IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/inecol/v29y2025i1p19-33.html

DEALA — A novel economic life cycle impact assessment method for differentiated economic assessments in the context of life cycle sustainability assessments

Author

Listed:
  • Jan‐Linus Popien
  • Alexander Barke
  • Raphael Ginster
  • Theresa Striecks
  • Christian Thies
  • Thomas S. Spengler

Abstract

Legislation and market competition make it necessary to assess systems regarding their environmental, social, and economic impacts. The life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) approach can be used for this purpose. However, the literature shows limitations of this approach. This article focuses on the often encountered inconsistency and reduced transparency within the economic dimension due to the lack of harmonized impact assessment methods. Therefore, we propose a novel economic life cycle impact assessment (eLCIA) method called DEALA (Differentiated Economic Assessment in a Life Cycle‐Oriented Analysis), which allows economic assessments at three levels of aggregation. Overall, DEALA is based on economic principles and provides a structured approach to conduct environmental life cycle costing studies, resulting in greater transparency, comparability, and flexibility, as illustrated by an initial comparison with an existing case study. DEALA also facilitates a differentiated and detailed analysis of the results so that hotspots and improvement potentials can be identified, making DEALA a suitable economic LCIA method that should be considered in future studies. These benefits are confirmed through a LCSA of a battery supply chain. The assessment provides detailed and specific insights that can be used to design more sustainable battery supply chains.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan‐Linus Popien & Alexander Barke & Raphael Ginster & Theresa Striecks & Christian Thies & Thomas S. Spengler, 2025. "DEALA — A novel economic life cycle impact assessment method for differentiated economic assessments in the context of life cycle sustainability assessments," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 29(1), pages 19-33, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:29:y:2025:i:1:p:19-33
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13584
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jiec.13584?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Thies & Karsten Kieckhäfer & Thomas S. Spengler, 2021. "Activity analysis based modeling of global supply chains for sustainability assessment," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 215-252, March.
    2. Raphael Ginster & Steffen Blömeke & Jan‐Linus Popien & Christian Scheller & Felipe Cerdas & Christoph Herrmann & Thomas S. Spengler, 2024. "Circular battery production in the EU: Insights from integrating life cycle assessment into system dynamics modeling on recycled content and environmental impacts," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(5), pages 1165-1182, October.
    3. Sabrina Neugebauer & Silvia Forin & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2016. "From Life Cycle Costing to Economic Life Cycle Assessment—Introducing an Economic Impact Pathway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Vivek Arulnathan & Mohammad Davoud Heidari & Maurice Doyon & Eric P. H. Li & Nathan Pelletier, 2022. "Economic Indicators for Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: Going beyond Life Cycle Costing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-27, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dingxin Tang & Maider Saint-Jean & Guido Sonnemann, 2025. "Socio-environmental hybridization, where’s economic dimension beyond the cost: Confronting LCSA-related indicators with an ecological economics perspective," Post-Print hal-05525565, HAL.
    2. Simone Blanc & Stefano Massaglia & Filippo Brun & Cristiana Peano & Angela Mosso & Nicole Roberta Giuggioli, 2019. "Use of Bio-Based Plastics in the Fruit Supply Chain: An Integrated Approach to Assess Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Zbigniew Leszczyński & Tomasz Jasiński, 2020. "Comparison of Product Life Cycle Cost Estimating Models Based on Neural Networks and Parametric Techniques—A Case Study for Induction Motors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-14, October.
    4. Witold Chmielarz & Marek Zborowski, 2022. "On the Assessment of e-Banking Websites Supporting Sustainable Development Goals," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, January.
    5. Alexander Barke & Walter Cistjakov & Dominik Steckermeier & Christian Thies & Jan‐Linus Popien & Peter Michalowski & Sofia Pinheiro Melo & Felipe Cerdas & Christoph Herrmann & Ulrike Krewer & Arno Kwa, 2023. "Green batteries for clean skies: Sustainability assessment of lithium‐sulfur all‐solid‐state batteries for electric aircraft," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 795-810, June.
    6. Ewelina Olba-Zięty & Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski & Michał Krzyżaniak, 2021. "Economic Evaluation of the Production of Perennial Crops for Energy Purposes—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Giacomo Falcone & Anna Irene De Luca & Teodora Stillitano & Alfio Strano & Giuseppa Romeo & Giovanni Gulisano, 2016. "Assessment of Environmental and Economic Impacts of Vine-Growing Combining Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Multicriterial Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-34, August.
    8. Georges Atallah & Faris Tarlochan, 2021. "Comparison between Variable and Constant Refrigerant Flow Air Conditioning Systems in Arid Climate: Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Energy Savings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Ewelina Olba-Zięty & Jakub Jan Zięty & Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski, 2023. "External Environmental Costs of Solid Biomass Production against the Legal and Political Background in Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-27, May.
    10. Harald Dyckhoff & Rainer Souren, 2025. "Efficiency of activities in production networks of arbitrary structures and technologies," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 95(6), pages 809-838, August.
    11. Juliane Seika & Merla Kubli, 2026. "The Technology Valley of Death of Circular Economy Solutions: A System Dynamics Simulation of Business Strategies for the Second‐Use Battery Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 6538-6554, July.
    12. Sunghoon Kim & Adam Beier & H. Brett Schreyer & Bhavik R. Bakshi, 2022. "Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of a Novel Cultivated Meat Burger Patty in the United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, December.
    13. Teodora Stillitano & Emanuele Spada & Nathalie Iofrida & Giacomo Falcone & Anna Irene De Luca, 2021. "Sustainable Agri-Food Processes and Circular Economy Pathways in a Life Cycle Perspective: State of the Art of Applicative Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-28, February.
    14. Dieuwertje Schrijvers & Philippe Loubet & Guido Sonnemann, 2020. "Archetypes of Goal and Scope Definitions for Consistent Allocation in LCA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-15, July.
    15. Pırıl Tekin & Rızvan Erol, 2017. "A New Dynamic Pricing Model for the Effective Sustainability of Perishable Product Life Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-22, July.
    16. Lennart Hingst & Antal Dér & Christoph Herrmann & Peter Nyhuis, 2023. "Towards a Holistic Life Cycle Costing and Assessment of Factories: Qualitative Modeling of Interdependencies in Factory Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-26, March.
    17. Vance, C. & Sweeney, J. & Murphy, F., 2022. "Space, time, and sustainability: The status and future of life cycle assessment frameworks for novel biorefinery systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    18. Raphael Ginster & Steffen Blömeke & Jan‐Linus Popien & Christian Scheller & Felipe Cerdas & Christoph Herrmann & Thomas S. Spengler, 2024. "Circular battery production in the EU: Insights from integrating life cycle assessment into system dynamics modeling on recycled content and environmental impacts," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(5), pages 1165-1182, October.
    19. Christian Thies & Karsten Kieckhäfer & Thomas S. Spengler, 2021. "Activity analysis based modeling of global supply chains for sustainability assessment," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 215-252, March.
    20. Marianna Lena Kambanou, 2020. "Life Cycle Costing: Understanding How It Is Practised and Its Relationship to Life Cycle Management—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-19, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:29:y:2025:i:1:p:19-33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1088-1980 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.