Our Thinking — Life Cycle Thinking

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. This begins with raw material extraction and conversion, then manufacture and distribution, through to use and/or consumption. It ends with re-use, recycling of materials, energy recovery and ultimate disposal.

The key aim of Life Cycle Thinking is to avoid burden shifting. This means minimising impacts at one stage of the life cycle, or in a geographic region, or in a particular impact category, while helping to avoid increases elsewhere. For example, saving energy during the use phase of a product, while not increasing the amount of material needed to provide it.

Taking a life cycle perspective requires a policy developer, environmental manager or product designer to look beyond their own knowledge and in-house data. It requires cooperation up and down the supply chain. At the same time, it also provides an opportunity to use the knowledge that has been gathered to gain significant economic advantages.

Why take a life cycle approach?
For many years, reducing environmental impacts focused on production processes, treatment of waste and effluent streams. This remains important. These actions help, for example, to successfully address the issues of reducing air and water pollution from a specific operation. However, this does not necessarily reduce the negative environmental impacts related to the consumption of materials and resources. It also does not account for the shifting of burdens – solving one problem while creating another. Solutions therefore may not be optimal and may even be counter-productive.

A win-win situation
Life Cycle Thinking can help identify opportunities and lead to decisions that help improve environmental performance, image, and economic benefits. This approach demonstrates that responsibility for reducing environmental impacts is being taken.

Looking at the bigger picture: Businesses do not always consider their supply chains or the ‘use’ and ‘end-of-life’ processes associated with their products. Government actions often focus on a specific country or region, and not on the impacts or benefits that can occur in other regions or that are attributable to their own levels of consumption.

In both cases, without consideration of the full life cycle of goods and services (supply/use/end-of-life), the environment suffers – resulting in poorer financial performance and higher potential for reputation damage.

Life Cycle Thinking provides a broader perspective. As well as considering the environmental impacts of the processes within our direct control, attention is also given to the raw materials used, supply chains, product use, the effects of disposal and the possibilities for re-use and recycling.

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The products we buy and use every day contribute to our comfort and well-being. However, awareness of the unsustainable levels of resource consumption and the significant impacts of these products on the environment is growing among consumers, policy makers and business.

Life Cycle Thinking seeks to identify possible improvements to goods and services in the form of lower environmental impacts and reduced use of the resources across all life cycle stages.

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