communication of LCA results in different decision-making contexts addressing all
those challenges. Experiences and good practices from the cement, oil, metal,
water, waste and chemical industry were collected using interviews, workshops and
practical case studies. Crucial aspects identified during the project were, among
others: (i) communicating uncertainty; (ii) explaining the proximate and underlying
causes of variability in results; (iii) integrating results representing different impact
categories and defining proper benchmarks for comparison. Challenges related to
interpretation and communication are faced especially in situations in which a
decrease in one indicator or impact category is offset with an increase in another
category. The findings of the project indicate that many of the challenges related to
communication are similar despite of the sector in question. There is also a need to
harmonise the way results are presented, in order to increase transparency and
improve comparability of the studies.
For exchanging experiences, updating or adopting methods, the “International
Sustainability Practitioners Network” (ISPN) was created since 2012. The ISPN is
an exchange forum for LCA methodology in the context of industry and comprises
sustainability experts from a range of different industry sectors. Examples of good
practices of this cross-sectoral initiative and opportunities for improving sustainability assessments within of companies are the focus of the exchange between
experts. The ISPN members address challenges and solutions in terms of data
availability and uncertainty, streamlining and using standardization processes as
well as communication of results with non-LCA-experts.
2.3 Improving Visualisation of LCA Results
Given the perceived complexity of LCA, improving the presentation and visualisation of results and the uncertainties thereof is crucial for decision support. New
features have been presented for two softwares, namely Open LCA [7] and
RangeLCA [8].
OpenLCA has expanded its interpretation component in order to better present
the hotspots analysis using new visualisation features from the open source: radar
charts, sun burst graphs, contribution trees, geographical display of regionalized
results, and tables with the values of inventory, impact results and impact factor per
elementary flow contributing to the hotspot towards a structured interpretation of
the results. Moreover, an assessment and effective handling of the data quality is
also key for the interpretation especially if the study is used for decision support.
OpenLCA proposes an innovative way to calculate, aggregate and display data
quality information along the life cycle, to make the detection of data quality
hotspots easier, i.e. to detect e.g. whether hotspots appear in the case study to some
extent because of weak data quality, or whether hotspots call for immediate action
because they are based on reliable information. The calculated data quality is shown
along with the LCI and LCIA results in the different visualisations of openLCA,
including impact analysis tables and Sankey diagram.
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S. Sala and J. Andreasson
those challenges. Experiences and good practices from the cement, oil, metal,
water, waste and chemical industry were collected using interviews, workshops and
practical case studies. Crucial aspects identified during the project were, among
others: (i) communicating uncertainty; (ii) explaining the proximate and underlying
causes of variability in results; (iii) integrating results representing different impact
categories and defining proper benchmarks for comparison. Challenges related to
interpretation and communication are faced especially in situations in which a
decrease in one indicator or impact category is offset with an increase in another
category. The findings of the project indicate that many of the challenges related to
communication are similar despite of the sector in question. There is also a need to
harmonise the way results are presented, in order to increase transparency and
improve comparability of the studies.
For exchanging experiences, updating or adopting methods, the “International
Sustainability Practitioners Network” (ISPN) was created since 2012. The ISPN is
an exchange forum for LCA methodology in the context of industry and comprises
sustainability experts from a range of different industry sectors. Examples of good
practices of this cross-sectoral initiative and opportunities for improving sustainability assessments within of companies are the focus of the exchange between
experts. The ISPN members address challenges and solutions in terms of data
availability and uncertainty, streamlining and using standardization processes as
well as communication of results with non-LCA-experts.
2.3 Improving Visualisation of LCA Results
Given the perceived complexity of LCA, improving the presentation and visualisation of results and the uncertainties thereof is crucial for decision support. New
features have been presented for two softwares, namely Open LCA [7] and
RangeLCA [8].
OpenLCA has expanded its interpretation component in order to better present
the hotspots analysis using new visualisation features from the open source: radar
charts, sun burst graphs, contribution trees, geographical display of regionalized
results, and tables with the values of inventory, impact results and impact factor per
elementary flow contributing to the hotspot towards a structured interpretation of
the results. Moreover, an assessment and effective handling of the data quality is
also key for the interpretation especially if the study is used for decision support.
OpenLCA proposes an innovative way to calculate, aggregate and display data
quality information along the life cycle, to make the detection of data quality
hotspots easier, i.e. to detect e.g. whether hotspots appear in the case study to some
extent because of weak data quality, or whether hotspots call for immediate action
because they are based on reliable information. The calculated data quality is shown
along with the LCI and LCIA results in the different visualisations of openLCA,
including impact analysis tables and Sankey diagram.
340
S. Sala and J. Andreasson