Improving the Life Cycle Performance
of Chemical Products and Materials
Through Data Exchange Along
the Value Chain—Synthesis
of LCM2017 Session Presentations
Guido Sonnemann and Carmen Alvarado
Abstract This paper provides a summary of what has been presented and
discussed at the 8th international conference on Life Cycle Management (LCM
2017 conference, Luxembourg), during the session entitled “Improving the life
cycle performance of chemical products and materials through data exchange along
the value chain”. The purpose of the session was to demonstrate how to assess and
manage the global sustainability of chemical products and materials, taking into
account their whole life cycle, to achieve real improvements. Over the six oral
presentations, the most challenging issues regarding availability and transparency
of Life Cycle Inventory data from the chemicals industry were discussed. Some
approaches developed in order to face these challenges were detailed, illustrated
also with the presentation of some specific case-studies.
1 Introduction
Most companies are part of long and sometimes complex supply chains. Often the
control over the environmental impacts along the value chain is limited for one
single company. The purpose of the session was to demonstrate how to assess and
manage the global sustainability of chemical products and materials, taking into
account their whole life cycle, to achieve real improvements. This includes the
identification of hot spots and work towards sustainable innovation. Radical
improvement along the value chain is only possible with close collaboration with
G. Sonnemann (&)
University of Bordeaux, CNRS, UMR 5255, 33405 Talence Cedex, France
e-mail: guido.sonnemann@u-bordeaux.fr
C. Alvarado
Akzo Nobel Chemicals, 3818 LE Amersfoort, The Netherlands
G. Sonnemann
CNRS, ISM, UMR 5255, 33405 Talence Cedex, France
© The Author(s) 2018
E. Benetto et al. (eds.), Designing Sustainable Technologies,
Products and Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66981-6_11
95
of Chemical Products and Materials
Through Data Exchange Along
the Value Chain—Synthesis
of LCM2017 Session Presentations
Guido Sonnemann and Carmen Alvarado
Abstract This paper provides a summary of what has been presented and
discussed at the 8th international conference on Life Cycle Management (LCM
2017 conference, Luxembourg), during the session entitled “Improving the life
cycle performance of chemical products and materials through data exchange along
the value chain”. The purpose of the session was to demonstrate how to assess and
manage the global sustainability of chemical products and materials, taking into
account their whole life cycle, to achieve real improvements. Over the six oral
presentations, the most challenging issues regarding availability and transparency
of Life Cycle Inventory data from the chemicals industry were discussed. Some
approaches developed in order to face these challenges were detailed, illustrated
also with the presentation of some specific case-studies.
1 Introduction
Most companies are part of long and sometimes complex supply chains. Often the
control over the environmental impacts along the value chain is limited for one
single company. The purpose of the session was to demonstrate how to assess and
manage the global sustainability of chemical products and materials, taking into
account their whole life cycle, to achieve real improvements. This includes the
identification of hot spots and work towards sustainable innovation. Radical
improvement along the value chain is only possible with close collaboration with
G. Sonnemann (&)
University of Bordeaux, CNRS, UMR 5255, 33405 Talence Cedex, France
e-mail: guido.sonnemann@u-bordeaux.fr
C. Alvarado
Akzo Nobel Chemicals, 3818 LE Amersfoort, The Netherlands
G. Sonnemann
CNRS, ISM, UMR 5255, 33405 Talence Cedex, France
© The Author(s) 2018
E. Benetto et al. (eds.), Designing Sustainable Technologies,
Products and Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66981-6_11
95