The ORIENTING project is nearing its conclusion. For over three years, scientists have been working on developing an operational methodology for evaluating the sustainability of product life cycles (Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, LCSA), which includes environmental, social, and economic sustainability factors as well as circularity and criticality. To present all results achieved within the project, ORIENTING invites to the final conference »Operational Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Methodology Supporting Decisions Towards a Circular Economy«. ORIENTING will present the operational methodology as well as tools and training materials to the interested public on April 18th in Brussels. Registration for the final conference is still possible until April 5th, 2024.

ORIENTING's Press Release

The conference is divided into two parts: the presentation of the final project results (14:00 - 16:30 CEST) and an Accelerator session as part of the WCEF 2024 (17:00 - 18:30 CEST), aiming to present the ORIENTING Toolbox for evaluating sustainable circular economy solutions and to delve into practical application. »We are pleased to be able to present the results of years of research«, says Matthias Fischer, Head of Department Life Cycle Engineering GaBi. »With the LCSA methodology, we can make a significant further development to the Product Environmental Footpront (PEF), as the sustainability assessment of products now also includes social and economic aspects that were often neglected before.«

LCSA - an innovative methodology for sustainability assessment

The LCSA methodology was tested, demonstrated, and further developed within ORIENTING through 5 case studies and open exchange processes. LCSA enables companies to assess the impacts of their products and services throughout their entire life cycle - from raw material extraction through production to use and disposal. Environmental aspects such as energy consumption, resource use, and resulting greenhouse gas emissions are considered, as well as social aspects such as working conditions and decent employment. Economic aspects such as costs and value creation are also included.

The ORIENTING LCSA methodology is an open-source methodology, which means that everyone should be able to use it. »One of the key topics of the project was to make the methodology easily usable for companies with different levels of experience«, explains Jonas Keller, a research assistant at GaBi who supported the development of the LCSA methodology and led the case study demonstration. The toolbox developed within the project for assessing product sustainability is aimed at companies of all sizes as well as policymakers. However, special attention has been paid to the needs and desires of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by developing an entry-level template for identifying relevant sustainability issues at the product level.

During various workshops at the final conference, the ORIENTING team introduced the LCSA methodology and provided an overview of important European policy initiatives and the role that an LCSA methodology can play within the European Green Deal framework.