volume bottled per format did not change significantly
• Production line constraints
 Impact assessment at product level

STEP 1: How can we reduce the environmental impacts of the

product understudy?
Reduce energy use and
energy mix impacts

Shift the production to

Italy where the sites is
more energy efficient and
have a better
(environment
perspective) energy mix
 Impact assessment at product level

STEP 2: Were we succesfull in reducing Product potential

environmental impacts?

Impact
Unit 2015 2016 Δ
Category
Climat kg CO2
3,68 E-01 3,07 E-01 -16,50%
e eq/FU
change
Water
m3 eq/FU 3,92 E-03 3,85 E-03 -1,90%
availability
Fossil kg oil
1,19 E-01 9,99 E-02 -16,30%
depletion eq/FU
 Impact assessment at Organizational Level

STEP 3: What is the potential environmental impacts baseline at

Organizational level?

Impact
Unit Poland Italy Company
category
Climat kg CO2 1,85 E+07 2,32 E+07 4,17 E+07
e eq/RU
chang
e
Water m3 1,98 E+05 2,71E+05 4,69 E+05
availability eq/RU
Fossil kg oil 6,29 E+06 8,65 E+06 1,49 E+07
depletio eq/R
n U
 Impact assessment at Organizational Level

STEP 4: Have improvements at product level positively influenced the

performances at Organizational level?
Poland Italy Company
Impact
Unit 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016
category
Climat kg CO2 1,85 2,25 2,32 1,97 4,17 4,22
e eq/RU E+07 E+07 E+07 E+07 E+07 E+07
change
Water m3 1,98 2,32 2,71 2,41 4,69 4,73
availability eq/RU E+05 E+05 E+05 E+05 E+05 E+05

Fossil kg oil 6,29 8,27 8,65 6,94 1,49 1,52

depletion eq/RU E+06 E+06 E+06 E+06 E+07 E+07
 Discussion

The decision to shift 2l PET bottled water production to Italy was made without
considering the consequences on other products production and at
organizational level;
Considering that the production capacity is constant in the two sites, the shift of
the 2l in Italy resulted in a change in the allocation of production;
The production allocation in Poland resulted to have higher impacts due
to:
Lower energy efficiency;
The allocation of a product portfolio with higher specific potential environmental
impacts.
Scenario analysis on production constraints (production capacity) was
performed and confirmed these results.
 Conclusions
Objective 1:
Consequences of choices at product level should be investigated also
at organizational level;
LCA and OLCA results can be used together to drive
performance improvement both at product and organizational level.

Objective 2:
Choices on production allocation can result in an environmental
burden shift .

Future perspectives:
Confirm the research outcomes in other contexts and case studies;
Investigate how external constraints and factors such as market
demand can influence the company environmental impacts;
Investigate optimization model for production allocation;
Consider social and economic performances into a more
comprehensive sustainability assessment.
 Prof. Alessandro Manzardo
[email protected]
Università degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di
Ingegneria Civile Edile ed Ambientale

Via Marzolo, 9 35131 Padova

E-mail: [email protected]