Definition and evolution of the concept of sustainable development. Environmental problems. Definition of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Goal and scope definition. Choice of boundaries: physical, geographical, temporal. Impact categories. Data quality. Inventory of mass and energy flows. Environmental impacts assessment. Interpretation of results.
The allocation problem: partition of environmental impacts to products and co-products: mass allocation, energy allocation, economic allocation. System expansion and avoided allocation.
LCA and circular economy. LCA and agro-food chains. LCA and waste. LCA and energy systems. The 2030 Agenda, SDGs and the role of LCA.
Open source and commercial LCA software. Installation of the OpenLCA software and related database.
Lab exercises: use of the OpenLCA software for assessing the environmental sustainability of products and services.