Understanding the impact of our activities on the environment is essential for sustainability, but working out how to quantify those impacts – which range from climate change to water and land use and many others - is a lot harder.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique used to assess environmental impacts of products and processes throughout their life.
SCI’s latest SCITalk looks into the concept of the LCA framework from the goal and scope, through to data collection and the methodologies used.
This SCITalk is given by Rachael Rothman, Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, Director of the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre, and co-Director of the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures.
"We really have to understand, when we're asking 'What's sustainable?' what question are we actually trying to answer," Rothman says in this SCITalk.
SCI’s SCItalks are given by the most prominent and influential academics, thinkers and industry leaders who are working to translate scientific innovation into societal impact. This is the second event of the three-part SCItalks series on sustainability.
The first talk in this series was given Michael Carus, founder of the Nova Institute which seeks to support companies on the smart transition to renewable carbon. His talk looked at building a renewable carbon economy.
The third talk in this series was given by Rupert Posner, Global Director Sustainability Advocacy – Home Care at Unilever, on the topic of the role of advocacy in accelerating the transition to more sustainable chemicals.
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