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Economics of life cycle assessment: Inefficiency of the present approach

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  • Stefan Schaltegger

Abstract

From an economic perspective, tools of environmental management must be eco‒efficient, i.e. they have to be economically efficient and they must lead to ecologically sound decisions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is regarded as one of the most important environmental management tools today. It attempts to record and assess all the environmental impacts of the whole life cycle of a product. The potential benefits of LCA have been discussed extensively. However, the costs and the effects actually achieved have been vastly neglected. Economic analysis shows that the present approach of LCA is economically inefficient compared with site‒specific environmental management, and that it is likely to result in ecologically wrong decisions. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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  • Stefan Schaltegger, 1997. "Economics of life cycle assessment: Inefficiency of the present approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:6:y:1997:i:1:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0836(199702)6:13.0.CO;2-D
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    Cited by:

    1. Raphaëlle Stewart & Peter Fantke & Anders Bjørn & Mikołaj Owsianiak & Christine Molin & Michael Zwicky Hauschild & Alexis Laurent, 2018. "Life cycle assessment in corporate sustainability reporting: Global, regional, sectoral, and company‐level trends," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1751-1764, December.
    2. Stefan Seuring, 2004. "Industrial ecology, life cycles, supply chains: differences and interrelations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 306-319, September.
    3. Eva Heiskanen, 2000. "Managers' interpretations of LCA: enlightenment and responsibility or confusion and denial?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 239-254, July.
    4. Iain J. Clelland & Thomas J. Dean & Thomas J. Douglas, 2000. "Stepping Towards Sustainable Business: An Evaluation of Waste Minimization Practices in US Manufacturing," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 107-124, June.
    5. Knud Sinding, 2000. "Environmental management beyond the boundaries of the firm: definitions and constraints," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 79-91, March.
    6. Oriana Gava & Fabio Bartolini & Francesca Venturi & Gianluca Brunori & Angela Zinnai & Alberto Pardossi, 2018. "A Reflection of the Use of the Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Agri-Food Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Knud Sinding, 1999. "Environmental impact assessment and management in the mining industry," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 23(1), pages 57-63, February.

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