3 Conclusions
The session confirmed that there are still data and methodological gaps which need
to be filled to get a comprehensive understanding of the life cycle impacts of
bio-based materials. Challenging aspects include in particular the multiple assessment of alternative sources and uses of biomass feedstock, also in comparison with
conventional materials, and the comprehensive understanding of the consequences
at macro-level. Moreover, it seems necessary to incentivise the transition from
theoretical assessments to more practical applications.
Although further developments are still needed, the contributions presented,
which ranged from methodological approaches to case studies and real life examples, can hopefully contribute to make progresses in the assessment of bio-based
products and to support the related decision making processes.
References
1. Venkatachala V, Spierling S, Endres H-J, Integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and
Eco-design strategies for a sustainable production of bio-based plastics, Proceedings of the
LCM 2017 conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
2. Pérez-López P, Feijoo G, Moreira M-T, Sustainability assessment of blue biotechnology
processes: addressing environmental, social and economic dimensions, Proceedings of the
LCM 2017 conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
3. Vidal-Abarca Garrido C, Kaps R, Cordella M, Wolf O, Addressing the sustainability of lubricants
from an LCA perspective, Proceedings of the LCM 2017 conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
4. Boulay A-M, Bayart J-B, Beley J-J, Berger M, Caldeira C, Frischknecht R, Kabe Y-H,
Manzardo A, Tirado P, Pfister S, Puerto M, Sala S, Schenker U, Recommended water scarcity
footprint method AWARE: learning from 11 case studies, Proceedings of the LCM 2017
conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
5. Dias A, Quinteiro P, Costa T, Arroja L, Castanheira E, Garcia R, Marques P, Malça J, Freire F,
Sustainability assessment of the Portuguese forest sector, Proceedings of the LCM 2017
conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate
credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and
indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative
Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by
statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder.
474
M. Cordella and R. Kaps
The session confirmed that there are still data and methodological gaps which need
to be filled to get a comprehensive understanding of the life cycle impacts of
bio-based materials. Challenging aspects include in particular the multiple assessment of alternative sources and uses of biomass feedstock, also in comparison with
conventional materials, and the comprehensive understanding of the consequences
at macro-level. Moreover, it seems necessary to incentivise the transition from
theoretical assessments to more practical applications.
Although further developments are still needed, the contributions presented,
which ranged from methodological approaches to case studies and real life examples, can hopefully contribute to make progresses in the assessment of bio-based
products and to support the related decision making processes.
References
1. Venkatachala V, Spierling S, Endres H-J, Integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and
Eco-design strategies for a sustainable production of bio-based plastics, Proceedings of the
LCM 2017 conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
2. Pérez-López P, Feijoo G, Moreira M-T, Sustainability assessment of blue biotechnology
processes: addressing environmental, social and economic dimensions, Proceedings of the
LCM 2017 conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
3. Vidal-Abarca Garrido C, Kaps R, Cordella M, Wolf O, Addressing the sustainability of lubricants
from an LCA perspective, Proceedings of the LCM 2017 conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
4. Boulay A-M, Bayart J-B, Beley J-J, Berger M, Caldeira C, Frischknecht R, Kabe Y-H,
Manzardo A, Tirado P, Pfister S, Puerto M, Sala S, Schenker U, Recommended water scarcity
footprint method AWARE: learning from 11 case studies, Proceedings of the LCM 2017
conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
5. Dias A, Quinteiro P, Costa T, Arroja L, Castanheira E, Garcia R, Marques P, Malça J, Freire F,
Sustainability assessment of the Portuguese forest sector, Proceedings of the LCM 2017
conference, Luxembourg, 2017.
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate
credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and
indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative
Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by
statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder.
474
M. Cordella and R. Kaps