285
The life cycle community will also need to actively engage and collaborate with
colleagues working in related fi elds, such as climate change, toxicity and biodiversity, so that cooperation and collaboration result in joint efforts instead of “competing” for the same air time. In the end, life cycle concepts should be understood as a
key element of the circular economy and the energy transition, and hence they
should be seen as the backbone of any effort to address sustainability issues, be it
climate change, resource effi ciency or other issues.
Box 20.2: A Practical Example: Making the Bridge Between Life Cycle
Management Conferences
Since the fi rst LCM was held in Copenhagen in 2001, this conference series
has established itself as one of the leading conference series worldwide in the
fi eld of environmental, economical and social sustainability. It is now held
every second year in Europe, with the seventh LCM held in Bordeaux, France.
The unique feature of the LCM conference series is developing practical
solutions for the implementation of life cycle approaches into strategic and
operational decision-making in business, industry and beyond. The LCM
Conferences bring together international decision-makers from science,
industry, NGOs and public bodies. Almost half of the participants came from
the private sector in recent gatherings. In this way it is clearly differentiated
and complementary to more academic events such as conferences organized
by SETAC or the International Society for Industrial Ecology.
The LCM conferences provide an excellent start to transfer knowledge
from the scientifi c world to real world applications by the private sector or
governments. Whilst some uptake by the application side for the use of life
cycle information is happening (e.g. building and construction, food and
beverages, cars and other transports means, materials and chemicals, packaging, consumers goods, etc.), there is no real global mechanism to accelerate
this awareness and uptake by the private sector and government to apply life
cycle approaches as part of their normal practices. Also, given that the LCM
conference series has no formal structure and is organized only every 2 years
and by different host organizations, it is currently rather limited in its ability
to function as the central space to facilitate ongoing and continuous exchange
of ideas and challenges.
Establishing a link between a better-organized community and the LCM
conference series would thus be a natural fi t that could help to improve the
transfer of knowledge, experience and resources. One way to achieve this
could be to establish a small secretariat that could build links between LCM
in Europe and other LCM related conferences taking place around the globe,
such as those in China, Brazil and India, so that the conversations continue
rather than being disconnected (LCM 2015 ).
20 Communication and Collaboration as Essential Elements…
The life cycle community will also need to actively engage and collaborate with
colleagues working in related fi elds, such as climate change, toxicity and biodiversity, so that cooperation and collaboration result in joint efforts instead of “competing” for the same air time. In the end, life cycle concepts should be understood as a
key element of the circular economy and the energy transition, and hence they
should be seen as the backbone of any effort to address sustainability issues, be it
climate change, resource effi ciency or other issues.
Box 20.2: A Practical Example: Making the Bridge Between Life Cycle
Management Conferences
Since the fi rst LCM was held in Copenhagen in 2001, this conference series
has established itself as one of the leading conference series worldwide in the
fi eld of environmental, economical and social sustainability. It is now held
every second year in Europe, with the seventh LCM held in Bordeaux, France.
The unique feature of the LCM conference series is developing practical
solutions for the implementation of life cycle approaches into strategic and
operational decision-making in business, industry and beyond. The LCM
Conferences bring together international decision-makers from science,
industry, NGOs and public bodies. Almost half of the participants came from
the private sector in recent gatherings. In this way it is clearly differentiated
and complementary to more academic events such as conferences organized
by SETAC or the International Society for Industrial Ecology.
The LCM conferences provide an excellent start to transfer knowledge
from the scientifi c world to real world applications by the private sector or
governments. Whilst some uptake by the application side for the use of life
cycle information is happening (e.g. building and construction, food and
beverages, cars and other transports means, materials and chemicals, packaging, consumers goods, etc.), there is no real global mechanism to accelerate
this awareness and uptake by the private sector and government to apply life
cycle approaches as part of their normal practices. Also, given that the LCM
conference series has no formal structure and is organized only every 2 years
and by different host organizations, it is currently rather limited in its ability
to function as the central space to facilitate ongoing and continuous exchange
of ideas and challenges.
Establishing a link between a better-organized community and the LCM
conference series would thus be a natural fi t that could help to improve the
transfer of knowledge, experience and resources. One way to achieve this
could be to establish a small secretariat that could build links between LCM
in Europe and other LCM related conferences taking place around the globe,
such as those in China, Brazil and India, so that the conversations continue
rather than being disconnected (LCM 2015 ).
20 Communication and Collaboration as Essential Elements…