Anne-Marie Boulay, Jane Bare, Lorenzo Benini, Markus Berger, Michael J. Lathuillière, Alessandro Manzardo, Manuele Margni, Masaharu Motoshita, Montserrat Núñez, Amandine Valerie Pastor, Bradley Ridoutt, Taikan Oki, Sebastien Worbe and Stephan Pfister
Article (2017)
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Abstract
Purpose Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to assess freshwater-related impacts according to a new water footprint framework formalized in the ISO 14046 standard. To date, no consensus-based approach exists for applying this standard and results are not always comparable when different scarcity or stress indicators are used for characterization of impacts. This paper presents the outcome of a 2-year consensus building process by the Water Use in Life Cycle Assessment (WULCA), a working group of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, on a water scarcity midpoint method for use in LCA and for water scarcity footprint assessments.
Methods In the previous work, the question to be answered was identified and different expert workshops around the world led to three different proposals. After eliminating one proposal showing low relevance for the question to be answered, the remaining two were evaluated against four criteria: stakeholder acceptance, robustness with closed basins, main normative choice, and physical meaning.
Results and discussion The recommended method, AWARE, is based on the quantification of the relative available water remaining per area once the demand of humans and aquatic ecosystems has been met, answering the question “What is the potential to deprive another user (human or ecosystem) when consuming water in this area?” The resulting characterization factor (CF) ranges between 0.1 and 100 and can be used to calculate water scarcity footprints as defined in the ISO standard.
Conclusions After 8 years of development on water use impact assessment methods, and 2 years of consensus building, this method represents the state of the art of the current knowledge on how to assess potential impacts from water use in LCA, assessing both human and ecosystem users' potential deprivation, at the midpoint level, and provides a consensus-based methodology for the calculation of a water scarcity footprint as per ISO 14046.
Uncontrolled Keywords
Impact assessment, LCIA, Life cycle assessment, UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative, Water consumption, Water footprint, Water stress, Water use, WULCA
Subjects: |
1600 Industrial engineering > 1600 Industrial engineering 1600 Industrial engineering > 1605 Human factors engineering |
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Department: |
Department of Chemical Engineering Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering |
Research Center: | CIRAIG - International Reference Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services |
Funders: | Hydro-Québec, Veolia Environnement, Danone, Exxon Mobile, Cascades, Unilever, Cottons Inc., Engie, L’Oréal, Mitacs, Agence nationale de la recherche, SUEZ, BRL, SCP, EVEA, Compagnie Fruitières, VINADEIS |
Grant number: | 13-CHIN-0005-01 |
PolyPublie URL: | https://publications.polymtl.ca/4804/ |
Journal Title: | International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (vol. 23, no. 2) |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
DOI: | 10.1007/s11367-017-1333-8 |
Official URL: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1333-8 |
Date Deposited: | 12 May 2021 11:36 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2024 11:08 |
Cite in APA 7: | Boulay, A.-M., Bare, J., Benini, L., Berger, M., Lathuillière, M. J., Manzardo, A., Margni, M., Motoshita, M., Núñez, M., Pastor, A. V., Ridoutt, B., Oki, T., Worbe, S., & Pfister, S. (2017). The WULCA consensus characterization model for water scarcity footprints: assessing impacts of water consumption based on available water remaining (AWARE). International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 23(2), 368-378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1333-8 |
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