Broadening GHG accounting with LCA: application to a waste management business unit.
In an effort to obtain the most accurate climate change impact assessment, greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting is evolving to include life-cycle thinking. This study (1) identifies similarities and key differences between GHG accounting and life-cycle assessment (LCA), (2) compares them on a consistent basis through a case study on a waste management business unit. First, GHG accounting is performed. According to the GHG Protocol, annual emissions are categorized into three scopes: direct GHG emissions (scope 1), indirect emissions related to electricity, heat and steam production (scope 2) and other indirect emissions (scope 3). The LCA is then structured into a comparable framework: each LCA process is disaggregated into these three scopes, the annual operating activities are assessed, and the environmental impacts are determined using the IMPACT2002+ method. By comparing these two approaches it is concluded that both LCA and GHG accounting provide similar climate change impact results as the same major GHG contributors are determined for scope 1 emissions. The emissions from scope 2 appear negligible whereas emissions from scope 3 cannot be neglected since they contribute to around 10% of the climate change impact of the waste management business unit. This statement is strengthened by the fact that scope 3 generates 75% of the resource use damage and 30% of the ecosystem quality damage categories. The study also shows that LCA can help in setting up the framework for a annual GHG accounting by determining the major climate change contributors.
CIRAIG, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, PO Box 6079, Montréal, Quebec, H3C 3A7, Canada. sophie.fallaha@polymtl.ca
Sophie
S
Fallaha
Geneviève
G
Martineau
Valérie
V
Bécaert
Manuele
M
Margni
Louise
L
Deschênes
Réjean
R
Samson
Emmanuelle
E
Aoustin
D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D003132:Commerce / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D057232:Global Warming; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D008956:Models, Chemical; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis / Q000145:classification
D014866:Waste Products; D002245:Carbon Dioxide