282 A. Brekke et al.
product stewardship and work with upstream and downstream chains become
increasingly demanded by governments and accepted by industries (EEA,
1997).
Life cycle thinking and LCA as a mindset are more than just small corrections to business as usual. If the concepts are taken seriously, they have
widespread consequences for both private and public governance, especially
related to how the world is viewed. This is presented in two sections; one
that discusses the view of time, space and connectedness in LCA, and one on
cyclic models in opposition to linear models.
14.4.2 Time, space and connectedness
Most national policies are related to processes taking place within the state’s
boundaries and often they are also confined to a single sector. Whenever a
product, product system or service is studied in an LCA, other sectors within
other states are making their presence known immediately.
The political implications of life cycle thinking are related to its spatial and
temporal outlook. If the product is not only what exists in the here and now,
but is also seen as an outcome, entangled in a long network of relationships
and processes – from resource extraction, through manufacturing, the labour
involved, the transport route, to its marketing, consumption and further
recycling – it also implies that the circle of stakeholders and actors involved is
much wider. There are two kinds of normative issues that LCA can help
bring to the surface: moral and political ones. Life cycle thinking can make it
possible to identify and incorporate many ethical issues such as equity (possible unequal and unsustainable features of international trade), futurity (taking
the future generations and their access to the resources into account) and
locality (inter- regional material and energy flows) (Korhonen, 2003). This
becomes particularly important when the question of responsibility for
environmental externalities is posed. Who is responsible for the water pollution involved in manufacturing Product X? Is it only the company owning
the plant, or perhaps also the company marketing the product on the other
side of the world, or the consumer choosing it over some alternative? The
political implications of a broadened scope are currently very visible in global
climate negotiations, where the focus on emissions at point- sources is being
gradually replaced by a life cycle approach which tracks emissions along the
value chains.
Despite the problems with setting system boundaries and data requirements, space and time dimensions in LCA are potentially infinite. If resources
circulate, a product can have a life cycle which starts in a distant past and
theoretically never ends. The life cycle perspective revolutionised and
extended the traditional approach in environmental management (Korhonen,
2003). LCA applications in business, academia and by policy actors bring a
broader philosophy and way of thinking that go beyond the particular calculations. LCA can be seen as a constant learning process between the sectors,
product stewardship and work with upstream and downstream chains become
increasingly demanded by governments and accepted by industries (EEA,
1997).
Life cycle thinking and LCA as a mindset are more than just small corrections to business as usual. If the concepts are taken seriously, they have
widespread consequences for both private and public governance, especially
related to how the world is viewed. This is presented in two sections; one
that discusses the view of time, space and connectedness in LCA, and one on
cyclic models in opposition to linear models.
14.4.2 Time, space and connectedness
Most national policies are related to processes taking place within the state’s
boundaries and often they are also confined to a single sector. Whenever a
product, product system or service is studied in an LCA, other sectors within
other states are making their presence known immediately.
The political implications of life cycle thinking are related to its spatial and
temporal outlook. If the product is not only what exists in the here and now,
but is also seen as an outcome, entangled in a long network of relationships
and processes – from resource extraction, through manufacturing, the labour
involved, the transport route, to its marketing, consumption and further
recycling – it also implies that the circle of stakeholders and actors involved is
much wider. There are two kinds of normative issues that LCA can help
bring to the surface: moral and political ones. Life cycle thinking can make it
possible to identify and incorporate many ethical issues such as equity (possible unequal and unsustainable features of international trade), futurity (taking
the future generations and their access to the resources into account) and
locality (inter- regional material and energy flows) (Korhonen, 2003). This
becomes particularly important when the question of responsibility for
environmental externalities is posed. Who is responsible for the water pollution involved in manufacturing Product X? Is it only the company owning
the plant, or perhaps also the company marketing the product on the other
side of the world, or the consumer choosing it over some alternative? The
political implications of a broadened scope are currently very visible in global
climate negotiations, where the focus on emissions at point- sources is being
gradually replaced by a life cycle approach which tracks emissions along the
value chains.
Despite the problems with setting system boundaries and data requirements, space and time dimensions in LCA are potentially infinite. If resources
circulate, a product can have a life cycle which starts in a distant past and
theoretically never ends. The life cycle perspective revolutionised and
extended the traditional approach in environmental management (Korhonen,
2003). LCA applications in business, academia and by policy actors bring a
broader philosophy and way of thinking that go beyond the particular calculations. LCA can be seen as a constant learning process between the sectors,