LCA – GHG Accounting

LCA -Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
LCA is the systematic analysis of the environmental impact of fuels, products, structures and activities over their entire life cycle. A life cycle is comprised of production/construction, use/ operational, removal and disposal phases. Environmental impacts are evaluated comprehensively including the evaluation of upstream and downstream processes associated with the production (e.g. production of raw, auxiliary and operating materials) and with the disposal (e.g. waste treatment). Environmental impacts refer to all relevant extractions / removals from the environment (e.g. ores and crude oil), as well as discharges and emissions into the same (e.g. wastes and carbon dioxide) during the entire life cycle.

Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Performance Analysis

To fully leverage sustainability as an advantage for any project, product or organisation, it is most helpful to have a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and risks at any given point and time. In particular, this includes having the ability to assess key aspects across the operations and supply chain to determine the use of energy, raw materials, water and natural resources, as well as carbon emissions and waste. This is the only way to ensure that the end result is truly the most sustainable option.

To achieve this goal, the life-cycle analysis will consider exploring the environmental performance of the project according to criteria established in relevant good guidance practice. In addition good guidance practices will guide organisations how to communicate the results of any analysis of the environmental impact.

Relevant Standards:

ISO 14021, Environmental Labels and Declarations — Self-Declared Environmental Claims (Type II Environmental Labelling)
ISO 14025 (Type III Environmental Declarations)
ISO 14040 Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework
ISO 14044 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines
ISO 14064-1 Greenhouse gases — Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals
Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard

With the results of life cycle assessments completed in accordance with good guidance practice, benefits can be achieved through:

transparent and comparable credible environmental performance information;
facilitating the selection of low energy GHG emissions options based on facts;
facilitating the evaluation of alternative product design and sourcing options, production and manufacturing methods, raw material choices, recycling and other end-of-life processes; and
facilitating the development and implementation of GHG management strategies and plans across product life cycles as well as the detection of additional efficiencies in the supply chain.

GHG Accounting conducted environmental performance and Life Cycle Analysis studies for many innovative infrastructure projects and products. Contact us today if you have any questions in this regard.

Canadian Government sets internal emissions reduction target and establishes Centre for Greening Government – Walking the Talk

The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (the Framework, released in December 2016) recognizes that while governments are directly responsible for a relatively small share of Canada’s emissions (about 0.6%), there is an opportunity for them to lead by example. A number of provinces are already demonstrating leadership, including through carbon neutral policies. For example, British Columbia’s (BC) public sector has successfully achieved carbon neutrality each year since 2010. Over the past 6 years, schools, post-secondary institutions, government offices, Crown corporations, and hospitals have reduced a total of 4.3 million tonnes of emissions through improvements to their operations and investments of $51.4 million in offset projects. BC was the first, and continues to be the only, carbon neutral jurisdiction in North America. Municipalities are also recognized as essential partners in emission reduction efforts – how cities develop and operate have an important impact on energy use, and therefore GHG emissions.

The Framework sets out an approach to government leadership, which includes (1) setting ambitious targets; (2) cutting emissions from government buildings and fleets; and (3) scaling up clean procurement.

To play its part, the federal government has announced that it will reduce its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030. In support of this goal, the Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, announced the creation of the Centre for Greening Government (the Centre) at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in November 2016. The Centre will track the Government of Canada’s emissions centrally and coordinate efforts across government departments in order to ensure that the government’s objectives are met. Progress on emission reductions will be achieved by strategic investments in infrastructure and vehicle fleets, green procurement, and support for clean technology. Already, the federal government announced $2.1 billion in Budget 2016 towards repairs and retrofits to a wide range of government buildings, and to the greening of government operations.

The Centre’s work is rooted in the following Government of Canada commitments:

The Centre engages in the following government-wide activities:

analyzing and reporting;
providing policy and operational support;
setting requirements for federal organizations to deliver results and achieve performance goals; and
establishing communities of practice to identify best practices and lessons learned in greening actions from federal partners and provincial, territorial and other jurisdictions.

The federal government has indicated that it will immediately begin by aligning the way it measures GHG emissions with international standards to provide an accurate picture to measure the government’s progress.

The Centre is also working in close partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada to further to goals of the 2016-2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), which was tabled in Parliament in October 2016. The Centre is the lead for Goal 2 of the FSDS: Low-carbon government.