IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i24p16967-d1007046.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the Procurement Process of Buildings: A Systematic Literature Review

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Scherz

    (Working Group Sustainable Construction, Institute of Structural Design, Graz University of Technology, 8020 Graz, Austria)

  • Antonija Ana Wieser

    (Institute of Technology and Testing of Construction Materials, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria)

  • Alexander Passer

    (Working Group Sustainable Construction, Institute of Structural Design, Graz University of Technology, 8020 Graz, Austria)

  • Helmuth Kreiner

    (Working Group Sustainable Construction, Institute of Structural Design, Graz University of Technology, 8020 Graz, Austria)

Abstract

The construction industry adds a high share to global CO 2 emissions and, thus, to the global climate crisis. Future buildings need to be planned, constructed, operated, and deconstructed in a lifecycle-oriented manner so that the building stock represents a capital asset for future generations. The greatest leverages for reducing a building’s CO 2 emissions lie in the early project phase and subsequently in the tendering and awarding process, which makes early Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) indispensable. In this study, we set a sociological research framework consisting of (i) choosing a research topic, (ii) conducting a literature review, (iii) measuring variables and gathering data, (iv) analyzing data, and (v) drawing a conclusion. Since there are countless studies that apply LCA in the construction sector for environmental assessment, emission reduction, or decision support, we posed the question of whether LCA was also applied in the public building tendering and awarding process. Furthermore, we focused on identifying obstacles to LCA implementation in this early project phase. Therefore, we applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The results show that numerous articles focused on sustainable tendering or green public procurement in the construction industry; however, the LCA method is scarcely used in the procurement processes (19 articles in the final sample). Based on our findings, the main obstacles to LCA implementation in the procurement process are highlighted in the study. In the future, the mandatory integration of LCA into the procurement process will be crucial to reduce the CO 2 emissions generated by the construction industry and thus contribute to the EU climate target plan to ensure carbon neutrality by 2050.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Scherz & Antonija Ana Wieser & Alexander Passer & Helmuth Kreiner, 2022. "Implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the Procurement Process of Buildings: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:16967-:d:1007046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16967/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16967/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Testa, Francesco & Iraldo, Fabio & Frey, Marco & Daddi, Tiberio, 2012. "What factors influence the uptake of GPP (green public procurement) practices? New evidence from an Italian survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 88-96.
    2. Tajda Potrč Obrecht & Martin Röck & Endrit Hoxha & Alexander Passer, 2020. "BIM and LCA Integration: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Matthias Finkbeiner & Erwin M. Schau & Annekatrin Lehmann & Marzia Traverso, 2010. "Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(10), pages 1-14, October.
    4. José Luis Fuentes-Bargues & Mª Carmen González-Cruz & Cristina González-Gaya, 2017. "Environmental Criteria in the Spanish Public Works Procurement Process," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Tarantini, Mario & Loprieno, Arianna Dominici & Porta, Pier Luigi, 2011. "A life cycle approach to Green Public Procurement of building materials and elements: A case study on windows," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2473-2482.
    6. Röck, Martin & Saade, Marcella Ruschi Mendes & Balouktsi, Maria & Rasmussen, Freja Nygaard & Birgisdottir, Harpa & Frischknecht, Rolf & Habert, Guillaume & Lützkendorf, Thomas & Passer, Alexander, 2020. "Embodied GHG emissions of buildings – The hidden challenge for effective climate change mitigation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    7. Marco Scherz & Bernd Markus Zunk & Christian Steinmann & Helmuth Kreiner, 2022. "How to Assess Sustainable Planning Processes of Buildings? A Maturity Assessment Model Approach for Designers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-24, March.
    8. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    9. Fabio Magrassi & Adriana Del Borghi & Michela Gallo & Carlo Strazza & Michela Robba, 2016. "Optimal Planning of Sustainable Buildings: Integration of Life Cycle Assessment and Optimization in a Decision Support System (DSS)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Pindyck, Robert S., 2019. "The social cost of carbon revisited," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 140-160.
    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. Jose Luis Fuentes-Bargues & Pablo Sebastian Ferrer-Gisbert & Mª Carmen González-Cruz & María Jose Bastante-Ceca, 2019. "Green Public Procurement at a Regional Level. Case Study: The Valencia Region of Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-24, August.
    2. Jolien Grandia & Dylan Voncken, 2019. "Sustainable Public Procurement: The Impact of Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity on the Implementation of Different Types of Sustainable Public Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Shadrina, Elena V. & Vinogradov, Dmitri V. & Kashin, Dmitry V., 2022. "Implicit incentives in green public procurement: Good intentions versus rigid regulations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    4. Jose Luis Fuentes-Bargues & Pablo Sebastian Ferrer-Gisbert & Mª. Carmen González-Cruz, 2018. "Analysis of Green Public Procurement of Works by Spanish Public Universities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Sofia Lundberg & Per-Olov Marklund & Elon Strömbäck & David Sundström, 2015. "Using public procurement to implement environmental policy: an empirical analysis," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 17(4), pages 487-520, October.
    6. Brusselaers, Jan & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido & Buysse, Jeroen, 2017. "Green Public Procurement of Certified Wood: Spatial Leverage Effect and Welfare Implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 91-102.
    7. Sofia Lundberg & Per-Olov Marklund, 2018. "Green public procurement and multiple environmental objectives," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 45(1), pages 37-53, March.
    8. Strömbäck, Elon, 2015. "Policy by Public Procurement: Opportunities and Pitfalls," Umeå Economic Studies 915, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    9. Ian Vázquez-Rowe & Cristina Córdova-Arias & Xavier Brioso & Sandra Santa-Cruz, 2021. "A Method to Include Life Cycle Assessment Results in Choosing by Advantage (CBA) Multicriteria Decision Analysis. A Case Study for Seismic Retrofit in Peruvian Primary Schools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Zaidi, Syed Anees Haider & Mirza, Faisal Mehmood & Hou, Fujun & Ashraf, Rana Umair, 2019. "Addressing the sustainable development through sustainable procurement: What factors resist the implementation of sustainable procurement in Pakistan?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Lena Jarosch & Walther Zeug & Alberto Bezama & Matthias Finkbeiner & Daniela Thrän, 2020. "A Regional Socio-Economic Life Cycle Assessment of a Bioeconomy Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, February.
    12. Cerutti, Alessandro K. & Contu, Simone & Ardente, Fulvio & Donno, Dario & Beccaro, Gabriele L., 2016. "Carbon footprint in green public procurement: Policy evaluation from a case study in the food sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 82-93.
    13. Buchmayr, A. & Verhofstadt, E. & Van Ootegem, L. & Sanjuan Delmás, D. & Thomassen, G. & Dewulf, J., 2021. "The path to sustainable energy supply systems: Proposal of an integrative sustainability assessment framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    14. Paulina Schiappacasse & Bernhard Müller & Le Thuy Linh, 2019. "Towards Responsible Aggregate Mining in Vietnam," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, August.
    15. Pina Puntillo, 2023. "Circular economy business models: Towards achieving sustainable development goals in the waste management sector—Empirical evidence and theoretical implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 941-954, March.
    16. Schlör, Holger & Venghaus, Sandra & Hake, Jürgen-Friedrich, 2018. "The FEW-Nexus city index – Measuring urban resilience," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 382-392.
    17. Jean-Louis Combes & Alexandru Minea & Pegdéwendé Nestor Sawadogo, 2019. "Assessing the effects of combating illicit financial flows on domestic tax revenue mobilization in developing countries," CERDI Working papers halshs-02019073, HAL.
    18. Nelson, Ewan & Warren, Peter, 2020. "UK transport decoupling: On track for clean growth in transport?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 39-51.
    19. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    20. R. Ebrahimi & S. Choobchian & H. Farhadian & I. Goli & E. Farmandeh & H. Azadi, 2022. "Investigating the effect of vocational education and training on rural women’s empowerment," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:16967-:d:1007046. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.