334
The LCA according to the ISO 14040/44 (ISO 2006a : ISO 14040, ISO 2006b :
ISO 14044) is currently used at BMW Group as a supporting decision-making tool
in the development process of the car to orient designers and engineers towards
developing a car with a better environmental performance. The LCA is also used as
monitoring tool to check the product concept and its relative environmental impacts
in each phase of the development process.
Reduction targets for each environmental impact category can be established
according to the company and national strategy, and the relative improvements of a
car compared with its previous model can consequently be assessed and confi rmed.
The main focus of the automotive sector is still on global warming potential (GWP)
(IPCC 2001 ) for the reduction of greenhouse gases along the entire life cycle of the
vehicle, but the other impact categories are monitored as well. Realizing a car with
a better LCA balance than its previous model is only possible by acting on the use
phase as well as in the manufacturing one. Examples of measures used at BMW
Group to reach a higher environmental performance are: use of more secondary
source of materials such as metals and thermoplastics, promotion of less energyintensive materials, components produced with renewable energy sources, and
improvement of the recyclability of the car’s components at the end of life (EoL).
According to the ISO 14040/44 (2006) you can carry out an LCA on a car and
obtain different results. This happens because the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 (ISO
2006a : ISO 14040, ISO 2006b : ISO 14044) leave a lot of freedom and fl exibility in
the implementation of the method; several parameters, such as system boundaries,
allocation criteria, data sources and database used can be established differently
case by case and can strongly affect the results. The important element for making
the LCA study valid is its transparency and the reproducibility of its implementation. Most LCA studies at BMW Group are used to support internal decision- making
processes and they contain confi dential information that cannot be easily published.
In order to conform to the ISO 14044 regarding the reproducibility of the implementation, and to be able to use part of the LCA results in the company’s communication, it is necessary to ensure that the entire process, the data, the results and the
related communication material are validated and proofed by a third party certifi cation offi ce. This procedure is commonly used in the German automotive sector, and
the proliferation of different “certifi cates” has increased in the last few years. BMW
Group reports its LCA results in the Sustainability Value Report (BMW Group
2013 ), and with the Environmental Certifi cation validated by TÜV SÜD (BMW
Group 2014 ).
Considering this, what are the further levers to improve the environmental performance of a vehicle?
If it is true that a reasonable improvement has been reached and is still ongoing
in the use phase, it is also true that more efforts have to be made to improve it by
considering the manufacturing phase. The manufacturing phase of a car includes all
phases from extraction of raw materials throughout the components’ production to
the assembly and manufacture of the car itself. The last part is normally directly
under the control of the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), whereas the rest
is carried out by the upstream supply chain. The necessity to fi nd new levers and
M. Traverso et al.
The LCA according to the ISO 14040/44 (ISO 2006a : ISO 14040, ISO 2006b :
ISO 14044) is currently used at BMW Group as a supporting decision-making tool
in the development process of the car to orient designers and engineers towards
developing a car with a better environmental performance. The LCA is also used as
monitoring tool to check the product concept and its relative environmental impacts
in each phase of the development process.
Reduction targets for each environmental impact category can be established
according to the company and national strategy, and the relative improvements of a
car compared with its previous model can consequently be assessed and confi rmed.
The main focus of the automotive sector is still on global warming potential (GWP)
(IPCC 2001 ) for the reduction of greenhouse gases along the entire life cycle of the
vehicle, but the other impact categories are monitored as well. Realizing a car with
a better LCA balance than its previous model is only possible by acting on the use
phase as well as in the manufacturing one. Examples of measures used at BMW
Group to reach a higher environmental performance are: use of more secondary
source of materials such as metals and thermoplastics, promotion of less energyintensive materials, components produced with renewable energy sources, and
improvement of the recyclability of the car’s components at the end of life (EoL).
According to the ISO 14040/44 (2006) you can carry out an LCA on a car and
obtain different results. This happens because the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 (ISO
2006a : ISO 14040, ISO 2006b : ISO 14044) leave a lot of freedom and fl exibility in
the implementation of the method; several parameters, such as system boundaries,
allocation criteria, data sources and database used can be established differently
case by case and can strongly affect the results. The important element for making
the LCA study valid is its transparency and the reproducibility of its implementation. Most LCA studies at BMW Group are used to support internal decision- making
processes and they contain confi dential information that cannot be easily published.
In order to conform to the ISO 14044 regarding the reproducibility of the implementation, and to be able to use part of the LCA results in the company’s communication, it is necessary to ensure that the entire process, the data, the results and the
related communication material are validated and proofed by a third party certifi cation offi ce. This procedure is commonly used in the German automotive sector, and
the proliferation of different “certifi cates” has increased in the last few years. BMW
Group reports its LCA results in the Sustainability Value Report (BMW Group
2013 ), and with the Environmental Certifi cation validated by TÜV SÜD (BMW
Group 2014 ).
Considering this, what are the further levers to improve the environmental performance of a vehicle?
If it is true that a reasonable improvement has been reached and is still ongoing
in the use phase, it is also true that more efforts have to be made to improve it by
considering the manufacturing phase. The manufacturing phase of a car includes all
phases from extraction of raw materials throughout the components’ production to
the assembly and manufacture of the car itself. The last part is normally directly
under the control of the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), whereas the rest
is carried out by the upstream supply chain. The necessity to fi nd new levers and
M. Traverso et al.