Appendix 2: Glossary
DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (DFE)
“A process that focuses on improving environmental impacts over a product life cycle by incorporating environmental considerations into product design.” 153
ECONOMIC INPUT – OUTPUT LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (EIO-LCA)
“Estimates the materials and energy resources required for, and the environmental emissions resulting from, activities in our economy.” 154
ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS (EPDS)
A “standardized report of environmental impacts linked to a product or service…based on life cycle assessment, which provides a basis for comparing environmental performance and substantiating marketing claims.” 155 They are an example of an Ecolabel that considers all stages of the life cycle, is based on Life Cycle Assessment and is regulated by a third party (called a Program Operator).
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR)
The extension of a producer’s responsibility for a product to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle.156 The responsibility can be physical (e.g., take back used computers to ensure proper disposal) or financial (e.g., pay another company to accept used goods).
GREEN / SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT
A process whereby organisations take into account environmental elements when procuring goods, services, works and utilities and achieve value for money on a whole life cycle basis.157
LIFE CYCLE APPROACHES
A group of concepts, programs, tools and data that involve identifying, understanding, and reducing the material inputs and their impacts related to environmental attributes throughout the entire life cycle of a product, technology, or process.
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
A quantitative tool that measures the potential environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its entire life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to disposal.158
LIFE CYCLE CONCEPTS
A category of Life Cycle Approaches that guide and inspire the analytic and practical applications of Life Cycle Approaches, which includes Life Cycle Thinking and Life Cycle Management.
LIFE CYCLE COSTING (LCC)
An economic tool that calculates the total cost of a product, process or activity over its life span.159
LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY (LCI) DATA
Data that represents the environmental inputs and outputs for a given product system over its life cycle.
LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY (LCI) DATABASE
Database that contains information on the environmental inputs (e.g., raw materials, energy, water) and outputs (e.g., air emissions, pollutants to water and soil, waste disposal) of industrial and consumptive activities. Inputs and outputs to and from other activities (e.g., goods and services flowing from one activity to another) are also included.160
LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT (LCM)
“An integrated approach to measure and minimize the impacts on the environment, the economy and society of a product, process or service during its entire life cycle.” 161
LIFE CYCLE PROGRAMS
A category of Life Cycle Approaches that is used to put the concepts (i.e., Life Cycle Thinking and Management) into practice.
LIFE CYCLE SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS (LCSA)
“A transdisciplinary integration framework of models rather than a model in itself. LCSA works with a plethora of disciplinary models and guides selecting the proper ones, given a specific sustainability question…It broadens the scope of current LCA from mainly environmental impacts only to covering all three dimensions of sustainability (people, planet, and prosperity.)” 162
LIFE CYCLE THINKING (LCT)
Seeks to identify possible improvements to goods and services in the form of lower environmental impacts and reduced use of resources across all life cycle stages.163
LIFE CYCLE TOOLS
A fundamental category of Life Cycle Approaches that models and analyzes data over the life cycle of a product in a scientific manner.
MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS (MFA)
“A systematic assessment of the flows and stocks of materials within a system defined in space and time. It connects the sources, the pathways, and the intermediate and final sinks of a material.” 164 Resource Efficiency “Using the Earth’s natural resources in a sustainable manner.” 165
SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (SLCA)
A tool that aims to assess the social and socio-economic aspects of products and their positive and negative impacts along their life cycle.166
SUPPLY CHAIN
The cycle of products and services, beginning with design then moving through sourcing, production, distribution, and sales and ending with consumption.
SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
“Includes managing supply and demand, sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and inventory tracking, order entry and order management, distribution across all channels, and delivery to the customer” 167 in a sustainable manner.
SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION (SCP)
The use of services and related products, which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.168
TOTAL COST ACCOUNTING (TCA)
Life Cycle Costing that includes both internal and external costs.169
[153] Industry Canada, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, and Design Exchange 2009
[154] Carnegie Mellon University ND
[155] Boyer et al. 2011
[156] Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment 2009a
[157] Udo de Haes and van Rooijen 2005
[158] Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products Processes and Services 2005b
[159] Udo de Haes and van Rooijen 2005
[160] Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products Processes and Services 2012b
[161] Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products Processes and Services 2005a
[162] Guinée et al. 2011
[163] European Commission 2010
[164] Brunner and Rechberger 2005
[165] European Commission 2012b
[166] United Nations Environment Programme 2009
[167] Udo de Haes and van Rooijen 2005
[168] United Nations Environment Programme 2011
[169] Udo de Haes and van Rooijen 2005
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