This book presents specialized methods and tools built on classical LCA. In the first book-length overview, their importance for the further growth and application of LCA is demonstrated for some of the most prominent species of this emerging trend: carbon footprinting, water footprinting, eco-efficiency assessment, resource efficiency assessment, input-output and hybrid LCA, material flow analysis, and organizational LCA.
Carbon footprinting was a huge driver for the market expansion of simplified LCA. The discussions led to a proliferation of different guidelines and standards, including ISO/TS 14067 on the carbon footprint of products. Atsushi Inaba (Kogakuin University, Tokyo, Japan) and his eight co-authors provide an up-to-date Carbon Footprint of Product status. The increasing relevance of Water Footprinting and the diverse methods were the drivers to develop the ISO 14046 as an international water footprint standard. Markus Berger (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany), Stephan Pfister (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), and Masaharu Motoshita (Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan) present a status of water resources and demands from a global and regional perspective. A core part is discussing and comparing the different water footprint methods, databases, and tools. Peter Saling from BASF SE in Ludwigshafen, Germany, broadens the perspective towards Eco-efficiency Assessment. He describes the BASF-specific type of eco-efficiency analysis plus adaptions like the so-called SEEBALANCE and AgBalance applications. Laura Schneider, Vanessa Bach, and Matthias Finkbeiner (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany) address multi-dimensional LCA perspectives in the form of Resource Efficiency Assessment. Research needs and proposed methodological developments for abiotic resource efficiency assessment, especially for the less developed area of biotic resources, are discussed. Shinichiro Nakamura (Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan) and Keisuke Nansai (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan) cover the fundamentals of input-output and Hybrid LCA. The concepts of environmentally extended IO, different types of hybrid IO-LCA, and the waste model are introduced. David Laner and Helmut Rechberger (Vienna University of Technology, Austria) present the basic terms and procedures of Material Flow Analysis methodology. The combination of MFA and LCA is discussed as a promising approach for environmental decision support. Julia Martínez-Blanco (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany; now at Inèdit, Barcelona, Spain), Atsushi Inaba (Kogakuin University, Tokyo, Japan), and Matthias Finkbeiner (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany) introduces a recent development which could develop a new trend, namely the LCA of Organizations.
