The changing nature of life cycle assessment
Open accessAbstract
LCA has evolved from its origins in energy analysis in the 1960s and 70s into a wide ranging tool used to determine impacts of products or systems over several environmental and resource issues. The approach has become more prevalent in research, industry and policy. Its use continues to expand as it seeks to encompass impacts as diverse as resource accounting and social well being. Carbon policy for bioenergy has driven many of these changes. Enabling assessment of complex issues over a life cycle basis is beneficial, but the process is sometimes difficult. LCA's use in framing is increasingly complex and more uncertain, and in some cases, irreconcilable. The charged environment surrounding biofuels and bioenergy exacerbates all of these. Reaching its full potential to help guide difficult policy discussions and emerging research involves successfully managing LCA's transition from attributional to consequential and from retrospective to prospective. This paper examines LCA's on-going evolution and its use within bioenergy deployment. The management of methodological growth in the context of the unique challenges associated with bioenergy and biofuels is explored. Changes seen in bioenergy LCA will bleed into other LCA arenas, especially where it is important that a sustainable solution is chosen.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
LCA estimates involving LUC are sensitive to the initial land use and condition.
“LCA estimates involving LUC are sensitive to the initial land use and condition (McManus & Taylor, 2015).”
From Measured and modelled effect of land‐use change from temperate grassland to <i>Miscanthus</i> on soil carbon stocks after 12 years (2019) · cites this paper as McManus & Taylor, 2015
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Greenhouse gas mitigation by agricultural intensification
Burney, J. A., Davis, S. J., & Lobell, D. B. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0914216107 · Cited by 1,128 · see citing works
Agricultural intensification and changes in cultivated areas, 1970–2005
Rudel, T. K., Schneider, L., Uriarte, M., Turner, B. L., DeFries, R., Lawrence, D., Geoghegan, J., Hecht, S., Ickowitz, A., Lambin, E. F., et al. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0812540106 · Cited by 611 · see citing works
Gibbs, H. K., Johnston, M., Foley, J. A., Holloway, T., Monfreda, C., Ramankutty, N., & Zaks, D. (2008) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/3/3/034001 · Cited by 470 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Estimates are particularly sensitive to the starting state of land converted (the baseline) [56,57].”
BackgroundPlevin, R. J., Delucchi, M. A., & Creutzig, F. (2014) · Journal of Industrial Ecology · doi:10.1111/jiec.12074 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 25
- [2]Ackrill R. Kay A. The growth of biofuels in the 21st century: policy drivers and market challenges 2014 Palgrave Macmillan
- [4]EPA comments. We note that it is difficult to find overblown statements in support of biofuels in the popular press; such comments are found primarily in company press releases and investor statements, and in public comments on proposed regulations.
- [14]Earles J.M. Halog A. Consequential life cycle assessment: a review Int J Life Cycle Assess 16 5 2011 445 453
- [17]Uncovering Methodological Uncertainties in LCA and Bioenergy Modelling, Invited Workshop 2nd July 2012 Horseguards Parade London
- [21]Guinée J.B. Heijungs R. Huppes G. Zamagni A. Masoni P. Buonamici R. Life cycle assessment: past, present, and future Environ Sci Technol 45 1 2011 90 96 20812726
- [25]World Commission on Environment and Development Our common future 1987 Oxford University Press
- [26]Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Guidelines for Life-Cycle Assessment: A code of practice. Based on a workshop at Sesimbra, Portugal, March 31 – April 3 1993 1993 Brussels and Pensacola, Florida, (USA) 24234150
- [43]Sanchez S. Woods J. Akhurst M. Brander M. O'Hare M. Dawson T.P. Accounting for indirect land-use change in the life cycle assessment of biofuel supply chains J R Soc Interface 9 71 2012 1105 1119 22467143 PMC3350742
- [47]Bento A.M. Klotz R. Climate policy decisions require policy-based lifecycle analysis Environ Sci Technol 48 10 2014 5379 5387 24810247
- [48]McManus MC, Taylor CM, Mohr A, Whittaker C, Scown CD, Borrion AL. Challenge clusters facing LCA in environmental decision making. Submitted to Journal of Life Cycle Assessment [in review]. PMC4939404 27453635
- [52]Ahlgren S. Di Lucia L. Indirect land use changes of biofuel production–a review of modelling efforts and policy developments in the European Union Biotechnol Biofuels 7 1 2014 35 (10p) PMC4015842 24602172
- [53]Broch A. Hoekman S.K. Unnasch S. A review of variability in indirect land use change assessment and modeling in biofuel policy Environ Sci Policy 29 2013 147 157
- [55]Chum H. Faaij A. Moreira J. Berndes G. Dhamija P. Dong H. Bioenergy Edenhofer O. Pichs-Madruga R. Sokona Y. Seyboth K. Matschoss P. Kadner S. IPCC special report on renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation 2011 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York
- [58]Wicke B. Verweij P. van Meijl H. van Vuuren D.P. Faaij A.P. Indirect land use change: review of existing models and strategies for mitigation Biofuels 3 1 2012 87 100
- [60]Hochman G. Rajagopal D. Timilsina G.R. Zilberman D. Impacts of biofuels on food prices The impacts of biofuels on the economy, environment, and poverty 2014 Springer New York 47 64
- [64]Taylor C. Lomneth R. Wood-Black F. Perspectives on biofuels: potential benefits and possible pitfalls vol.1116 2012 American Chemical Society Washington, DC
- [68]Cohn A.S. Mosnier A. Havlík P. Valin H. Herrero M. Schmid E. Cattle ranching intensification in Brazil can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by sparing land from deforestation Proc Natl Acad Sci 111 20 2014 7236 7241 24778243 PMC4034253
- [70]SETAC 1993 from the original SETAC workshop social welfare impact categories workshop, Dec 1991 A conceptual framework for life cycle impact assessment 1993 SETAC Foundation for Environmental Education, Inc
- [73]Macombe C. Leskinen P. Feschet P. Antikainen R. Social life cycle assessment of biodiesel production at three levels: a literature review and development needs J Clean Prod 52 2013 205 216
- [76]Serra T. Zilberman D. Biofuel-related price transmission literature: a review Energy Econ 37 2013 141 151
- [79]Hertwich E.G. Gibon T. Bouman E.A. Arvesen A. Suh S. Heath G.A. Integrated life-cycle assessment of electricity-supply scenarios confirms global environmental benefit of low-carbon technologies 2014 PMC4443343 25288741
- [82]Can bioenergy pay back carbon debt in time? Challenges of temporal aspects of greenhouse gas emissions from bioenergy. Parallel session at the EUBC&E 2014 Conference, Hamburg.
- [84]Youngs H.L. The effects of stakeholder values on biofuels feedstock choices Taylor C. Perspectives on biofuels: potential benefits and possible Pitfalls ACS Symposium Series 2013 American Chemical Society (ACS) Washington DC
- [85]Hellweg S. Canals L.M. Emerging approaches, challenges and opportunities in life cycle assessment Science 344 6188 2014 1109 1113 24904154
- [88]McManus M.C. Life cycle assessment of rapeseed and mineral oil fluid power systems 2001 University of Bath Bath, UK [dissertation]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Socio-Environmental Impacts of Lithium Mineral Extraction: Towards a Research Agenda
Agusdinata, D. B., Liu, W., Eakin, H., & Romero, H. (2018) · Environmental Research Letters · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aae9b1 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Temporalis, a generic method and tool for dynamic Life Cycle Assessment
Cardellini, G., Mutel, C. L., Vial, E., & Muys, B. (2018) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.044 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Life cycle assessment (LCA): informing the development of a sustainable circular bioeconomy?
Sevigné-Itoiz, E., Mwabonje, O., Panoutsou, C., & Woods, J. (2021) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences · doi:10.1098/rsta.2020.0352 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Holder, A. J., Clifton‐Brown, J., Rowe, R., Robson, P., Elias, D., Dondini, M., McNamara, N. P., Donnison, I. S., & McCalmont, J. P. (2019) · GCB Bioenergy · doi:10.1111/gcbb.12624 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“LCA estimates involving LUC are sensitive to the initial land use and condition (McManus & Taylor, 2015).”
BackgroundMethod
- Authors
- McManus, M. C., & Taylor, C. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Bath (GB)
- Energy Biosciences Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- McManus, Marcelle C.
- ORCID
- McManus, Marcelle C.
- Venue
- Biomass and Bioenergy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-11
- Volume
- 82
- Pages
- 13-26
- ISSN
- 0961-9534 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4643755
- OpenAlex
- W252926718
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 15.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biomass and Bioenergy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Pure (University of Bath) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- The University of Bath Online Publications Store (The University of Bath) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- BBSRC UK/US (BB/J020184/1)
- EPSRC Supergen Bioenergy Hub (EP/J017302/1)
- BBSRC LACE (BB/G01616X/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Keywords
- life cycle assessment, bioenergy, biofuels, environmental impact of products, resource accounting, social well-being, carbon policy, sustainable decision-making
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
