217
from stakeholder meetings with policy makers, original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs), material industries and academia in Europe and beyond (in the USA,
Japan and China).
3 Results and Discussion
The following two sections present selected results of the ongoing research process.
The results focus on a detailed theoretical description of the identifi ed policy options
for LCA deployment in legislation including existing examples from practice. In
addition – but on a higher level – key fi ndings from the analysis of the characteristics of the policy options are provided.
3.1 Developed Policy Options
Based on the theoretical approach, by combining different structural elements
describing policy features, eleven policy options for LCA deployment were developed. The options range from voluntary to mandatory policies, describe legislations
with and without direct effects on the product design, legislations which are either
fully LCA based or which consider LCA or LCA data during policy development
(without requiring full LCAs) and legislations addressing two different market roles
i.e., “market incentive” and “market access”.
An overview of the 11 policy options identifi ed is presented in Fig. 15.2 . For
voluntary policy options, the feature “market access” is not foreseen because of the
nature of the policy options, they are not legally binding but intend to have indirect
effects on the market.
The following sections provide further details on the policy options, including
examples of how these options could theoretically look like. Moreover, examples
from practice (focusing on Europe) are provided, allocated to the theoretical options
and showing that some of the options are in fact already implemented in real world
legislation. The sections are differentiated between mandatory-performance based
options, mandatory-process based options and voluntary policy options.
3.1.1 Mandatory-Performance Based Policy Options
These options cover mandatory policies, thus “hard” legislations, which are based
on product performance. Consequently, they have a direct effect on the product
design and may require a product re-design. The mandatory-performance-direct
policy option (Table 15.2 ) is the most stringent solution for using LCA in policy,
while the mandatory-performance-indirect option (Table 15.3 ) is less stringent as it
does not require full LCAs. The latter can be seen as an intermediate step for full
15 Policy Options for Life Cycle Assessment Deployment in Legislation
from stakeholder meetings with policy makers, original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs), material industries and academia in Europe and beyond (in the USA,
Japan and China).
3 Results and Discussion
The following two sections present selected results of the ongoing research process.
The results focus on a detailed theoretical description of the identifi ed policy options
for LCA deployment in legislation including existing examples from practice. In
addition – but on a higher level – key fi ndings from the analysis of the characteristics of the policy options are provided.
3.1 Developed Policy Options
Based on the theoretical approach, by combining different structural elements
describing policy features, eleven policy options for LCA deployment were developed. The options range from voluntary to mandatory policies, describe legislations
with and without direct effects on the product design, legislations which are either
fully LCA based or which consider LCA or LCA data during policy development
(without requiring full LCAs) and legislations addressing two different market roles
i.e., “market incentive” and “market access”.
An overview of the 11 policy options identifi ed is presented in Fig. 15.2 . For
voluntary policy options, the feature “market access” is not foreseen because of the
nature of the policy options, they are not legally binding but intend to have indirect
effects on the market.
The following sections provide further details on the policy options, including
examples of how these options could theoretically look like. Moreover, examples
from practice (focusing on Europe) are provided, allocated to the theoretical options
and showing that some of the options are in fact already implemented in real world
legislation. The sections are differentiated between mandatory-performance based
options, mandatory-process based options and voluntary policy options.
3.1.1 Mandatory-Performance Based Policy Options
These options cover mandatory policies, thus “hard” legislations, which are based
on product performance. Consequently, they have a direct effect on the product
design and may require a product re-design. The mandatory-performance-direct
policy option (Table 15.2 ) is the most stringent solution for using LCA in policy,
while the mandatory-performance-indirect option (Table 15.3 ) is less stringent as it
does not require full LCAs. The latter can be seen as an intermediate step for full
15 Policy Options for Life Cycle Assessment Deployment in Legislation